What a difference a year makes. Back when the Nintendo Switch 2 was first being shown off in 2025, Elden Ring Tarnished Edition looked like a disaster. Preview events allowed journalists to play a horribly compromised game with a flipbook framerate, then tellingly wouldn’t let them share any footage of it. This seemed destined to be an embarrassment of a port that would have Mario hanging his head in shame, if not outright giving up.
I don’t know what deal with the Devil the developers made to get this port in its current state, but it’s made a Satanist out of me. Elden Ring on Switch 2 is a revelation, the new gold standard that third-party ports should be judged by. It’s perfectly playable and smooth in handheld mode, with only the most minimal and unobstructive pop-in.
Even the included Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, with its increased level of visual detail and colossal wicker men enemies stomping about, runs like a dream. It’s the kind of port that restores your faith in the Switch 2. Perhaps anything really is possible on this little machine.
Arise now, ye tarnished
For the uninitiated, Elden Ring is essentially open-world Dark Souls, the brutal action-RPG that every other action-RPG has annoyingly been ripping off ever since.
So combat rewards perseverance while also punishing even the slightest mistake. Every time you die, you lose all your levelling-up currency and have just one chance to get it back. And it’s all set in a dark medieval fantasy world that’s so grim it makes House of the Dragon look like an episode of Peppa Pig.
Elden Ring takes that winning formula and blows up the scale dramatically. It’s the most confident and successful leap a series has taken to going open-world since Nintendo’s own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This is a game all about charging through gorgeous fields on horseback, because a) you’ve spotted an epic castle on the horizon you want to explore, and b) a giant is shooting arrows at you, and you desperately need to find some cover.
The Lands Between, Elden Ring’s absurdly large setting, is beautiful and deadly in equal measure. And it’s really deadly. Birds with swords strapped to their legs swoop in for the kill. Knights on horseback roar to the Heavens and are rewarded with lightning storms cascading down upon you.
Even a lowly zombie tossing a rock at you can be lethal if you’re not paying attention. Few games demand you lock in to succeed like this and fewer still reward you so immensely if you do.
Slice, spell, scream or smack?
You’re spoilt for choice on how you take it on, too. There are swords, axes, hammers, magic, curses, hand-to-hand combat (surprisingly effective, that), roaring (ditto), horseback jousting, and far more to be covered here. Stick with one weapon, and you’ll still have fun, but keep swapping out your loadout for new toys and you might just find your favourite gaming weapon ever.
The variety here is ridiculous, every dud weapon offset by another dozen inspired ones. Impressed with the last attack the latest boss fight used on you? Chances are, you can find the weapon they used on you and learn how to execute its special attack yourself.
Best bit
Engaging in an epic jousting battle with a dragon in one of the more visually intense areas, and not experiencing a single dropped frame in handheld mode. Good thing I wasn’t playing on the bus, given how many times I yelled “HOW!?” at the screen.
Its world starts with traditional green fields and foreboding castles designed by architects who clearly never visited a cosy cafe once in their horrible lives. Gradually it gets more delightfully surreal, like a golden city drenched in ashes where the music is actually being performed by the enemies you’re fighting. Or a village full of dancing, giggly oddballs who’ve watched Midsommar a few too many times.
The city hidden beneath the map is easily one of the most incredible-looking environments I’ve ever visited in a videogame. Oh, and died in. Repeatedly.
Every inch of The Lands Between is occupied by monsters, warriors, dragons, and enemies who really look like giant sentient sperm, and all of them want to say a very violent hello. It should get repetitive.
Outside of the occasional puzzle, this game is basically all-combat all the time. But the sheer variety and depth to its combat system practically dares you to get bored. Each enemy is almost a puzzle in itself, as you slowly learn their attack patterns, weaknesses, and how effective they are at outrunning a horse. Not at all? Perfect, bye then!
That open-world structure helps stave off repetition too. There’s plenty of brick wall boss fights that you’ll spend hours bashing your head against. But whenever you’re stuck, you can just hop aboard your magical double-jumping horse and gallop somewhere else. It means you can be swordfighting with poison-spitting bug men one moment, and then in an epic joust with a dragon barely ten minutes later.
