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Reviews Digital Foundry || The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - DF Tech Review - Is It Really 'Too Big for Switch'...?

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I

ILikeFeet

Warpstar Knight

It's finally here - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sees Nintendo at the very top of its game, delivering a game that builds and expands upon the original Breath of the Wild in many different dimensions... but is the scale of the ambition really 'too big for Switch'...? John Linneman has answers.
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www.eurogamer.net

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - the Digital Foundry verdict

Technical analysis, image quality testing and performance numbers on Nintendo's next big game.
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

summary forthcoming
  • new procedural cloud system, though they are still billboard models
  • still one of the best wind systems
  • fog in caves react to Link
  • 1600x900
    • uses FSR1 to reach 1080p
    • has edge ringing
    • resolution change based on camera speed
      • 720p in motion, 900p when stopped
  • 1280x720 in handheld
  • cutscenes are low bitrate video
  • pre-launch performance was bad, constant 20fps
  • the day 1 patch greatly improves performance
    • patch is not on the cart
  • 30fps 99% of the time
    • Ultrahand causes framerate to drop, especially in Kakariko Village
    • no frame pacing and stutter otherwise
  • not many rendering improvements
  • sun position is completely different
  • shadow quality is very slight improved, still low resolution
  • lod pop-in is slightly better
  • game is sharper than BotW
  • video doesn't highlight the biggest changes to Hyrule
  • TotK loads faster (11s vs 17s)
  • 5.1 surround sound
  • excellent audio once again
  • not to big for the switch, but downgraded from the original trailer
 
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  • 900p docked, uses FSR1 to reach 1080p. Resolution can drop to around 720p
  • 720p portable locked.
  • Pre-release patch has addressed nearly all instances of frame loss.
  • Ultra hand can drop to 20 fps depending on the situation
  • Exceptionally polished. No bugs or unexpected behaviour.
WARNING: Video contains spoilers
 
That sounds good enough for me. Thanks for the summary, I don't wanna watch the video in case it's spoiler-y.
 
  • new procedural cloud system, though they are still billboard models
  • still one of the best wind systems
  • fog in caves react to Link
  • 1600x900
    • uses FSR1 to reach 1080p
    • has edge ringing
    • resolution change based on camera speed
      • 720p in motion, 900p when stopped
  • 1280x720 in handheld
  • cutscenes are low bitrate video
  • pre-launch performance was bad, constant 20fps
  • the day 1 patch greatly improves performance
    • patch is not on the cart
  • 30fps 99% of the time
    • Ultrahand causes framerate to drop, especially in Kakariko Village
    • no frame pacing and stutter otherwise
  • not many rendering improvements
  • sun position is completely different
  • shadow quality is very slight improved, still low resolution
  • lod pop-in is slightly better
  • game is sharper than BotW
  • video doesn't highlight the biggest changes to Hyrule
  • TotK loads faster (11s vs 17s)
  • 5.1 surround sound
  • excellent audio once again
  • not to big for the switch, but downgraded from the original trailer
didn't see this thread was first
 
Shocked at how much better performance is across the board. Was so weird seeing a smooth 30 in Kakariko lol.

I welcome the performance improvements and increase in sharpness from FSR, but I'd be lying if I said that the edge ringing wasn't distracting. That's my only gripe with it. The lighting and LOD improvements are all the graphical upgrades I really wanted going from BotW to TotK so everything else is a bonus.

Can't wait to see how the game is with the next gen patch in 2024. :p
 
I'm going to listen for the info but won't actually watch the footage, how spoilery is the audio?
 
Surprised it seems to keep about the same resolution as BOTW and even be a bit sharper. Especially in handheld, which I honestly expected like it to be 540p or lower.
 
kimbo99 said:
Frame rate cronies who said it was bad before even playing it just got DF pilled. It runs fine.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with wanting good performance! I bought jedi survivor on pc and felt thoroughly ripped off seeing how poorly it ran, and im using a rig with a 4090 in it. Its not always about the hardware, its about how well optimized the game is. I dont think frame rate cronie is a fair term because frame rate is important to a good gaming experience. Id argue it trumps resolution and pure graphical prowess in that regard. Either way, glad to see nintendo improved performance, but we should always want our games to perform well.
 
