Oblivion Remastered Switch 2 Looks Great, Runs Rough

The Oblivion Remastered Switch 2 port arrived on August 11, and the reviews have landed in a strange place: it looks far better than anyone expected from Nintendo hardware, and it runs worse than a 20-year-old game has any business running. Nintendo World Report scored it 7.5 out of 10, a solid number carrying a long tail of caveats — including a hard crash back to the home menu during testing.

The technical targets are modest. Roughly 1080p when docked, 900p in handheld, 30 frames per second, with DLSS handling the upscaling. The problem is that the port doesn't reliably hold the 30. Frames drop in combat. Exploration stutters. Reviewer John Rairdin flagged added instability in handheld specifically, plus loading screens that seem to go on forever.

For Canadian buyers this is a roughly CA$67 decision on the eShop, or a trip to Best Buy or EB Games for a boxed copy. That's real money for a role-playing game that first shipped in 2006, so it's worth knowing exactly which compromises you're paying for before you commit a weekend to Cyrodiil.

Why It Can't Hold a Steady 30fps

Blame the foundation. The 2025 remaster runs the original engine underneath a fresh Unreal Engine 5 renderer, and that arrangement produced stutter on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles too. Virtuos, the studio handling the Switch 2 conversion, inherited every one of those bottlenecks. Nothing about the port made them worse; nothing made them better either.

The Switch 2 isn't even close to a locked 30fps experience and it suffers from frame pacing issues like every other console in the 30fps mode, according to RPG Site's testing.

What that feels like in practice: the picture judders slightly even when the counter says you're near target, and the hitching spikes when you cross a cell boundary or ride out of a city gate. There's no 60fps option to fall back on. Anyone hoping the newer silicon would quietly fix a year-old problem will be disappointed.

The Storage and Loading Trade-Offs

Two numbers here actually favour the Switch 2, and they're the ones most coverage skipped. Loading is competitive with dedicated PC handhelds, and the install is dramatically smaller than the desktop build — which matters a lot on a console where storage expansion isn't cheap.

Load Times Next to a Steam Deck

RPG Site timed all three from internal storage. Switch 2 took 20 to 22 seconds from dashboard to title screen and 27 to 28 seconds to load a save. A Steam Deck managed 18 to 19 and 26 to 27. An ROG Ally hit 17 to 18 and 19 to 20. So the Switch 2 is last, but by seconds rather than minutes — a gap most players won't notice mid-session.

Half the File Size of the PC Build

The Switch 2 version stays under 60GB even after updates, against nearly 120GB on PC. That halving comes from compressed textures and audio, and it's the reason distant faces, hair and some tree canopies look mushy no matter how hard DLSS works. It also means the physical release plays straight off the cartridge with no mandatory download — increasingly rare in 2026.

What Oblivion Remastered Switch 2 Costs in Canada

Canadian eShop listings put the digital standard edition at CA$66.99 and the Deluxe at CA$79.99, with a CA$13.49 upgrade path if you start standard and change your mind. The US digital price is $49.99, so the usual exchange-and-tax gap applies. Physical Deluxe copies are stocked by Best Buy Canada and EB Games for anyone who still wants a shelf.

Compare that to what a new first-party Switch 2 release costs and the value case holds up reasonably well, since the base game plus its two expansions are all included. It's a lot of content per dollar. It's just content with visible seams.

The Things Virtuos Actually Nailed

Ray-traced lighting and reflections are present in both docked and handheld modes, which is genuinely surprising on a device you can put in a backpack. The control options are broad too, and this is where the port quietly outclasses its console siblings:

• Mouse mode, aimed squarely at players who grew up on the PC version
• Touchscreen navigation for the game's dense inventory menus
• HD rumble and motion controls
• Adjustable text size, which the original desperately needed

And the reason to play at all hasn't aged: the world still simulates. Townspeople hold opinions about you, choices leave marks, and the whole thing runs on systems no modern open-world game has bothered to copy. That's what earns the 7.5 despite everything else.

Buy Now or Wait for a Patch?

Waiting is the safer call if you're on the fence. Bethesda's track record with this remaster is thin — support on the original platforms tapered off quickly after launch, and there's no announced roadmap for Switch 2 fixes. A holiday sale would also shave a meaningful chunk off that CA$66.99.

If you buy now, go in expecting a prettier version of a janky game, not a rebuilt one. Save often, keep multiple save slots given the crash reports, and play docked when you can — handheld is where the instability bites hardest. Watch for a first patch before you recommend it to anyone allergic to stutter.