Barbie’s Horse Adventure 2?
You can also find alternate outfits for your horse now, presumably to finally get the My Little Pony crowd aboard the Soulslike train.
Gameplay benefits? None whatsoever, but it’s a cute novelty. I liked being able to dress Torrent up as the golden steed of one of the more irritating enemies, even if it does make them a little noisier. So if you’ve been on the fence about Elden Ring because you worried the horse wasn’t noisy enough, this is definitely the time to jump in.
The story? At first it’s about as impenetrable as Xbox’s gaming strategy. Your only hope of figuring out its mysteries is to examine every item you find, most of which contain a line of lore. There’s now a ‘recent items’ tab that shows everything you’ve recently picked up, which makes this far easier. This is my third time playing Elden Ring, and I believe I understood a whole 23% of the plot this time – a new personal best.
Two new starter classes have also been added. Heavy Knight, who’s a thickly-armored chunky boy who can tank a fair few hits. Obviously incredibly useful, but I opted for the other new starter, Idus Knight, who wields a sword that delivers a superbly satisfying double-strike.
There’s some new armor sets and weapons out there, too. These are nice touches for returning players, but hardly a reason to buy the game again if you already own it on another format.
No, the justification for that double dip has to go to handheld mode. I played this port for a solid week in handheld before remembering that I should probably see how it looks on my TV for this review. That’s how impressive it is, even if not every area is an unequivocal success. Liurnia of the Lakes probably takes the biggest hit, with a lot of foliage and scenery constantly fading in.
But vitally, none of the monsters suffer from any of that pop-in nonsense. It’s a smart trade-off to ensure that, even when the game is mildly struggling, it never puts you at a gameplay disadvantage. The fade-in is lessened docked, but naturally a little more noticeable on the bigger screen. Very occasionally when a lot of enemies are on-screen – a dragon and its dozen skeleton minions, for instance – some of the monster animation gets a little jerky. But it’s minor, rare, and even then has a certain Ray Harryhausen stop-motion charm.
I got two and a half hours of battery life out of my Switch 2 consistently while playing it, making it ideal for short flights or long train journeys (don’t start fighting a boss if your stop is coming up).
I can’t wait to stop typing these words so I can sink more hours into it. This is a major technical achievement on basically every level, resulting in an outstanding port of one of the best games ever. Essential.
Should you play Elden Ring Tarnished Edition?
Play it if…
– You’ve never played it before: What the heck have you been doing for the last four years? Elden Ring is the biggest and possibly best game FromSoftware has ever made. An action-RPG of mind-boggling scope and ambition that’s easily one of the most rewarding open-world games ever.
– You want to play Elden Ring on the go: Tragically, a Steam Deck is now much more expensive than it was just a few years ago so this is probably now the best way to play Elden Ring on a handheld.
– You want to give your horsey a golden makeover: Admittedly, there’s not a huge amount of new content here. Two new starter classes, horse dress-up, and a few new weapons and armor sets. Mildly disappointing, but the game and its expansion are already massive.
Don’t play it if…
– You don’t enjoy hard games: There’s no option to lower the difficulty, and this is a harsh, uncompromising experience.
– You want to play the most technically impressive version possible: It’s smoother on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and on PC if your rig is good enough.
– You don’t care about playing in handheld mode: This is the real advantage the Switch 2 version has over other formats. If handheld isn’t your thing, consider alternatives.
Accessibility features
Controls can be remapped, and gestures are tied to motion controls (this can be switched off).
Subtitles are on by default, and the image quality can be adjusted when HDR is enabled, which is only available when docked, naturally.
The tutorial is still laughably bad, but help screens can at least be reviewed at any time.
How I reviewed Elden Ring Tarnished Edition
I played about sixty hours, mainly in handheld mode. Not enough time to defeat every optional boss, but I explored all major areas, Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and areas likely to suffer from performance dips. I was constantly pleasantly surprised.
First reviewed August 2026
from Latest from TechRadar https://ift.tt/rHN9pLZ
via IFTTT IA
Pacosite's Blog 