Looks good! Still disappointed at how the game has kind of a blue/different color filter. Reminds me of a wii game and makes me wish we had games with nice bold colors again, like Wind Waker.
 
this sounds fantastic tbh and better than what I expected, although I know what he means with "not living up to the original trailers". I wonder if at some point indeed Nintendo may have shown a version that would have run on a "Switch Pro" that was alledgedly scrapped at some point.

I am positively surprised by the frame rate analysis in particular coming from the bumpy preview footage. all in all it sounds like a significant enough upgrade from BotW, a game that was beautiful and pleasing to the eyes as is.
 
TanookiTom said:
this sounds fantastic tbh and better than what I expected, although I know what he means with "not living up to the original trailers". I wonder if at some point indeed Nintendo may have shown a version that would have run on a "Switch Pro" that was alledgedly scrapped at some point.

I am positively surprised by the frame rate analysis in particular coming from the bumpy preview footage. all in all it sounds like a significant enough upgrade from BotW, a game that was beautiful and pleasing to the eyes as is.
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I think its just that games are always shown running with more visual splendor before they release, before they do their final optimization pass. Just about everyone does it. Though, id say this downgrade isn't as egregious as something like The Witcher 3, watch_dogs, or rainbow 6 siege was. Even sony has had it happen to them to a lesser extent. Reflective puddles were removed from spiderman despite being shown in trailers. Now was it a big deal? Not at all, but some times devs ambitions simply outpace their target hardware, and they dont realize it til later on.
 
Beanstar40 said:
Nothing wrong with wanting good performance! I bought jedi survivor on pc and felt thoroughly ripped off seeing how poorly it ran, and im using a rig with a 4090 in it. Its not always about the hardware, its about how well optimized the game is. I dont think frame rate cronie is a fair term because frame rate is important to a good gaming experience. Id argue it trumps resolution and pure graphical prowess in that regard. Either way, glad to see nintendo improved performance, but we should always want our games to perform well.
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I 100% agree with you but you should see the outcry from some folks. I am 100% for good performance and high frame rate but if DF says it's fine then those guys were just waffling and scared for no reason.
 
Not watching the video but the cutscene compression thing is a curious choice, innit? They had loads of room on the cart. Unless they really want to keep the file size down for digital as well or something
 
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basically what we saw, almost no visual improvements, but for very good reasons i suppose.

I still very much welcome the slightly superior resolution and fps.

Overall im muuuch more pleased with what the switch gave us than what the wii u gave us. A lot of wii u games looked nice, but they felt incredibly safe and relied on artstyles to look decent.

Like, MPR and TOTK of course benefit so much from great artstyles but the games themselves are so impressive technically too.

Im very excited with what how the games might look in the next console. Especially shadows, those have been a rough spot on the switch sadly lol.
 
Beanstar40 said:
I think its just that games are always shown running with more visual splendor before they release, before they do their final optimization pass. Just about everyone does it. Though, id say this downgrade isn't as egregious as something like The Witcher 3, watch_dogs, or rainbow 6 siege was. Even sony has had it happen to them to a lesser extent. Reflective puddles were removed from spiderman despite being shown in trailers. Now was it a big deal? Not at all, but some times devs ambitions simply outpace their target hardware, and they dont realize it til later on.
Click to expand...
I agree that it's usually not a big deal. One thing I did notice though (and I don't consider myself overly sensitive to such things) is that the early trailers looked very crisp to me, whereas the final game seems more in line with the BotW 900p resolution. but either way it looks amazing and i am just happy that it also runs well.
 
Mr Doggo said:
basically what we saw, almost no visual improvements, but for very good reasons i suppose.

I still very much welcome the slightly superior resolution and fps.

Overall im muuuch more pleased with what the switch gave us than what the wii u gave us. A lot of wii u games looked nice, but they felt incredibly safe and relied on artstyles to look decent.

Like, MPR and TOTK of course benefit so much from great artstyles but the games themselves are so impressive technically too.

Im very excited with what how the games might look in the next console. Especially shadows, those have been a rough spot on the switch sadly lol.
Click to expand...
Honestly the little improvements they've made go a long way to making something that looks noticeably nicer than BotW imo. If the next game or a potential next-gen TotK gets on or near the level of that first trailer, it's going to be even more impressive. Particularly if they implement that extra layer of cell shading that @brainchild noticed in his analysis.
 
lattjeful said:
Honestly the little improvements they've made go a long way to making something that looks noticeably nicer than BotW imo. If the next game or a potential next-gen TotK gets on or near the level of that first trailer, it's going to be even more impressive. Particularly if they implement that extra layer of cell shading that @brainchild noticed in his analysis.
Click to expand...
They definitely focused on a big increase in mechanical complexity. The visual/performance improvements are icing on the cake.
 
