How – and why – Dragon Quest Builders 2 on Switch runs so badly with user-made levels

Is Dragon Quest Builders 2 the worst performing game on Switch? And if so, why? Let’s take a step back from those questions for a second. Here we have a truly beautiful game that combines the block-building mechanics of Minecraft with the colourful aesthetics and lore of Dragon Quest. It’s a game that oozes quality in so many ways, offering a full-bodied RPG campaign to follow through and extensive tools to build and even share worlds online. This a wonderful game; full of the charm that defines director Yuji Hori’s other works, complete with a story that distances distance from its block-based inspiration.

Developer Omega Force goes to town in its engine-work too. The anime style is a focus, and it’s propelled by beautiful water shaders and caustic effects from the start. We get proper, real-time shadows cast by characters as the sun travels its arc, from dawn to dusk. Atmospheric cloud scattering features too, plus god rays streaking past cliffs at sun-down. Not to mention the material-work is built to blend naturally with the lighting. Even as rudimentary blocks, every object has a brilliant glow, and especially in user-made worlds, it creates a beautiful aesthetic.

But yes, performance is an issue on PlayStation 4, but in particular on Switch. In extreme cases, Nintendo’s hybrid console finds itself lurching beneath 10 frames per second while playing online user-made creations. Certain content pushes the game engine to extraordinary lengths – way past Omega Force’s objectives for the main story.

Story content runs unlocked, typically in a 20-40fps – not ideal, but playable. The game kicks off with fetch quests; farming, collecting resources, and building structures from blueprints. You travel between islands and run errands for each character you meet. It’s charming and pretty straightforward for Switch to tackle. Crucially, it veers away from too much content that may cause performance issues – 25fps is indicative of the game’s lower bounds. If you focus on this part of the experience, you’re set for a reasonably smooth ride.

Switch does OK here. V-sync is engaged, though the downside is there’s really no frame-rate cap at all, leaving it to wander up and down the graph as it pleases. It’s a hangover from the PS4 version, which targets and hold 60fps in campaign. For Switch it’s far more variable, and ideally that frame-rate should have been capped to 30fps, or an optional toggle included. Dragon Quest Builders 2 has much more to show in the tools it offers the players though. The campaign revolves around open-field gameplay where built-up cities aren’t usual, at least in the first half. The other, major part of the package is creating and sharing your worlds online – and this is where the problem lies.