Nintendo Switch 2 developers are not using console's best features

Nintendo Switch 2 has launched with a number of great games but some of those available from third-party developers have not taken advantage of some of the console's best and unique features.

indy100 has been hands-on with the Switch 2 console and some of its third-party titles including Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman World of Assassination, Split Fiction and Survival Kids.

There's one exception but the majority of these played so far are guilty of not utilising the Switch 2 to its full potential in different ways.

Starting with Hitman World of Assassination from IO Interactive, while its varying degrees of performance due to its uncapped frame rate is one thing, something that has been controversial ever since the game released in the first place is incredibly glaring with the Switch 2 port.

And that is the online requirement.

It needs an online connection for progress to be carried over. It's largely not an issue if players just want to play through the campaign, but if gamers want to play other parts on the go, without an internet connection, it seems they can't. Saves are split into online and offline.

It's something that completely goes against what the Switch 2 is all about in being able to carry on games seamlessly on the go.

Controls are traditional too - there are no gyro controls or mouse functionality, the game basically plays the same way it does on all other consoles. There is no cross progression support either despite the option to link accounts.

With Split Fiction from Hazelight Studios, one thing indy100 just can't look past is despite the Switch 2 having two Joy-Con controllers right there ready to go, they cannot be used individually. In other words, the left and right Joy-Cons cannot be split and have to be used together, limiting couch co-op unless more controls are owned.

Split Fiction is one of the games guilty of not utilising the Switch 2's best features - but it's not alone / Nintendo

It's the same story from Hazelight Studios with It Takes Two on the original Switch and just feels like such an obvious missed opportunity, especially when both games can only be played in co-op.

In fairness, Friend's Pass, Crossplay and GameShare work incredibly well with it but these are all for online play and not couch co-op. Admittedly, original Switch controllers are compatible.

Moving on to Survival Kids from Konami, it doesn't do anything wrong necessarily, given that it's an extremely accessible game and is specifically designed for a younger audience, but it would have been even more fun to be able to use some of the Switch 2's controls to perform certain actions.

For example, instead of just using buttons to reel fish in, it would have been great to be able to cast a line using the gyro controls.

Having said all of this, there is one game from a third-party developer that's got it pretty well spot on - and that's CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077. In terms of Switch 2 specific features, Cyberpunk 2077 can be played with motion, mouse and touch controls.

As well as the Joy-Cons and Pro controller offering traditional options, players can use motion controls to perform swings and dodges with a blade, throw knives, reload and heal. Mouse controls can also be used to play more like on PC with better precision when aiming and touch screen to navigate menus more easily.

These give players much more freedom as to how they want to play and it's incredibly fun to experiment and try out these different control types. There's even the ability to cross-save to carry on progress from other platforms with a linked account.

With a game as (eventually) successful, big and ambitious as this, CD Projekt Red didn't need to do all of this - but it did and has done so very successfully as these controls can all be tweaked to the player's preference.

CD Projekt Red has shown with Cyberpunk 2077 how a Switch 2 port can be done. The console is very much in its infancy but hopefully more developers will look at this as an example and follow suit.

Elsewhere from indy100, our review of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour and are The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 upgrades worth it?

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