It can be hard balancing multiplayer games these days, as I struggle to juggle playing The Finals, Fortnite, and soon, ARC Raiders. Yet, I always find myself finding time for Warframe. Digital Extremes' long-running RPG should be intimidating to pick back up, but somehow it's always easy to dig through its dense lore and get straight to some rip-roaring action. The Warframe Nintendo Switch 2 port may have me coming back to it more often, but why is that?
Right now, Warframe is a bit hard to stomach on the original Nintendo Switch. It isn't an awful port by any means, but a lot is happening at once within the game's battles, and it seriously strains the handheld's capabilities. It's why I often resort to playing on my Asus ROG Ally Z1e or PlayStation 5 instead. Digital Extremes is working on a Warframe Switch 2 port as we speak, although a lack of access to the console's developer kits halted progress initially..
That isn't an issue anymore, though, as the first footage of this slicker version is out in the wild. During the latest Devshorts stream on Twitch, the studio shows off a brief snippet of gameplay from the upcoming port. Sadly, there's only around 30 seconds of gameplay to dissect, but I'm genuinely impressed with it so far. Mainly because Digital Extremes is tackling Warframe's biggest challenge on the Nintendo Switch, and that's the frame rate.
In docked mode, Warframe's shiny new Nintendo Switch 2 version is targeting 60fps. We're yet to see how much that drops in handheld mode, but I'm hoping it isn't too disappointing. I'd be happy to settle for a happy medium between the two modes, with a 40fps option potentially offered in handheld mode. Nintendo's latest portable gaming console is certainly capable of that, even if FC 26's Switch 2 frame rate has you thinking otherwise about how well new Switch games can perform.
Alongside frame rate improvements, loading times are faster, and textures are taking advantage of the increased GPU offerings under the hood. Digital Extremes isn't ready to offer a time frame when Warframe's Switch 2 version drops, though. Speculatively, I reckon it could be out just before TennoCon 2026, which is likely to happen in July next year.
It'd be a great way to mark the event, but hopefully it arrives sooner. Earlier this year, I spoke to design director Pablo Alonso about making the original Switch port a reality, so be sure to check out my Warframe interview. Don't forget to grab some Warframe codes, either.