Breath of the Wild 2 gameplay might actually be running on Nintendo Switch 2

techradar.com:

Breath of the Wild 2’s recent gameplay footage certainly looks impressive, but is it actually running on a Nintendo Switch 2? 

According to tech experts Digital Foundry(opens in new tab) (thanks, GamesRadar(opens in new tab)), Breath of the Wild 2 includes a number of graphical features that the Nintendo Switch would struggle to run based on its aging hardware.

The latest trailer for the Breath of the Wild sequel apparently runs at a higher image quality than we’re used to seeing on Switch, features graphically taxing volumetric clouds, and also includes an increased draw distance that may be too much for the original Switch hardware to handle.

“This trailer was interesting because the image quality seemed quite good,” says Digital Foundry’s senior staff writer John Linneman. “I was a little bit surprised by how sharp and clear it looks, compared to the original in general.”

“I agree,” says Digital Foundry’s technology editor Richard Leadbitter. “The leap in image quality compared to the first title is stark, to say the least.” 

Recent footage of BOTW 2 runs at 1080p to 720p, which is higher than the 900p docked resolution of the original.

While Leadbitter still thinks the higher resolution could be feasible on native hardware thanks to dynamic resolution scaling, Digital Foundry’s video producer Alex Battaglia seems convinced that Breath of the Wild 2’s recent footage definitely wasn’t taken from an original Switch.

When asked if BOTW 2 was actually running on the Switch, Battaglia said: “I honestly don’t think it is. We’ve seen volumetric clouds very rarely on Switch, and these don’t break down super obviously. Camera cuts also have perfect anti-aliasing, which is even rare for an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 game. It could