RICO London's buddy cop action gameplay suits the Nintendo Switch perfectly, especially with its emphasis on really slick couch co-op action. It also fills a certain niche on the platform, as a relatively violent FPS with a unique art style. The first game in the series was popular on the platform thanks to these elements. Several disappointing Switch ports have not lived up to many fans' expectations, but in contrast it seems the team behind RICO London is determined to make their Switch edition stand out among the rest.
In an interview with Game Rant, RICO London game designer James Parker talked about how Switch was the first port of call when designing the game. According to Parker, Nintendo's handheld is a "fantastic" one to design a game for. This focus apparently avoids common mistakes with Nintendo Switch ports, and also means some unique things can be accomplished on the platform.
Designing A Game For Switch First
It might seem odd to focus development on the Switch as a platform first, but there's definitely a logic to it. While the platform is certainly less powerful than the highest-end PCs, designing for it at the start means it is not left by the wayside. More than practicality was at play with the choice to build RICO London this way, though. Parker said he likes the Switch for various reasons.
"What I personally like about it is that everything is so nicely aligned. Everything looks so great on the screen, and particularly with a game like ours, the colors really pop. It's just so nice to actually play a game on Switch and see it look so good."
When games like Breath of the Wild are considered, Parker's comment seems to ring especially true. It's easy to see how RICO London would also look great on Switch. The cel-shaded aesthetics lend themselves well to a lower-spec machine, and thus fit on the Switch according to Parker. However, thinking about how it looked was not Ground Shatter Games' only reasoning for designing RICO London with a specific platform in mind.
Upon releasing the first RICO game, the team found that it "was really popular on Switch." A large part of the RICO series' community exists entirely on the Switch, in-part because it is "a bit underserved when it comes to that type of shooter." There are certainly not many games like RICO on the Switch, which acts almost like Hotline Miami in first person. Co-op elements of the game suit it well for the Switch too.
RICO's success on Switch also meant the newer game's co-operative play works better than before. Players will now be able to "play split-screen co-op even in the tabletop mode." This takes advantage of both RICO London's focus on co-op and the Switch's flexibility as a console. That wasn't possible in the first game due to "time and resource limitations." Conversely, RICO London is able to "offer something new to players this time around," Parker said, which ensured this Switch demographic is hopefully kept engaged.
How To Avoid a Bad Switch Port
Parker also has a lot to say about bad adaptations for the console and how to avoid them. For Parker, bad Switch versions of games generally come from lack of priorities, and not treating the port as important enough. The Outer Worlds' notoriously bad Switch port was a prime example of this trend, in which a huge game was squeezed onto hardware that could not really support it. As a result, textures would not load in, NPCs would bug out, and the game's expansive world did not translate effectively.
Although Parker did not reference The Outer Worlds directly, he had more general thoughts about how some developers treat the console.
"I think the mistake that is often made is that people treat the Switch as an afterthought. For us, because the first game had done so well on there, we wanted to kind of reward those players as much as possible while still making it work for us commercially. We also know now how to get the best out of the hardware."
By having the Switch as its primary design platform, Ground Shatter "used it as the base level thing we could do, and used PC for what the higher-end version of the game might look like." From there, the team could "up the resolution, the framerate, and lighting quality" as the ports progressed aross the "big" consoles.
RICO London is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.