Bloodstained's Switch version performance patch has been delayed again, now slated for November
Bloodstained released earlier this year, garnering massive amounts of hype and praise for its release on Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4. The game also launched on the Nintendo Switch, though the port was plagued by performance problems. Shortly after the Switch version debuted, and fans became upset with the issues, publisher 505 Games promised that numerous patches would be put out, in order to quickly resolve any framerate drops, crashes, and input lag. However, those updates were delayed, quietly pushed back to months after release. Once more, the patches have been delayed, with the development team at least offering more information as to what fans can expect, when those patches do eventually go live.
In the Kickstarter update blog, the team apologizes for the delay, stating that a lot of work has been put into redoing assets and areas to make them run well on the Nintendo Switch. The promised "multiple" smaller bugfix updates have now been merged into two major releases focusing on four areas: reducing input lag, replacing current particle effects with ones that are less strenuous to display, improving load times, and upgrading the visual fidelity. Both updates are planned for a release at the end of November.
We are pleased with the progress that has been made so far and look forward to getting it into your hands. While the teams are working on an extensive list of myriad improvements, their focus is on four principal areas: Visual Fidelity, Loading Times, Particle Effects and Input Lag.
The improvements are expected to be released in two separate updates. The first update will contain the vast majority of the improvements. The second update will improve performance with a couple of especially troublesome areas and enemies.
- Visual Fidelity - The way that backgrounds and environments are rendered are being significantly updated. This will result in noticeably sharper environments in most areas throughout the game.
- Loading Times - Load times between scenes are being greatly improved, but are still not where we would like them to be, so work remains.
- Particle Effects - We have already replaced hundreds of particle effects with new assets and more yet remain. The new ones look the same to the user, but are much less impactful on the performance of the game. This has been one of the main culprits for framerate drops during fights.
- Input Lag - Input lag times have been significantly reduced, once work on this is completed the game should feel much more reactive when playing.