Today, I’m adding two more games to the list of games that have seen improvements when played on Nintendo Switch 2. Let’s have a look!

Sky: Children of the Light

Genre: 3D Exploration

Players: 1-8 (Online)

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS

When I originally reviewed this game on Nintendo Switch years ago, I said it was one of the most visually-stunning games on Nintendo Switch. I stand by that claim, but I would have to add some extra qualifiers to that, because looking at the game years later, whether it’s because my TV setup is better now or I have a more discerning eye, it’s easier to see the seams.

There are framerate issues in places, and an overall low resolution, though to some extent this will depend on your settings – I’m not sure if I missed this in my earlier review, but there are now multiple independent graphical settings, and you can actually independently set the graphical quality and framerate cap. And that is absolutely something that seems like it could make for a lot of potential when playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2 via backwards-compatibility.

When playing this game on Nintendo Switch 2, I noticed some good, and some bad. Let’s talk about the bad first. One of the more recent events the game has been updated to include kicks off a cutscene, and on Nintendo Switch 2 this played like an absolute slide show for a few seconds. It was honestly kinda’ shocking. Also, this game has some sort of filter or static-like pattern overlay that’s easier to see when the screen is dark, and this pattern has been enhanced when playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2, making dark scenes seem… well, oddly staticky. Neither of these is a deal-breaker, but it’s important to note that Sky: Children of the Light doesn’t transition as smoothly to Nintendo Switch 2 as some other games.

That said, players can now feel free to set all of their graphics settings to their highest and get a nice resolution and smooth 60FPS framerate during gameplay, even in areas where I noticed framerate drops when testing the game on Nintendo Switch. In fact, this can make some textures that haven’t been upgraded stand out by contrast.

Ultimately, I do think Sky: Children of the Light benefits from being played on Nintendo Switch 2 more than it is harmed by it. The complaints I have are minor, and mostly you’ll encounter those issues at times when it matters the least, when you’re not engaged in gameplay. That’s absolutely a trade I’ll make for better, cleaner, smoother visuals during gameplay, and if you’re wondering whether to play this game on Nintendo Switch 2, I would tell you that it’s definitely something you’ll want to try, especially with it being free-to-play.

tl;dr – Sky: Children of the Light is a free-to-play 3D Exploration game that follows directly in the footsteps of the developer’s prior game, Journey. While it never quite reaches the level of simple elegance or the emotional heights of that legendary game, Sky is nevertheless an audiovisual masterpiece that on balance looks better on Nintendo Switch 2. It’s certainly worth a try for those who are curious, especially with the price tag of “free”.

Grade: B+

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Genre: Open-World First-Person Action-RPG

Players: 1

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: ZeniMax Media Inc

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Review:

(Note: This review is regarding the Nintendo Switch version of the game running on Nintendo Switch 2. If you’re curious to learn about the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, you can see me talk about that here.)

As I write this, The Elder Scrolls is now 14 years old, has been ported to countless platforms, and re-released numerous times. And in some ways, Skyrim has aged quite well – this is still one of my favorite games of all-time, and to this day no one has managed to make anything else quite like it, not even Bethesda themselves. However, in other ways, Skyrim is really starting to show its age.

When I wrote my original review for the Nintendo Switch version of this game years ago, I was thoroughly satisfied with the visual presentation – this was, after all, one of the greatest games of all time playing in uncompromised form on a handheld device. However, “uncompromised” is kinda’ a matter of perspective here – while this game’s 2017 release on Nintendo Switch is a solid port of the original release of the game on platforms like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it was already falling behind the Anniversary Edition of the game released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One a year prior in 2016, and while an upgraded “Anniversary Edition” was released on Nintendo Switch years afterward, it had none of the visual enhancements nor the full mod support that other platforms enjoyed.

I know that I’m supposed to be talking about playing this game on the Nintendo Switch 2, but I feel like I need to put this in proper context – the Nintendo Switch version of the game looks pretty ugly by today’s standards, especially with the low resolution. Yes, when I originally wrote this review roughly a half a decade ago, I praised the 720p 30fps presentation, but now it’s hard to look at this game with all the terrible shimmering and aliasing and pop-in and just overall dated visuals.

And I’ll tell you right now, playing this game on Nintendo Switch 2 fixes absolutely none of that.

I’ve seen elsewhere people claiming that this game’s performance takes a hit around areas like Riften, but honestly I don’t see that myself, so saying that the performance in that area is fine on Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t going to mean much. And all of the problems I did see in the Nintendo Switch version of the game, that I outlined above, all of those are still very much present on Nintendo Switch 2.

That’s not to say there’s no improvement at all here, though. The Nintendo Switch 2 massively slashes load times. On the Nintendo Switch, it took me 48 seconds to load into the title screen, and another 45 seconds to load up a game save. On Nintendo Switch 2, loading into that exact same game save took 13 seconds to get to the title screen and 18 seconds to load up the game. Even this on its own is a pretty incredible improvement over playing the game on Nintendo Switch.

However, let’s be honest about things – playing Skyrim on Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t even remotely close to the experience of playing it on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S. Heck, this is still lousy even compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As much as it pains me to say it, and as much as I know Bethesda’s top executive Todd Howard will salivate to hear it, the Nintendo Switch 2 really needs its own native version of this game. And yeah, if they release a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition version of Skyrim, I will probably buy it. Again. For the… fifth time? Sixth?

As for the Nintendo Switch version of the game running on a Nintendo Switch 2, how do I grade this game? This is still one of the greatest games ever made, and this is indeed better than playing the game on Nintendo Switch, even if only because of the improvements to loading times. But at the same time, playing Skyrim like this in 2025… it’s a massive disappointment.

Despite that I feel like the A++ grade I gave this game all those years ago was justified at the time, and despite that it’s better on Nintendo Switch 2, I feel like I need to give the game a worse grade here. Nintendo Switch 2 owners deserve better than this, and until Bethesda delivers a better version for this platform, I can’t let it slide that this game still plays far worse than versions released nearly a full decade ago.

tl;dr – Skyrim is an Open-World Action-RPG that gives players a huge, detailed world with an epic storyline, and lets them decide what they want to do in that world. This version of the game includes all of the expansions to the game, and adds in a few unique features of its own, such as gyroscopic aiming. And playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2 brings a marked improvement to loading times. However, for Nintendo Switch 2 to still be running the game at 720P 30FPS, without the mod support or graphical overhaul other platforms received nearly a decade ago, just feels plain wrong. This is still one of the greatest videogames of all-time, but it’s hard to justify how dated the visuals and performance are on Nintendo Switch 2.

Grade: A-

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I hope you enjoyed this latest batch of Nintendo Switch 2 Difference Mini-Reviews, and found them to be helpful! Want to see all Nintendo Switch 2 Difference comparisons? Check out this page for links to every article where I’ve included these comparisons!

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