Of the high-profile ports that will release on the Switch this year, one of the most anticipated is the free-to-play monster-hunting title Dauntless. This popularity stems from the fact that not only is it a very decent and free Monster Hunter clone, it also boasts cross-play across all platforms – PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players can get together and hunt behemoths together, which is amazing considering the fact that many people within circles of friends own different consoles.
The road to a proper port to Phoenix Labs’ hit title is a rough one, however, as was proven by the recent Nintendo Treehouse: Live presentation for Dauntless. It featured early gameplay footage captured on the Switch, and to say that it looked rough would be an understatement. Check out the footage for yourself down below.
As you can see, it’s quite choppy at the moment, and the textures look really rough on the eyes. To be fair, we can chalk this up as something that will be fixed with future iterations, but it will be nothing short of amazing to pull it off.
There is some good news though, as it’s recently revealed that Phoenix Labs isn’t alone in porting Dauntless to the Switch. The developer actually found a good reliable name to help them port the title, one who already has a proven track record in doing such ports like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Switch and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for the PC.
As highlighted by Nintendo Life and in an exclusive with Twinfinite, Phoenix Labs developer Chris Fox shared that they’ve found a working partner in Iron Galaxy, a well-known porting expert. “We’ve been really fortunate to be working with Iron Galaxy to bring [Dauntless] to the Switch and like, they really know what they’re doing when it comes to that hardware,” Fox said.
This does instill some degree of confidence, as Iron Galaxy did some amazing work for Skyrim on the Switch. While they do have their work cut out for them, it will be interesting to see how Iron Galaxy goes about porting one of the most anticipated titles for the Switch.
In the meantime, you can play Dauntless for free right now on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Epic Games Store on PC.
