Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Nintendo Switch 2 Review

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader from Owlcat Games was my favorite Warhammer 40k game until I played Space Marine 2. Even now, it is an incredible CRPG with its turn-based gameplay. While it was rough at launch, it improved considerably with post-release updates on all platforms and has been in a great state for months now at least on PC and Xbox Series X. I recommend reading Bryan's review of the PC version from 2024 here if you're curious about the game itself as I will be focusing on the Switch 2 port and how it compares to other platforms in this review.

Before getting to the Switch 2 version, I want to give you some context for how Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is on other platforms now. On PS5, it has some annoying hitching issues, but has dramatically improved from its launch version. I imagine these are not present when playing on PS5 Pro, but I only have a base PS5 to test on. I also thought Owlcat did a great job translating the interface to a controller as well when I played it on Steam Deck where it delivers a solid experience after tweaking the settings. The default out of the box settings don't feel as good as they should. On a more powerful PC, you basically get the best Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader experience, but the Xbox Series X delivered the best console version so far.

That brings us to the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader that was released a month ago. I was curious to see whether the months of optimization and updates other platforms saw would benefit the day one experience on Switch 2. I was also hopeful for DLC since both the first Season Pass DLC packs with Void Shadows and Lex Imperialis are excellent. I've enjoyed them a lot on PC and recently bought them on console. Unfortunately, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Switch 2 is one of the worst ports I've played in a few years in its current state. 

Usually, when a new platform port is releasing in a less than ideal state and I've been told a patch is in the works, I hold off on doing a scored review because I don't want to have my article be out of date within days. With Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, I held off on doing my review until the first major patch. Once that released, I decided to redownload the game on all platforms and finally play it for review on Switch 2. While the patch bringing in mouse controls and improving performance from the abysmal launch release felt good, things soon fell apart.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Switch 2 ships content complete for the base game, and it even has the anti-aliasing option present on other consoles. This was a good sign since the addition of optional Joy-Con 2 mouse controls could've meant it is the definitive console release. Performance, stability, and load times right now are very bad though. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader never feels smooth and has constant hitching right now even in the opening minutes of gameplay. A 30fps cap wouldn't help since the hitching makes it feel awful to play regardless.

There are also bugs where using mouse controls will not allow you to move the camera and in-game menus stop working regularly in the game's options screen. You can change tabs, but do nothing within. I've had this happen almost every single time I play Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Switch 2. The final issue right now is crashing. This has been considerably improved since the launch build in the game's first update, but it still happens fairly regularly and randomly. 

I'm working on a larger comparison for all consoles that I will save for when the Switch 2 version gets its next major patch to hopefully address the stability and other technical issues, but I wanted to cover the load times right now. For this, I had Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader installed to the internal storage on Switch 2 (this is how I have been playing it for all testing), the internal storage on PS5, the internal storage on Xbox Series X, and the Steam version installed to the internal storage on Steam Deck OLED, and both the Steam and Xbox PC versions installed on the ROG Ally internal storage. I mashed A/X to speed up the loading and skip logos whenever possible. The results are below for loading the title screen from the dashboard and also loading an early game save file.

Note: All load times above are in seconds.

As you can see, the Switch 2 version takes the longest for everything. Despite the very long load times, it still performs the worst across the board. Unfortunately there is no winning with the game on Switch 2 right now. This isn't even a situation where it is worth getting if you don't have access to another platform. It is hard to recommend the Switch 2 version of Rogue Trader in general.

Note: I used the Switch 2's screenshot functionality for handheld capture and used Steam's screenshot tool to get the Steam Deck screenshot to crop and compare both below.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Switch 2 vs PS5, Xbox, and Steam Deck

When I first played Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Steam Deck, it wasn't great. Since then, a lot of optimization and updating have resulted in a version I can recommend with some caveats. I was hoping the Switch 2 port would deliver what I want out of a fantastic portable experience for Rogue Trader, but right now it is worse experience than on Steam Deck even docked. The image above uses the Steam Deck preset with some settings turned down to improve performance It still looks a lot better than the game on Switch 2. This is a far cry from the Divinity: Original Sin II Switch 2 upgrade which itself was quite conservative.

As for how Switch 2 compares with the other consoles, it is a step back in every way sadly. I was hoping the Switch 2 port would be close to PS5 and Xbox with a lower, but more stable frame rate. Right now it looks and runs a lot worse in every aspect. 

Note: I captured the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 docked versions through a 4K capture and cropped them to show the differences for the comparison image below.

When Divinity: Original Sin 2 came to Switch 1, it was a true miracle port. Owlcat's Pathfinder games never made it natively to Nintendo's old hybrid console, and I kept hoping we'd see them on Switch 2 alongside Rogue Trader. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader's Switch 2 announcement had me more excited than any other third-party port last year because I thought it could be the definitive way to play it on console offering a combination of buttons, touchscreen, and mouse controls. Right now, it has the potential to be the best playing version, but the technical issues hold it back from even being a version of the game I recommend at a discount, let alone full price. 

In its current state, I don't recommend buying Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Switch 2. While the first big update brought in some improvements and mouse controls, it was very much a one step forward two steps back patch. Not only was it disappointing that Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader hit Switch 2 with no DLC available or included, but this is by far the worst port I've played on Switch 2 since the console's debut last June.