Elden Ring Tarnished Edition Review – Still the Quintessential Souls Experience

No one really needs an introduction to Elden Ring at this point. FromSoft’s magnum opus took the world by storm when it launched almost a half decade ago, distilling all the design principles and philosophies the developer had been honing and iterating on for all these years and delivering them all in a package that landed with all the force of a supernova. Elden Ring was instantly lauded as one of the greatest games ever made, and the entire video games industry has felt its mark in the years since its initial release.

Four years after that momentous initial launch, the game is launching to Nintendo players for the very first time via the Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition release for the Nintendo Switch 2. This release was originally announced a year and a half ago, alongside the Switch 2 console itself, and had been slated for a launch last year; unfortunately, its public showings showed it top be in a fairly dismal state, with performance problems and stutters all over the place, which caused an indefinite delay while FromSoft took it back to the drawing board.

"At launch, the Switch 2 version of the game is certainly in a far more stable state than either the PS5 or Xbox Series versions were, which famously both suffered from terrible frame pacing and performance issues."

And now, eight months later, they are finally ready to deliver Elden Ring to Nintendo players. How, exactly, does it hold up on Nintendo’s console? Did the extra development time help with the issues seen in the early builds?

So, here’s the answer: that Elden Ring could run on the Switch 2, and run well on it, should never have been in question. This, remember, is a game that also launched for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One – both significantly weaker and less capable, not to mention less modern, than what the Switch 2 is packing under the hood.

Those early builds with the problems spoke less to the hardware’s inability to run the game, and more to the lack of attention and resources given to the port. Thankfully, it looks like that issue was properly addressed in the extra time FromSoft took after announcing that delay – because Elden Ring on the Switch 2 is a really great version of the game, and those early problems that caused the initial delay are nowhere to be seen now.

So, let’s get straight into the hard numbers: Elden Ring Tarnished Edition runs at a 1080p resolution on the Switch 2, in both handheld and docked modes. It also targets, and maintains, a 30FPS cap for the frame rate in both modes. In pure numbers, then, the Switch 2 version of Elden Ring is most directly comparable to the PS4 version, which also ran at 1080p and 30FPS. At launch, the Switch 2 version of the game is certainly in a far more stable state than either the PS5 or Xbox Series versions were, which famously both suffered from terrible frame pacing and performance issues, all but necessitating the use of external workarounds like VRR to get performance more approaching acceptable thresholds.

Elden Ring on the Switch 2 is, the best that I have been able to tell in all of my testing of the game, a constant 30FPS. I have not seen it drop frames, I have not seen many (or really, any) noticeable issues with frame pacing and stuttering. While I can imagine some who are unhappy about playing this at 30fps (which is understandable), it is a locked 30fps – which, again, makes this compare very favourably to the other console versions of the game.

The game compares extremely well to the PS4 and Xbox One builds, looking on par with both, but also benefitting from an SSD rather than a mechanical hard drive, so far faster load times than both, although they appear to be perceptibly slower than the PS5 and Xbox Series versions. Also compared to both of those versions, the draw distance and foliage density does appear to be at least somewhat culled for the Switch 2 version, particularly in early areas such as Limgrave.

"In terms of the actual content, you’re getting Elden Ring here, pretty much: this package includes the original game, as well as the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion."

On this, once more, I would say the Switch 2 version feels closer to the PS4 and Xbox One builds, which also saw similar cutbacks. In both this case and that one, these are ultimately very minor concessions; in fact, short of a side by side comparison, I doubt most people would even realize there was any change or difference at all. In handheld mode in particular, the cutbacks barely stand out, as the much smaller screen size is a lot better at compensating for them.

The game is not using DLSS at all, which on one hand does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity with how much it has allowed other Switch 2 versions of games to punch above their weight (most notably Star Wars Outlaws and Street Fighter VI); however, Elden Ring was built on the same engine and tech that FromSoft has been using going all the way back to the original Dark Souls, if not even extending all the way back to 2009’s Demon’s Souls.

In other words, the tech was outright not built to support, or even be aware of, features like DLSS, and therefore was unable to leverage and utilize it. Elden Ring also does not natively support or utilize any upscaling on any of the other platforms and hardware it is available on, so I think their hands were tied here. The game and engine simply are not built to be able to properly use the tech in question.

It doesn’t hurt here as badly as it would in some of the other games, because as I have mentioned, Elden Ring, for all of its stature and acclaim and prestige, is ultimately a game built for last generation hardware; and built using a tech stack that is more than a decade old. The game was never a technical showpiece, and its gorgeous aesthetic comes more from its wonderful art style, which has made it over to the Switch 2 version unscathed. All the beautiful lighting and colours, the grotesque designs and the imposing architecture, it’s all here.

The Switch 2 build smartly supports HDR, which helps with color and tone mapping, and renders the world as FromSoft presumably intended it; the Xbox One version of the game notably did not support HDR, so the Switch 2 version comes in ahead of that, and on par with all the other console versions on this. Elden Ring on the Switch 2 looks and sounds the part.

In terms of the actual content, you’re getting Elden Ring here, pretty much: this package includes the original game, as well as the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. While the $80 USD asking price feels outrageous, it seems to compare to what the game and expansion bundle costs on every other platform, FromSoft isn’t particularly fleecing or milking Nintendo owners here. The one key point of differentiation to consider is that on other platforms, you can still choose to buy the base game and expansion separately; on the Switch 2, you don’t really get a choice, and have to pay upfront for both together.

The Tarnished Edition actually does come with some additional content included, that other platforms will have to pay (an incredibly small fee) for. For starters, there are two brand new options on offer here. Nonetheles, the Heavy Knight and the Idus Knight. The Heavy Knight is a strength and endurance focused build, great for those who like to play defensively, turtle, or hit sparingly, but hard, when they do.

This style of play, which is reminiscent of what the original Dark Souls encouraged, has never been my cup of tea, so I can’t say I particularly liked this option; however, the Idus Knight, was a lot more to my liking. The Idus Knight is focused on agility, mobility, and speed, with quick attacks. The Idus Knight also has a slightly better proclivity towards Faith and Arcane stat scaling, allowing for more flexibility for players who may want to dabble with magic in addition.

"If you are looking for a portable version of the game for a replay, I’d say this is a great version, but also to hold off until it’s slightly cheaper, because $80 is a hefty price to pay for a game you already have, after all."

Both of these are only starting options: you can (functionally) switch into and out of either of them at any point in time. You don’t even formally need them to be added to the game to create builds like them. Nonetheless, if you do want them, you can get them in all other versions of the game for a small cost, without having to buy the entire Switch 2 version for them specifically. The Switch 2 version also comes with other minor perks, such as four new armour sets and three new skins for your steed Torrent.

Lastly, the Switch 2 version came with some minor QoL updates and cleanups, such as marking new items in your menus and inventory (a great way to keep track of updates to quest lines, particularly in the absence of an actual quest log in the game). These a) can be turned off in the menu if you don’t like them, and b) have been added to all other versions of the game for free.

Is Elden Ring on the Switch 2 worth it? If you haven’t yet played the game ever before, this is a no-brainer. It’s been nearly half a decade since the game’s release but time has not dulled its shine whatsoever. Elden Ring feels as compelling and revelatory to play today as it did back at release. If you are looking for a portable version of the game for a replay, I’d say this is a great version, but also to hold off until it’s slightly cheaper, because $80 is a hefty price to pay for a game you already have, after all.

Regardless, it’s heartening to see Elden Ring receive the proper, polished, optimized version for a brand new console and a brand new audience, that it deserves.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch 2.