Verdict
While Skyrim is truly one of the best games ever made, I don’t really recommend buying and playing it on Nintendo Switch 2 for $60, even with the stability patch, unless Bethesda does some more post-release work on the game to increase frame rate. Was this just a Christmas cash grab that they can fix later? I’ll leave you to decide.
December 22, 2025: We’ve tested the performance update to the Skyrim Anniversary Edition on Nintendo Switch 2, and adjusted our score and performance review accordingly.
I own Skyrim. You own Skyrim. The bloody smart toasters they sell these days probably own Skyrim. Now, I have the Skyrim Anniversary Edition on Nintendo Switch 2. By now, you’ve almost definitely seen the, uh, frosty reception it got at release, so let’s look at how it’s holding up after its shadow drop onto the system.
For a meager (see: not meager) 59.99 of your finest dollars, for free if you own the Anniversary Edition on Nintendo Switch already, or $19.99 if you buy the Anniversary update and then get the Switch 2 update on top of whatever you paid originally, you can get yet another copy of Skyrim. This also means that now you can have three versions of Skyrim on your Switch 2 – the original 2017 release on the Nintendo Switch, the 2022 Anniversary Edition, and now the 2025 Anniversary Edition for Switch 2. And, they all have different home screen icons! Yay, clutter!
The Anniversary Edition on Switch 2 doesn’t add anything over the original Anniversary Edition, but you do get the Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and Hearthfire expansions, along with Creation Club items, including backpacks and lanterns. It also, unfortunately, doesn’t bring the game up to modern standards.
I got this code after the release, so I was forewarned a little bit about what to expect, but I forged ahead and started anew in Helgen with an Argonian modeled after my own bearded dragon. Then, I set off to play medieval thief simulator. If you’ve somehow never played Skyrim before, that’s one of the paths you can take. Not into stealing and pinching coins and cheese wheels from merchants? You can become a vicious hunter, a hero that saves villages from dragons, a master potion maker, or you can collect mushrooms for hours and tick off little side quests instead. The world is your mudcrab.
While it’s worth remembering that Skyrim is nearly 15 years old, and that this isn’t a remake of the game, just a port – it doesn’t explain why Bethesda chose to cap it at 30 FPS and let it go to market with glaringly bad input lag for some users. For me, it’s noticeable, but not completely game-breaking, but posts from others on X and Reddit show just how abominable it can be. And, no, I didn’t get a special, better version of the game as a member of the press. Digital Foundry posted a report finding that this version of Skyrim had a quite frankly impressive delay of 220-240ms when pressing the button and seeing the results of your movement on screen.
From what I’ve seen, it appears to be worse when using a wireless or separate controller, but my own experience showed a delay when using Joy-Con 2s. After an update released on December 19, performance did improve. However, the game is still locked at 30FPS, and there appear to be no plans to bring it to 60 or even 40FPS.
While it is now smoother, it doesn’t make for the best experience, with sometimes jumpy visuals while you’re turning around in the overworld, thanks to the FPS cap. We know that Skyrim is cluttered (literally, with goblets and food everywhere), but this seems to be working against it as the game feels strained.
Going back to the FPS – why it’s only 30 is beyond me. For context, Tears of the Kingdom runs at 60 FPS (a noticeable upgrade from the Switch 1), Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 40FPS, and Red Dead Redemption runs at 60FPS. What the heck, Bethesda? This makes me worry for the upcoming Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, too.
It’s just weird that this port was worse than the Switch 1 version (before the performance update on December 19) which, granted, I played in 2017 before I really learned much about the technicalities of gaming, but I had a fine (as in, an OK time, not a fine like ‘a super fun and dandy’ time) with it. I also played it near the same time as My Time At Portia, which was a truly awful game on Switch at release, so I had some comparison.
NintendoLife actually spoke to Bethesda Creative Director Matt Carofano about the process of bringing the game to the Switch 2, who said “it’s really easy”, “it was really an easy development process and actually pretty quick” (I wonder why), and also said “it’s a bit of a joke at this point how often we release Skyrim”… OK, so why wasn’t the port perfected before release? Bethesda has probably the most experience when it comes to rereleasing and porting games by now, so why is it not a stellar product every time?
I think we know why the game was shadowdropped. Three weeks before Christmas, no less. On December 15, we saw Larian shadow drop Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition on Switch 2, so it’ll be interesting to compare the performance of the two gigantic RPGs.
Updated December 22, 2025: While Skyrim itself remains one of the best RPGs of all time with so, so much to do and a great story, I can’t in good faith tell you to buy this. I probably won’t be going back to it on the Switch 2 unless I really want to play it on a handheld. If you have a spare $60 burning a hole in your pocket, or you only have access to a Switch 2 and really want to play Skyrim, then sure – go ahead and get it.
If you have literally any other way to play it, get it on that and save your money. Plus, there’s probably a higher frame rate on all other platforms. For a studio as huge and well-regarded as Bethesda, with its years and years of experience, this was disappointing. Whatever. I’m off to touch a beacon.
