Blizzard’s Diablo 4 is now available on Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s a mostly solid port. Following the pretty brilliant release of Diablo 2 Resurrected on Nintendo’s prior handheld, I had high expectations for the release of the series’ most recent game.
For the most part, Diablo 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 is as expected. As Diablo 4 moves to seasonal-only updates as Blizzard works on Diablo 5, this port comes with the game’s two expansions as well as support for future seasonal content. Everything is here: every asset has been compressed and chucked onto Nintendo’s handheld, coming in at just 71GB compared to the game’s massive 90GB base install on other platforms.
Just like the game on every other platform, the Switch 2 port of Diablo 4 is fully capable. It’s an online experience with cross-play and cross-platform saves, allowing you to simply pick up where you left off on any other platform. Going on holiday and only taking your Switch 2? You can continue your ongoing season with the handheld.
The Nintendo Switch 2 port does make use of some internal hardware as well. HD rumble support is mostly okay, although far from the intricacies of first-party Nintendo games, and you can also use the game’s touchscreen to navigate menus in handheld mode. For those who want to use a keyboard and mouse, they’re supported, but the Switch 2’s much-advertised mouse mode is bizarrely unsupported.
As anyone who has played the game on Steam Deck would expect, Diablo 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 does not target 60fps. The game boots in “Enhanced Graphics” mode, which targets 30fps and 1440p docked or 1080p handheld. This mode does look pretty great with ray-traced shadows and enhanced fur that brings out a lot of details marred in its other mode.
With that said, the game is much more playable in its 40fps configuration, which can be played handheld or on a 120Hz-capable display. In this mode, the game does look muddier, especially in handheld mode which is obviously reconstructing from a lower resolution. Nevertheless, 40fps holds strong a decent amount of the time, although it does buckle under some of the game’s more intense fights, and sometimes in random hallways of dungeons.
If you like Diablo 4, or even games like it, this Nintendo Switch 2 version is a fantastic way to play. While the game itself isn’t perfect, the game’s cinematic story is a wonder to behold on the tablet with Blizzard’s fantastic visual design still impressing years after its release. If you’re a newcomer, play the campaign first to completion before you start a seasonal character. Diablo 4 is definitely a campaign you want to experience.
The issue, then, is that Diablo 4 is still an always online experience. Despite the fact that you never really need to team up with people for the majority of content, the game’s design as a pseudo-MMO does require a constant internet connection. This does mean that D4 is at odds with the portability of the Nintendo Switch 2. While you could always connect the game to a mobile hotspot if you’re out and about, the constant connectivity does introduce other problems.
For example, earlier this week, D4 servers were down, and server stability has been intermittent since the release of the game’s Season 15 update. This adds true lag to the game, and sometimes sees your character unable to perform actions for seconds, even going as far as to throw you around the map. You know, standard connection affairs.
Due to how Nintendo’s handheld handles its online connectivity, this means that placing the game in standby mode to grab a drink can result in disconnecting from the server. As with any other version of the game, disconnecting from the server often means losing progress in whatever quest you’re currently engaged in. In one instance, switching from handheld to docked mode also kicked me from the server, but I couldn’t replicate this.
It’s not that the gameplay of Diablo 4 isn’t suited to Nintendo Switch. Just like Diablo 2 Resurrected, the core ARPG foundations are perfect for the portable form factor. Unfortunately, always-online doesn’t fit the handheld, it’s essentially antithetical to the point of one, and I guarentee you’ll sometimes be out and about with your Switch 2 looking at the Diablo 4 icon and muttering something obscene under your breath at some point.
Nevertheless, Blizzard has done a commendable job bringing Diablo 4 to the handheld in any form. Every piece of Diablo 4 content is here and accounted for with a smaller install size. It would be nice if the studio could patch in support for the Joy-Con mouse, even if only twelve people would use it, but it’s already a pretty banging way to play the ARPG in bed, around the house, or on the toilet. (Well, my Wi-Fi doesn’t reach the bathroom for some reason, so maybe not there.)
