Elden Ring Tarnished Edition Switch 2 review – thy port befits a crown

I’m no stranger to the Lands Between. I’ve journeyed from Limgrave all the way to Leyndell, the Capital of Ash, more times than I can count in the last five years, and I can brag that I beat Radahn before he was nerfed – twice. Still, I’m always raring to go again, but this time I got to try Elden Ring on a completely different platform, as it’s finally available on the Nintendo Switch 2. Honestly, the wait for this port has felt so long, with us first learning about it last year before the launch of the hardware.

Still, I’ve finally been able to experience FromSoftware’s masterpiece on the hybrid console, and I’m here to tell you exactly what you can expect from the port, along with my thoughts on the additions that the Tarnished Edition brings. As the base game is five years old and the DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is two years old, I won’t go into them too much, as the odds are you’re very familiar with them, even if you’ve yet to experience Elden Ring firsthand.

I’m happy to offer a quick rundown, though. Without question, Elden Ring is the second-best Soulslike developed by FromSoftware – we all know Bloodborne is in first place; don’t try to come for me. The Lands Between is nothing short of a joy to explore, though it does fall a bit short in the Mountaintop of the Giants, thanks to its wide, empty spaces and lackluster boss fights, which is a shame considering every other area in the game is fantastic. I’m a huge fan of the crafting system, wanting to see more of it in the next Soulslike FromSoftware graces us with.

Then there’s Shadow of the Erdtree, an excellent DLC that stands tall among the very best expansions, though I wouldn’t call it perfect, as the Scadu Tree Fragments are a ridiculous mechanic that takes away some of the enjoyment. The Land of Shadow is difficult enough to explore and endure without needing to track down 50 fragments just to have a remote chance at beating the DLC’s final boss. Moreover, I’ve always thought that Messmer was underutilized, with his positioning in the expansion being too early and not impactful enough.

While you all know about the base game and Shadow of the Erdtree, the Tarnished Edition does introduce a little bit of fresh content in the form of new armor sets, weapons, appearances for Torrent, and, of course, the two new starting classes. Naturally, I chose one of the new options for my first adventure on Switch 2, opting to go with Idus Knight (the other being Heavy Knight) as opposed to my typical choice of the Samurai. You start with a light greatsword, a weapon type introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree, a shield, and relatively good armor, and stats that give a good head start in dexterity and faith.

As I just pointed out, you can get access to a light greatsword before Shadow of the Erdtree in the Tarnished Edition. It’s not the only weapon type to now be available in the base game either, which can only be a good thing – before now, you needed to get a good chunk of the way through Elden Ring before you could get such weapons.

However, my favorite addition in the Tarnished Edition actually comes in the form of Leontiel. If you’re a longtime Souls fan, you likely recognize the name’s influence, Lucatiel, as she’s a character in Dark Souls 2 with an awesome-looking armor set. Well, now you can get her gear once again in Elden Ring, and I’m not ashamed to say that I couldn’t care less about the stats of this armor – it’s Fashion Souls at its finest.

Okay, now that I’ve given a brief rundown and gushed over the new content, it’s time to get into why you’re really here: does Elden Ring run well on the Nintendo Switch 2? Going into this review, I was honestly optimistic, since some big-hitting triple-A games on the system run swimmingly, which I explain in my Resident Evil Requiem review and Cyberpunk 2077 review; the latter is also a huge RPG.

Well, I have fantastic news for all of you; despite a relatively shaky start in the form of slow stuttering when entering Limgrave, the game runs beautifully. Beyond that initial instance, I can’t fault Elden Ring’s Switch 2 performance, which certainly gives me a lot of hope for what state The Duskbloods will be in when it eventually launches on the system. Even in handheld mode, Elden Ring runs very well, making the Switch 2 port a great purchase if you want to play the game on the go.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition is an essential RPG to own on the Nintendo Switch 2, with stellar performance that ensures Switch players get to experience The Lands Between in all its glory. Not to mention, it includes the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion along with some new items and classes to shake things up a bit for existing players.