I wasn't convinced by Elden Ring Tarnished Edition until I played it on Nintendo Switch 2 — now I think it's one of the system's most impressive ports yet

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.

Review info Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2 Available on: Nintendo Switch 2 Release date: August 28, 2026 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 Eldtree 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 (Image credit: Bandai Namco) 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.