Not kidding, I cancelled my pre-order. I want that performance fix on the game card, which is gonna take some time.
 
Quoted by: Ab
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neil said:
That sounds good enough for me. Thanks for the summary, I don't wanna watch the video in case it's spoiler-y.
Click to expand...
Yea, thank you to the people who made the threads for this and included spoiler free summaries!
 
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lattjeful said:
Honestly the little improvements they've made go a long way to making something that looks noticeably nicer than BotW imo. If the next game or a potential next-gen TotK gets on or near the level of that first trailer, it's going to be even more impressive. Particularly if they implement that extra layer of cell shading that @brainchild noticed in his analysis.
Click to expand...
speaking of cell shading, there's a texture layer who's purpose I'm not sure of still. perhaps controlling the lighting? the texturing for the characters is very simple otherwise. the cell shading isn't complex at all from that perspective
 
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Had expected some form of reconstruction based on the preview footage. It looks a lot sharper, but also more artifacty. Will see how my TV handles it. Should be fine handheld at least!

The patch not being on-cart is a shame... but that's a problem for future Muppet. If I really LURVE the game I might get a cart with DLC and everything on it a few years down the line.
 
lattjeful said:
Honestly the little improvements they've made go a long way to making something that looks noticeably nicer than BotW imo. If the next game or a potential next-gen TotK gets on or near the level of that first trailer, it's going to be even more impressive. Particularly if they implement that extra layer of cell shading that @brainchild noticed in his analysis.
Click to expand...

To be clear, that character AO layer is still there in the pre-rendered cutscenes, but it was definitely disabled in game.

On topic, I think DF's analysis of this game is pretty great. Happy to hear about the performance improvements.

There have been a lot of visual improvements but they're not very dramatic so I can see why they've flown under the radar. When I have some time, I'll see if I can do some comparisons to show off the fidelity improvements in cubemap resolution, material response, global illumination, and ambient occlusion. Right now though I'm just gonna focus on enjoying the game.
 
brainchild said:
To be clear, that character AO layer is still there in the pre-rendered cutscenes, but it was definitely disabled in game.

On topic, I think DF's analysis of this game is pretty great. Happy to hear about the performance improvements.

There have been a lot of visual improvements but they're not very dramatic so I can see why they've flown under the radar. When I have some time, I'll see if I can do some comparisons to show off the fidelity improvements in cubemap resolution, material response, global illumination, and ambient occlusion. Right now though I'm just gonna focus on enjoying the game.
Click to expand...
You and me both! Only get to play Tears of the Kingdom for the first time once. Enjoy it!
 
Sounds good to me. I don't expect miracles from the Switch hardware but pretty happy with this.
 
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kimbo99 said:
Frame rate cronies who said it was bad before even playing it just got DF pilled. It runs fine.
Click to expand...
WTF is a "frame rate cronie"?

Honestly, some of the tech talk smacks of silly fanboysim from supporters of the low-powered console.
There is nothing wrong with wanting high resolution, FPS, effects, better sound etc.
Nintendo have amazing artists but games have been held back for years because of poor image quality, lack of AA etc.
Wanting to get the best out of that great art is normal .
 
How spoilery is the video? I know about a couple things existing but I'd rather not SEE too much of them

the depths and dungeons
 
Dcubed said:
So... no real improvements over BOTW, but also achieves the same level of image quality and performance on the same hardware?

Shocking.
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Improved image quality, much-improved framerate stability, gigantic open world with no transitional loads, more robust and complex world simulations.
 
Dcubed said:
So... no real improvements over BOTW, but also achieves the same level of image quality and performance on the same hardware?

Shocking.
Click to expand...

No, there are tons of improvements, they just didn't waste them on chasing the low hanging fruit of resolution over everything else.

The skydiving without needing any loads as well as the astounding amount that can apparently be done with the fusing abilities would have absolutely killed BOTW without a ton of technical wizardry being implemented that wasn't done for BOTW
 
kvetcha said:
Improved image quality, much-improved framerate stability, gigantic open world with no transitional loads, more robust and complex world simulations.
Click to expand...

