Borderlands 3 Switch impressions

I have a long history with the Borderlands franchise, with a few hundred hours in Borderlands 3 on PC. Now it’s available on the Nintendo Switch as well. So how does one of my favorite looter-shooters hold up on the little handheld console?

Fairly well, actually, especially given its size. The main game takes up 8.4 GB. The DLC is an additional 10.4 GB, or 15 GB if you include the additional voiceover language pack. Compared to the 138.9 GB of the Steam version, Borderlands 3 on the Switch is tiny!

The game itself runs quite well on the Switch. Framerates felt pretty stable in the 30-45 FPS range, rarely dropping to a noticeable degree. The controls feel fine, and there are plenty of button customization options if something isn’t working for you. The gameplay is still good ol’ Borderlands. The guns are punchy, the reloads are snappy, and the action skills are spicy.

Some corners were definitely cut, though. You can see it in the lighting, which looks flatter overall compared to the PC version at high settings. Some of the textures have a noticeably lower resolution, most apparent when looking at your hand holding your gun. Some particle and distortion effects have been reduced. The Borderlands art style holds up well, though, and the stylization goes a long way toward masking a lot of the toned-down visuals.

The biggest downgrade is in the co-op function. The Switch version of Borderlands 3 only supports 2-player co-op, not the 4-player party that’s normally a Borderlands staple. Crossplay is not available, so you’ll only be able to co-op with other Switch players. I tried to matchmake with another player for co-op but was unable to find a match.

Bugs, and I don’t mean varkids

Aside from the co-op limitations, my biggest complaint is the bugs. There are several issues that aren’t game-breaking but very much noticeable. Here are just the ones I found over several hours of gameplay:

• Some Vault Hunter body customizations don’t work with skins.
• There’s no physics for clothing items, so Vaughn’s cape and Tyreen’s coat just hang rigidly from their shoulders.
• Skag calls always sound very close, even when they’re far away.
• Subtitles are displayed over a black bar, and the black bar sometimes persists through combat or cutscenes.
• Ammo models sometimes refuse to load for a minute or so.

None of the above make the game unplayable, but they do introduce a bit of jank. Some players have been reporting frequent crashes, though I haven’t experienced a single crash myself. I hoped the update shortly after the game’s launch would fix a few of these issues, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Hopefully, at least some of them get addressed in a future patch.

What does the Ultimate Edition get you?

The Ultimate Edition of Borderlands 3 brings more than just the base game to Nintendo Switch. The full list of DLC comprises of:

• Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot
• Guns, Love, and Tentacles
• Bounty of Blood
• Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck
• Designer’s Cut
• Director’s Cut
• Various cosmetic packs

The first four are story DLC, each featuring a story campaign with new characters in new locations. All four are absolutely worth downloading and playing. The story campaigns in each DLC are (in my opinion) better than the main campaign in the base game. They add some neat DLC-exclusive loot too, some of which are absolute game-changers for certain classes.

The Designer’s Cut adds a new skill tree for each class, adding more build variety and room for creative gameplay. It also adds the Arms Race mode, which has been generally positively received, even if I personally found it repetitive.

The Director’s Cut includes some smaller missions that center around Ava solving a murder mystery for her podcast. There’s also a new boss — Hemovorous/Vermivorous the Invincible — and some behind-the-scenes bonus content that can be accessed from the main menu. There are also three Vault Cards that function like battle passes.

The cosmetic packs are okay, or they would be if some of the cosmetics weren’t bugged. They include some body type customizations for each Vault Hunter, and these look different enough from the default. The problem is that some of the bodies appear to be incompatible with skins, which change the Vault Hunter’s colors and patterns. This is exclusively a Switch issue; I couldn’t replicate this bug on PC.

Tl;dr: Borderlands 3 on Switch is fine

Borderlands 3 on the Nintendo Switch is a complete experience. There’s plenty of content to enjoy, and the actual gameplay is solid. Co-op is limited to two players with no crossplay. There are a handful of bugs that do dampen the experience, but they’re generally not game-breaking. It may not be the best way to enjoy the game, but it’s definitely still Borderlands 3.

[This piece is based on the Ultimate Edition of the game provided by the publisher.]