Utawarerumono is already a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch - hands-on preview
Perhaps one of the most surprising announcements of Tokyo Game Show, was Aquaplus announcing that they would be porting the entire Utawarerumono Trilogy to Nintendo Switch - which was made even more baffling, when the ports, which release on January 30, 2025 in Japan - were already all playable publicly on the showfloor the very same day of the announcement. At the Happinet shared booth, and with a number of cosplayers in tow - Saraana, Uruuru and Munechika - we had the chance to go hands-on with what Japanese players, and hopefully western fans, will be able to experience in just a few short months.
To be blunt; I didn't have incredibly high expectations for these ports from the get-go. We took the chance to test Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen on a docked Nintendo Switch setup, and all of the issues that I highlighted with previous ports of the trilogy remain the same. A 30 FPS cap, a low - seemingly 720p - resolution, all the same issues I dinged the PC version for several years back.
This won't matter much in handheld mode, which is frankly what these versions are for. The PC ports for the trilogy already run on pretty much any hardware, which is why they've already been an easy recommendation for the Steam Deck. That doesn't change the fact that perhaps showcasing these ports while docked wasn't the best move; even if they're not all that far off from the PlayStation 4 and PC releases, at least without the help of mods.
For what it's worth - if I were to play the series today, I probably would've considered these versions. I originally played the trilogy on Vita, which was running at something resembling 240p outside of VN scenes to begin with; and while I love my Steam Deck, I do generally prefer to read Visual Novels in bed, where a Nintendo Switch Lite is ideal.
Beyond that - there's not much else to say. They're solid ports that seem about as put-together as anyone could've hoped. Sure, I could wish that Aquaplus could improve the resolution a tad for docked mode, but that doesn't seem like it will ever happen at this point. At least in a roundabout way that technical compromise seems less glaring for Nintendo Switch, especially if the resolution remains crisp in handheld mode - which if nothing else, I'm reasonably confident it will look far better than it did on Vita. While we only tested Prelude to the Fallen, considering all 3 games have shared the same technical specifications across each platform - we don't expect any real differences.
As for when western players will get a chance to play these - I've got no clue. As it turns out, NIS America found out about these ports after I mentioned them during an appointment just outside of the show last week; whether that means they'll pursue a localization, that's anyone's guess. If they will, chances are we won't know until closer to the launch for these ports in Japan, as even simple negotiations will of course take time.
Regardless of the situation - it's good to see Aquaplus porting their games to Nintendo hardware, even if it might feel like this has been a long time coming. Hopefully this can only mean good tidings for Aquaplus, and Utawarerumono, in the near future. Of course, we'll have to wait to find out; Utawarerumono Trilogy launches on January 30, 2025 in Japan. Digital and separate retail releases of each individual game will release later on March 27, 2025.