It's more than fair to say that when Cyberpunk 2077 initially launched, its performance was… poor. This isn't even a particularly contested point; developer CD Projekt Red has admitted outright that it was a disastrous release initially. "Initially" being the operative word here, because from my time with Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2, you'd likely never know if you didn't already.
During a hands-on Nintendo Switch 2 event, I spent roughly 20 minutes roaming around a small prepared section of the game. Specifically, the save loaded up had me performing a mission in Dogtown – so, part of the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion – trying to upload a virus of sorts in order to prevent a bomb from going off. Oh, you know, just another day in Night City.
The actual mission isn't anything new though, so while I was invested enough to plug away at the quest requirements by exploring an underground area below Dogtown's stadium, what I was actually paying attention to (as much as the quickly deteriorating situation allowed) was how Cyberpunk 2077 performed and handled on Switch 2.
No, you're breathtaking
Developer: CD Projekt RED
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: June 5, 2025
From my admittedly brief experience, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition seems to play pretty well on the Nintendo Switch 2. It's not going to blow anyone with a high-end PC rig away, but I was genuinely shocked to not see more telltale signs of the hardware struggling to render everything I was trying to do. Instead of grinding to a halt graphically as I zoomed into the middle of a bunch of enemies, tossing grenades haphazardly and firing from the hip, it simply… kept up with all of my shenanigans.
While I'm not really the guy to ask about pixels and hardware and so on, anecdotally playing Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition largely reminded me of playing on PC with somewhere between "Medium" to "High" settings. It looked more than passable, good even at times, and didn't struggle with anything I had to throw at it. Otherwise, for better and worse, it's just Cyberpunk 2077 (plus the Phantom Liberty DLC expansion) for a new console.
Even with all of those caveats, it's still impressive to see in action. While playing, I couldn't stop thinking about what Cyberpunk 2077 of all games playing well on Switch 2 likely means for all of the other possibilities. If Cyberpunk 2077 can come to the Nintendo Switch 2 without much in the way of compromises, there's pretty much nothing stopping developers from bringing everything and anything that straddles the PS4/PS5 console release cycle.
And it really does appear to be a fully content-complete version of Cyberpunk 2077, with the Ultimate Edition packaging together the base game and the Phantom Liberty expansion. While going about my assigned, demo-approved task, the text message notification kicking off the Balatro collaboration side quest triggered almost immediately. I chose to follow the critical path so as not to give my very kind demo attendant a heart attack, but it did seemingly confirm that there's going to effectively be parity between different versions of the game.
But honestly, getting any more granular than that is probably a fool's errand. Cyberpunk 2077 will be playable on Nintendo Switch 2 from day one. Is that the best way to play the open-world RPG? Well, that depends on how you define "best", probably. If you're fully invested in the Nintendo ecosystem but not others, finally getting real, solid access to Cyberpunk 2077 that feels good to play is almost certainly enough. Not having access at all to suddenly the floodgates being thrown open is a big deal on its own.
I walked away from my time with Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition impressed. This represents a massive statement of intent from Nintendo – a signal that it's ready to court some of the biggest third-party releases in the industry, and that the Switch 2 is more than ready to handle them. I'll need to wait until June 5 to see how the full adventure holds up in handheld mode, but what I've played so far has left me ready to dive back into Night City all over again.
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