How to Get Sword of the Sea Running on Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S

Giant Squid's surfing adventure Sword of the Sea rode onto Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S on October 29, after more than a year as a PlayStation 5 and PC exclusive. The console versions are published by Fictions rather than Giant Squid itself, and the Switch 2 storefront listing confirms the game is a 3.3GB digital download playable in TV, tabletop, or handheld mode. If you are jumping in for the first time on new hardware, here is what to sort out before you drop into the first wave.

A Surf Trip Finally Reaches Two More Platforms

Sword of the Sea first launched on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on August 19, 2025, as a day-one addition to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Giant Squid, the studio led by former Journey art director Matt Nava, self-published that release. The Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S versions that arrived this week are the first time the game has reached a non-PlayStation console, and they come from Fictions, a separate publisher handling the ports. Neither Giant Squid nor Fictions has published a technical breakdown of resolution or frame rate targets for the new versions, so treat any specific performance numbers you see elsewhere as unconfirmed until the studios say otherwise.

The game itself is unchanged: you play the Wraith, a masked traveler who rides an ancient, glowing Hoversword across oceans of sand and water to undo an ecological collapse, restoring tides and sea life as you go. It is built by the same two-person creative partnership, with Nava directing and Austin Wintory composing the score, that also made ABZÛ and The Pathless.

Clear Storage and Pick a Platform

Before you buy, confirm you have room. The Switch 2 eShop page lists the download at 3.3GB, small enough to fit alongside a full library without a second thought, and the listing supports HDR output on compatible TVs along with Nintendo Switch Online's save data cloud backup. A few practical steps make the first session smoother:

• Check your Switch 2's free space under System Settings before downloading; 3.3GB is modest, but it is worth confirming if your console is close to full.
• If you play on a Nintendo Switch Online membership, let the app sync once after your first save so a cloud backup exists before you put real hours in.
• On PC, Steam's listing still calls for a fairly demanding rig: Windows 10 or 11, a CPU with AVX2 support, 12GB of RAM minimum, and a GPU as capable as an RTX 2080 Ti for the recommended settings, so console may be the easier way in if your PC is older.
• On Xbox Series X|S, download overnight if you are on a data-capped connection; neither Microsoft nor Fictions has published the exact install size yet.

Dial In Comfort and Controller Settings First

Sword of the Sea's Steam listing flags Camera Comfort and Custom Volume Controls among its accessibility features, alongside full controller support. Open the options menu before your first real run and adjust camera shake, field of view, or motion-heavy effects if high-speed carving on open water tends to bother you; the Hoversword reaches genuine skateboard-game speeds once you build momentum, and the default camera is tuned for players who are comfortable with that. If you are moving over from the PC version, note that the original release was built around DualSense haptics and asks PC players to disable Steam Input for the controller to work correctly; the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S versions use each platform's native controller support instead, so that workaround does not apply there.

Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S both carry over Steam-side features like achievements and cloud saves in their own platform equivalents: Xbox has its own achievement list, and the Switch 2 version backs up progress through Nintendo Switch Online's save data cloud rather than Steam Cloud. None of the storefronts currently advertise cross-save between the console versions and the original PC or PS5 release, so start a save on the platform you intend to finish the game on.

Learn the Hoversword Before You Chase Tricks

The whole game is built around one verb: carving. The Wraith rides the Hoversword "like a snowboard, skateboard, and surfboard all in one," according to the game's own store description, and the core skill is building momentum on a wave's face to reach top speed before launching off its crest. A few habits will get you comfortable faster:

• Stay low on the wave face as long as you can before pulling up; momentum carries into height, so a rushed pop-up off a small wave rarely clears a gap that a committed carve would.
• Use halfpipes, ramps, and wall rides scattered through the ruins deliberately rather than as obstacles to avoid; they are there to chain flips, spins, and grabs into bigger combos.
• Treat the overworld as a skatepark first and a puzzle second. Many of the game's sunken tombs and temple ruins are built like ramp courses, and finding the intended line through one usually solves the traversal problem as a side effect.
• When you are unsure where to go next, look for the direction the restored sea life is moving. Giant Squid designed the returning shoals of fish and other creatures as a soft trail toward the next objective.

What Changes, and What to Expect on Day One

If you already finished Sword of the Sea on PlayStation 5 or PC, there is no announced new content exclusive to the Switch 2 or Xbox Series X|S versions; this is a platform expansion, not a re-release with extra chapters. The appeal for returning players is portability on Switch 2, and for Xbox players it is simply the first chance to play Giant Squid's game at all. New players on either console are getting the same ocean-restoration story, the same Wintory score, and the same brisk pace that let most reviewers of the original PS5 and PC release finish the main story in roughly three hours.

Because performance details for the new ports have not been published, hold off on buying new hardware specifically to run this game at a particular setting; wait for Giant Squid, Fictions, or a first-party storefront to confirm resolution and frame rate specifics rather than relying on unofficial estimates. Everything else in this guide, from storage to controller behavior to the core carving loop, is confirmed and ready to use from the moment you launch the game today.