System Shock Remake on Nintendo Switch 2 has launched in an unfortunate state, but developer Nightdive Studios is adamant that the game will be fixed up to the usual level of Nighhtdive quality in the coming months.

Speaking to FRVR after the release of the new Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 port, Nightdive confirmed that additional patches are in development for the latest port of the studio’s brilliant immersive sim. The interview was conducted after the initial patch for the game had already released.

Right now, the port of System Shock to the Nintendo Switch 2 has a rather fluctuating framerate. While the game doesn’t drop below 30fps, it does shift quite rapidly between 30fps and 60fps, and future patches will make sure the game hits its target on the new handheld.

“We already have a number of fixes pending that we’re very excited [for] the next patch out because it’s just going to make the experience that much more stable,” technical producer Justin Khan said. “Why there wasn’t a [30fps] cap or why we’re targeting 60 frames-per-second is because we saw that the Switch 2 hardware was capable of it.”

Khan explained that there is the GPU headroom in the Nintendo Switch 2 to get a consistent high framerate in System Shock remake. “We’re confident that we can hit that very smooth 60 frames-per-second with the frame[rate] locked on Switch 2 basically all of the time.”

“In the future, we’re going to be better prepared for tackling just any sort of handheld platform.”

Nightdive technical producer Justin Khan

Nightdive is currently working on Nintendo Switch 2 specific versions of effects that will bring the game’s performance back up to the usual level of quality fans expect from the studio, as well as implementing touchscreen controls for the game’s inventory screens.

Unlike other games Nightdive releases, System Shock remake runs on Unreal Engine 4 instead of the studio’s in-house KEX Engine. While the team does have a lot of experience with the tools, bringing the game to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 was a challenge with Khan explaining this was “the first time that we had ever attempted to do something like that with an engine that’s not ours”.

“We learned a lot.. about the hardware and all of its intricacies on both the Switch and Switch 2 platforms which, you know, they’re quite different beasts,” he continued. “I think knowing what we know now, in the future, we’re going to be better prepared for tackling just any sort of handheld platform.”

While the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game has struggled, that version has overshadowed the extremely impressive port of the game to the original 2017 Nintendo Switch. Running on a very underpowered mobile chipset with just 3GB of RAM available for developers was a huge challenge, and the team brought the game to the handheld with a consistent 30fps with smart visual cuts.

“Nintendo says, because of the hardware, because of the GPU inside the Switch 1, the Tegra X1, that you should not be running your deferred rendered games on the hardware,” Khan continued. “The gist of it is [that] forward rendered games have a lot of baked lighting… but System Shock is a game that allows you to shoot our every single light across Citadel Station and thus we can’t possibly bake lighting.”

Khan explained that the team did talk about replacing simulated lights with baked options, but it would’ve made the game not System Shock. With that said, the team has since discovered that the title is one of “a handful of games that are deferred rendered on Switch because of just how much of an additional technical lift there is with having that sort of rendering pipeline on the Tegra X1”.

“There were quite a number of times where, honestly, we didn’t think we would be able to claw back the performance that we would have needed in order to actually make it a playable experience on Switch 1,” Khan said.

While the Nintendo Switch 2 version of System Shock 2 is a little messy right now, the older Switch 1 version of the game stands with the likes of The Witcher 3 and DOOM 2016 as one of the system’s miracle ports. As Nightdive continues to work on perfecting the performance of the more intensive Switch 2 version, hopefully, both systems’ players will be happy.