Diablo IV Switch 2 & Series X Graphics Comparison
Diablo IV: Age of Hatred Collection has invaded the Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s a spectacular port, earning a What’s It Like? Certified Exceptional status in our recent review. Diablo IV is a technically demanding game, so seeing it running on Nintendo Switch 2 is impressive in itself. But just how close is that Switch 2 version to the Xbox Series X version? Today, we’re putting the two versions side by side to compare character detail, environments, visual effects, textures, asset quality, and performance across both systems. Now, let’s not kid ourselves: the Xbox Series X is a fantastic piece of hardware, and it is considerably more powerful than the Switch 2. So this isn’t intended to be a Switch 2 versus Xbox comparison, or some attempt to suggest that the two consoles are equivalent. Instead, I thought it would be interesting to put the Switch 2 version side by side with the Xbox Series X version to showcase just how much effort has gone into preserving the Diablo IV experience on Nintendo’s hybrid console, while also clearing up a few misconceptions floating around online regarding framerates and visual quality. So, with that out of the way, let’s take a look.
Disclaimer: These tests are designed to highlight details and potential differences that we’re specifically looking for. In normal gameplay, most of these things aren’t particularly noticeable unless you stop and really take a deep dive into what’s happening on screen. For testing, both the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2 were recorded in QHD using the same recording hardware and settings, with the same times of day in-game wherever possible. This gives us as consistent a comparison as we can get, while keeping in mind that we’re looking closely at details that you probably wouldn’t notice during normal gameplay.
Characters
Starting with the characters, all of this footage is captured in Quality Mode, and this is probably the first place where we’re going to start seeing just how closely the Switch 2 version holds up against the Xbox Series X. Starting with my Rogue, the biggest differences I can pick out are in the rendering of the fur on her armour and the shaved side of her head. You can also see some of the DLSS-style speckling that we’ve seen in a number of Switch 2 titles, particularly around finer details like hair. On the Xbox Series X, the hair appears a little softer and more naturally rendered, but beyond that, it’s surprisingly difficult to pick apart the two versions.
We see something similar with my Barbarian and his rather impressive beard. The Xbox once again has a slightly softer presentation around the individual hairs, but when you look beyond that, there’s very little separating the two. The lighting, texture detail and geometry are very similar. As we move through the different characters, this becomes a bit of a recurring theme. Aside from the way the Switch 2 handles finer details like hair and fur, both versions are delivering an almost identical level of visual detail.
This is particularly noticeable with my Warlock. There’s a huge amount of intricate detail packed into this armour, including the various patterns and scripts across the character, and even when we stop and take a close look at those details, there isn’t a huge difference between the two versions. So, across these character comparisons, the biggest takeaway for me is that if you weren’t specifically stopping to compare the two versions side by side, I don’t think most of these differences would be particularly obvious during normal gameplay.
Capital City
Sticking with Quality Mode for the time being, we’re going to take a stroll around the capital and see how both versions handle the environment. We’ll do this during both the day and night, which gives us a chance to look at not only the environmental detail, but also how the lighting changes between the two versions. One of the first things that caught my eye was actually the reflections in the muddy ground. On Switch 2, the water reflections in the mud can appear a little more noticeable, while the Xbox Series X seems to have a bit more detail in the lighting itself. The Xbox also looks smoother as we’re moving through the city, although we’re going to come back to that properly when we get to the framerate comparisons later in the video.
When it comes to the actual assets and environmental detail, though, both systems are very close. The same buildings, objects and environmental assets are present, and at normal viewing distance, both versions look really good. Once we start zooming in, however, some of the differences become easier to spot. The Switch 2 version does have lower-quality texture detail in some areas, and once again we can see some of that upscaling speckling around finer details. Zooming in on the blacksmith gives us another interesting comparison. The Switch 2 image can actually appear a little sharper in terms of the overall image, but when you look at the texture itself, the Xbox Series X retains more fine detail.
And then we have these tracks through the mud, which probably give us one of the clearest examples yet of the difference in texture quality. At normal gameplay distance, it’s something you’d be unlikely to notice, but once we put the two versions directly beside each other and zoom in, the additional texture detail on the Xbox becomes much easier to see.
Finally, doing another lap around the capital during the daytime gives us a good look at the two versions under brighter conditions, and once again, I think the overall takeaway is just how close these two versions are. There are differences when you deliberately go looking for them, particularly in texture detail, but in terms of the actual environmental assets and the overall presentation, we’re still looking at two versions that are really close to parity. There’s also an interesting difference in the installation sizes of the two versions. My Switch 2 installation is sitting at roughly 75GB, while the Xbox Series X version is around 158GB on my system. It’s tempting to assume that the difference is primarily down to higher-resolution textures on Xbox, and that certainly could be one contributing factor, but without confirmation from Blizzard, we can only assume instead of saying that’s definitively the reason for the larger installation.
Framerate
But now onto everyone’s favourite part… framerate. Both the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2 offer a Quality Mode targeting 30 frames per second. When we switch over to Performance Mode, however, that’s where we see a much bigger difference between the two consoles, with the Switch 2 targeting 40 FPS while the Xbox Series X pushes that all the way up to 60 FPS. Interestingly enough, this is also where we start to see some of the more noticeable visual differences between the two versions. Looking at the framerate counters across these recorded sections, both consoles are largely locked to their respective targets. The Switch 2 Performance Mode does show some frame-time fluctuation, but importantly, I don’t find that it has any meaningful impact on gameplay.
I do want to point out that the Switch 2 version can have some noticeable hitches during certain late-campaign moments. They’re certainly there if you’re looking for them, but they’re relatively minor and don’t detract from the overall experience. Now, jumping onto horseback and heading through the desert gives us another interesting look at how the Switch 2 maintains its performance. We can see some level-of-detail pop-in, particularly with the ground textures, as the game streams assets in while we’re travelling at speed. At full gallop, it’s really not something I found particularly distracting, and in most cases you’ll only really notice it when you stop and give the game a moment to catch up with the environment around you.
Moving over to the marshland, the Quality Modes on both consoles once again look remarkably similar. The Performance Mode on Switch 2 does make a small sacrifice to the amount of ground clutter being rendered, although I honestly didn’t notice this difference until I went back over the footage while putting this comparison together. We can also see that some of the water effects, including reflections and surface disturbances, have more detail on the Xbox Series X. That’s about it for the visual differences I can pick out in these Performance Mode comparisons. The Xbox is obviously delivering a higher framerate, but considering we’re asking a much less powerful piece of hardware to run the same game, the fact that the Switch 2 version can maintain a 40 FPS target while retaining so much of the visual presentation is pretty impressive.
And there we have it. After putting Diablo IV on Nintendo Switch 2 side by side with the Xbox Series X, I think the biggest takeaway is just how impressive this port really is. Yes, there are differences. The Xbox Series X has higher-quality textures, a higher framerate in Performance Mode, and there are areas where the Switch 2 has to make small compromises to keep everything running. But when you actually put the two versions side by side, those compromises are surprisingly small considering the difference in hardware. I really appreciate the amount of care that’s clearly gone into bringing Diablo IV to Switch 2. For a game as technically demanding and visually impressive as Diablo IV, being able to play this experience on a hybrid console, while still retaining this level of visual fidelity and performance, is a fantastic achievement.
After spending all this time staring at pixels and frame counters, I think I’m ready to stop comparing them and get back to playing Diablo IV!
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