Image Quality is a wash between the two, because while the FSR might resolve a cleaner image in stills, it's actually lower res than BOTW when the camera is turning. In the end, it's basically a tie.

Framerate is basically the same between the two. BOTW only really slowed down noticably in Kakariko Village (which it still does in TOTK) and in Korok Forest; otherwise it was a very stable 30FPS. TOTK has similar slowdowns when Ultra Hand is active.

The rest all applies to BOTW in basically equal measure. Yes, the world in TOTK is larger, but it's not like the game is actually loading or rendering the entire thing all in one go; so it's not exactly taxing the system any more than the original BOTW (hence the same level of performance). It's just now taking advantage of that extra 2.3GB of RAM that the Wii U never had.

In the end, it's exactly the level of performance you should've expected. It's basically the same as the original BOTW. The only real noticable technical improvement is the faster loading times (again, probably coming from the fact that they can now actually make use of that extra RAM that the Switch has over the Wii U).
 
Still cannot tell if this game is for me or not.
I loved aspects of BoTW, but also missed more traditional ones that were done well in Skyward Sword.
 
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ILikeFeet said:
there's not much you can do when you come close to maxing out the system day one
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That's my ultimate takeaway here. It's pretty sad that a new console basically reached its full potential with a Wii U port on day 1, but that's the state of modern video game consoles and game development I suppose. What you see on day 1 now reflects the entire future of a console (and the same is also true of PS4, PS5, Xbone and Xbox Series).

The days of game developers squeezing every last drop of juice out of a console over its lifetime as they learn the ins and outs of its hardware are long gone. For better or worse, you will never see the same-console advancements that we used to see back in the days of the 16 & 32 bit eras, or even the PS3/360 generation ever again.
 
Armoured_Bear said:
WTF is a "frame rate cronie"?

Honestly, some of the tech talk smacks of silly fanboysim from supporters of the low-powered console.
There is nothing wrong with wanting high resolution, FPS, effects, better sound etc.
Nintendo have amazing artists but games have been held back for years because of poor image quality, lack of AA etc.
Wanting to get the best out of that great art is normal .
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong in wanting a more powerful console. Hearing for years that every big-budget game is going to be "literally unplayable" on Switch is tiring, though. At the same time, several big-budget games released in the last few years were "obviously running on Switch Pro", and yet Monster Hunter Rise, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids 2 and TotK have been released on the 2017 hardware, proving that yes, you can have ambitious games on the original Switch with some acceptable compromises.
 
Gingerbread Man said:
There's nothing wrong in wanting a more powerful console. Hearing for years that every big-budget game is going to be "literally unplayable" on Switch is tiring, though. At the same time, several big-budget games released in the last few years were "obviously running on Switch Pro", and yet Monster Hunter Rise, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids 2 and TotK have been released on the 2017 hardware, proving that yes, you can have ambitious games on the original Switch with some acceptable compromises.
Click to expand...
The "obviously running on Switch Pro" bit was nonsense though.
The facts are that Switch is now 7 years old and only slightly more powerful than its predecessor and in computing power something like a twentieth of the power of a PS5 and if you play PS5 and Switch games, it shows.
Switch was fantastic technically for a hybrid of it's time but it really is showing it's age, I'm counting the minutes to get something more modern.
 
Dcubed said:
That's my ultimate takeaway here. It's pretty sad that a new console basically reached its full potential with a Wii U port on day 1, but that's the state of modern video game consoles and game development I suppose. What you see on day 1 now reflects the entire future of a console (and the same is also true of PS4, PS5, Xbone and Xbox Series).

The days of game developers squeezing every last drop of juice out of a console over its lifetime as they learn the ins and outs of its hardware are long gone. For better or worse, you will never see the same-console advancements that we used to see back in the days of the 16 & 32 bit eras, or even the PS3/360 generation ever again.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if I'd say this is a point for all systems. the thing about the Switch is that it's an off the shelf SoC that wasn't designed for gaming. the PS5 and XBO definitely gotten better as the systems went on in life, as will the PS5 and Series thanks to the new rendering advancements. we haven't seen Nanite and other micropixel geometry renderers come to life yet, and ray tracing is still coming up fast. Jedi Survivor and Fortnite are just teases, I think
 
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