When first released – way back in 2016 – a portable version of Firewatch seemed like an impossible dream. It’d never run properly on a 3DS after all, and at that point, no one owned a Vita anymore, leaving Campo Santo with… no viable options. Until Nintendo stepped up their game in 2017 and doubled down on the handheld market, that is. Oh, and on a related note: this spring, Switch owners will be able to hit the road with Wyoming’s wilderness. Literally.
That said, at the time of writing, there’s no exact date for the release of this rather enticing port as “soon!” and “this spring” is all we have to go on. We do know that they are “hoping to throw in a couple of surprises just for the Switch release” though – whatever that means. Motion controls – optional, I hope – are pretty much a given, but beyond that? In spite of finally getting around to playing (and finishing) the game earlier this year, I’m still not sure what they could be hinting at there. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Nearly everyone in the Campo Santo office has a Nintendo Switch (and the rest want one). We know what a good Switch game feels like, and want to make sure Firewatch feels like one too.
Another interesting tidbit revealed at the same time is that… Firewatch is getting some much-needed optimization work, “low-level optimizations and tech clean-up” specifically, and not just in the upcoming Switch release either: PlayStation 4 (and Pro), Xbox One (and X), Mac and PC too. Hopefully, the result of that will be noticeably less stutter and such, as in this kind of game, such a thing is a bit of an immersion-breaker, ya know? But like the Switch release date, it’s another case of wait-and-see.
(Source)
