Hitman: World of Assassination on Switch 2 Sees Major Performance Gains with Lower Output Resolution

When Hitman: World of Assassination launched for the Nintendo Switch 2, expectations were high thanks to IO Interactive’s track record and the series’ stellar reputation on other platforms.

Despite receiving widespread acclaim for its intricate sandbox environments and expertly crafted stealth gameplay, the initial release on Nintendo’s latest hardware faced criticism for subpar frame rate performance, both in docked and handheld modes.

This limitation led to a lower review score compared to its appearances on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, where the game was celebrated for its technical polish and fluid experience. However, recent discoveries by the technical experts at Digital Foundry, shared via Eurogamer, are offering new hope for Switch 2 players seeking smoother gameplay.

Richard Leadbetter of Digital Foundry reported that he was notified of a "performance mode" workaround after a player experimented with the system settings.

By changing the console’s TV output resolution from 4K to 720p and re-entering the game, significant improvements in performance were observed.

In one instance, on the Hawkes Bay mission, frame rates surged to a remarkably stable level compared to standard settings. To rigorously test the claims, Leadbetter benchmarked several scenes—specifically selecting locations known to heavily tax the CPU and GPU due to crowd density and visual effects.

In the bustling Whittleton Creek level, the game averaged 46.88 frames per second (fps) at 4K output but soared to nearly 59.95 fps at 720p, marking an impressive 62.5% increase.

At a 1080p output setting, the performance further intrigued Digital Foundry, as pixel analysis indicated resolution values fluctuating between 1152p and 1188p.

Curiously, even with the Switch 2 set to 4K output, the actual rendering resolution remained in that same window, with performance hits likely attributed to the processing overhead of upscaling.

The estimated cost of this upscaling process hovered around 2.4 milliseconds per frame. Leadbetter also noted subtle graphical changes, speculating whether the game utilizes DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) for upscaling, though definitive confirmation is pending as IO Interactive has yet to officially comment.

In densely populated stages like the Paris fashion show, frame rate improvements were less pronounced due to higher CPU loads but still notable—the game jumped from roughly 35 fps to 45 fps when dropping the output resolution to 720p. While IO Interactive hasn’t implemented an official performance mode for Hitman: World of Assassination on the Switch 2, these findings illustrate that users can manually boost performance by sacrificing some image fidelity in favor of smoother gameplay.

Digital Foundry’s analysis further suggests that the stark differences across resolutions could help the community better understand Nintendo’s DLSS implementation, which remains something of a technical enigma on the new hardware. IO Interactive has recently announced ongoing efforts to optimize performance issues on Switch 2, raising hopes that players won’t need to trade image clarity for framerate for much longer.

Until a patch is deployed, adjusting output settings offers a practical workaround for those eager to experience Agent 47’s latest missions at their best on Nintendo’s cutting-edge system.

Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch Nintendo IO Interactive Switch 2 Digital Foundry Switch Hitman Hitman: World of Assassination Hitman World of Assassination Eurogamer DLSS