Does the new Zelda work well? We tell you everything in this technical analysis of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, with a video framerate test.
The time for the new Zelda has arrived. Nintendo premieres this Friday, May 12, its new great masterpiece for Switch. In our analysis of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom we have told you everything that Link’s new adventure does well, and very well. But, How does it work at the level of performance and graphics quality? That is what we are going to focus on here, with the technical analysis of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
Does Zelda Tears of the Kingdom work well on Switch? Technical analysis
The first thing to mention about this installment is that the workload for the hardware is higher than in Breath of the Wild. Nintendo Switch holds up surprisingly well in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, with totally natural transitions and no load times when going from the sky of Hyrule to the ground, but also to the underground.
Even so, before that, let’s talk about the rates of FPS and maximum resolution of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom in TV Mode and Portable Mode. We review them below, accompanied by a video with a framerate test of the game:
TV mode – 1600×900 at 30 frames per second.
Portable mode – 1280×720 at 30 frames per second.
Doing magic to keep the type
The AMD FidelityFX technology It helps to maintain greater image clarity, although the use of dynamic resolution is noticeable on certain occasions. When there is a greater load, be it due to more enemies on the screen, intensive use of physics due to Link’s new powers, or even use of Alpha effects (by drawing the semi-transparent meshes that appear with some powers), Tears of the Kingdom uses a system layered optimization.
First, lower the resolution to try to keep the rate of 30 FPS stable. In case there is a more demanding scene and this method does not work, the game starts to reduce your FPS in blocks of 5 at a timewith a 20 FPS ground in the cases we have checked. This process is also applied in reverse, although you can see it better in the video above.
as far as the eye can see
Another of the highlights of the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom technical sectionand that we could not miss in this analysis, is how has the draw distance improved. The pop-in is much better camouflaged than in Breath of the Wild, although it is unavoidable especially when jumping from the Celestial Isles.
However, more detail is appreciated in the distance. The geoglyphs are easily identified and it is even possible see structures and NPCs much sooner than in the previous game. To do this, Tears of the Kingdom uses a pretty smart LODwith models smoothly transitioning from less to more detail as you get closer to them.
In fact, where it is least noticeable is precisely in heaven. The orography of the islands of the air is not very complex, and that, combined with the color palette and the distances, means that this pop-in is hardly appreciated. Even so, the Dawn Island It is where it is most accused, and where the image quality suffers the most. And it is no coincidence, since it is one of the most complex in the entire game.
your shadow sounds to me
He Lighting systemwho was already spectacular on an artistic level in Breath of the Wild, has given a twist on Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Although the shading is practically identical, with a system of ambient occlusion quite accurate, TOTK simulates lens flare effects which we did not expect and, in fact, manages to further reinforce the gaming atmosphere with its new lighting.
Where the change is most noticeable is in the underground areas. link can generate points of light with certain objects, achieving a surprising ambient light for how successful it is, but also because it renounces the dynamic lighting that usually affects other elements of the game.
Besides, shadow resolutions are about the same than in Breath of the Wild, except for Link, whose shadow is generally sharper than the rest of the objects.
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom can be, perfectly, Nintendo’s most ambitious game released on Switch not only because of its mechanics, but also because of technical level. It is the first time that such a large and interactive world has been recreated with such ambition in a laptop hardware and manages to maintain the type in this way.
Web Oficial de Zelda Tears of the Kingdom