Maybe one of the crucial stunning bulletins of Tokyo Recreation Present, was Aquaplus saying that they’d be porting the complete Utawarerumono Trilogy to Nintendo Swap – which was made much more baffling, when the ports, which launch on January 30, 2025 in Japan – had been already all playable publicly on the showfloor the exact same day of the announcement. On the Happinet shared sales space, and with quite a lot of cosplayers in tow – Saraana, Uruuru and Munechika – we had the prospect to go hands-on with what Japanese gamers, and hopefully western followers, will be capable to expertise in just some quick months.
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To be blunt; I did not have extremely excessive expectations for these ports from the get-go. We took the prospect to check Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen on a docked Nintendo Swap setup, and all the points that I highlighted with earlier ports of the trilogy stay the identical. A 30 FPS cap, a low – seemingly 720p – decision, all the identical points I dinged the PC model for a number of years again.
This would possibly not matter a lot in handheld mode, which is frankly what these variations are for. The PC ports for the trilogy already run on just about any {hardware}, which is why they’ve already been a simple suggestion for the Steam Deck. That does not change the truth that maybe showcasing these ports whereas docked wasn’t one of the best transfer; even when they are not all that far off from the PlayStation 4 and PC releases, no less than with out the assistance of mods.
For what it is value – if I had been to play the sequence right now, I most likely would’ve thought of these variations. I initially performed the trilogy on Vita, which was operating at one thing resembling 240p outdoors of VN scenes to start with; and whereas I like my Steam Deck, I do typically choose to learn Visible Novels in mattress, the place a Nintendo Swap Lite is good.
Past that – there’s not a lot else to say. They’re stable ports that appear about as put-together as anybody may’ve hoped. Positive, I may want that Aquaplus may enhance the decision a tad for docked mode, however that does not seem to be it should ever occur at this level. Not less than in a roundabout means that technical compromise appears much less obtrusive for Nintendo Swap, particularly if the decision stays crisp in handheld mode – which if nothing else, I am moderately assured it should look much better than it did on Vita. Whereas we solely examined Prelude to the Fallen, contemplating all 3 video games have shared the identical technical specs throughout every platform – we do not anticipate any actual variations.
As for when western gamers will get an opportunity to play these – I’ve received no clue. Because it seems, NIS America discovered about these ports after I discussed them throughout an appointment simply outdoors of the present final week; whether or not which means they will pursue a localization, that is anybody’s guess. If they may, likelihood is we cannot know till nearer to the launch for these ports in Japan, as even easy negotiations will after all take time.
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Whatever the scenario – it is good to see Aquaplus porting their video games to Nintendo {hardware}, even when it’d really feel like this has been a very long time coming. Hopefully this may solely imply good tidings for Aquaplus, and Utawarerumono, within the close to future. After all, we’ll have to attend to search out out; Utawarerumono Trilogy launches on January 30, 2025 in Japan. Digital and separate retail releases of every particular person recreation will launch afterward March 27, 2025.