The Outer Worldsrelease on Nintendo Switch understandably had to make some major trade-offs when it comes to visuals, as the Nintendo Switch simply doesn’t have the performance of its competitors. That doesn’t mean that developers like Obsidian don’t want games likeThe Outer Worldsto look their best, however. As evidence of their continued support for the Nintendo Switch, Obsidian’s gone ahead and issued a new patch forThe Outer Worldsthat improves visuals and performance.
Five feature areas were the focus of Obsidian’s efforts for thisThe Outer WorldsSwitchpatch. First, Obisidian implemented half-resolution SSAO, which should add more lighting/shadow effects for assets in the world. Second, clouds have been added toThe Outer Worlds' skybox. SSR, surface-based reflections, has been replaced with SphereReflectionCapture, which is assumedly an improvement. Finally, Obisidan’s disabled subsurface profile shading and added Depth of Field toThe Outer Worlds' Conversation Camera.
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While those are relatively big changes when it comes to visuals,Obsidianalso made a variety of smaller changes. For example, some changes were made to improve CPU performance, textures were packed to save on memory, and a variety of other optimizations were noted. These changes likely allowed Obsidian to make the above feature additions with the reclaimed free performance. Other changes include some redesigned buildings and AI issues.
The Outer Worldsmay not have been built for the Nintendo Switch, but that doesn’t mean that Obsidian isn’t taking the port seriously. Hopefully, these improvements also pave the way forThe Outer WorldsDLCPeril on Gorgon, and future DLC, to come to the platform soon. Expect Obsidian to continue supportingThe Outer Worldson Switch going forward.
The Outer Worldsis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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