Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition Review

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There’s something undeniably cool about having Elden Ring running on a Nintendo handheld

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Somehow, I never played Elden Ring. I bought it. It’s on my shelf and has become a bit of a joke around the Explosion Network team that I’ll never get around to playing Elden Ring. The fact that the first time I booted up the game was on Nintendo Switch 2 is… kinda funny.

I’m not here to talk about Elden Ring in an atypical review fashion. That’s been covered; there are plenty of reviews of the core game and DLC included in this release. I’m here to discuss why we didn’t review it on Explosion Network, and how it was adored and won GOTY by many outlets.

I know it won Game of the Year, was basically all anyone talked about for months after its release, and I’ve owned it; I just never got around to actually sitting down and starting it. Time is a precious commodity, and I usually end up prioritising “games for content/review” over fun stuff (that’s a whole other topic).

So it’s the Nintendo Switch 2 release that has finally got me playing Elden Ring. And while I’m glad it has, playing this version has mostly made me think I should probably stop and play it properly with my PlayStation 5 copy. Because I’m loving the game, surprisingly- the game everyone raved about- and someone who has previously got the Platinum trophies in Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls is loving it. But the thing about playing Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2, I’ve found, is that as much as the core experience is here, it does feel a little like going to play Bloodborne now, which is to say that there’s a desire for something better when it comes to the game’s performance.

There is something very odd about playing Elden Ring handheld, on a Nintendo handheld nonetheless. It’s not necessarily bad, just odd. This massive open world that I’ve seen in trailers and heard people discuss for years is suddenly running on a device that feels like it really shouldn’t work. And yet it does.

I got to go hands-on with Elden Ring on the Nintendo Switch 2 about a year ago, and the difference between then and now is substantial. It works now, even if there’s a desire for it to magically play at a solid 60 fps, which I don’t think anyone ever thought would happen. But given how utterly stutter-heavy and dour the overall presentation was a year ago, it’s come a long way and really needed the delay it received.

That’s probably the most impressive thing about this release. Elden Ring running on Switch 2 feels like another example of how much more powerful this console is compared to the original Switch. I couldn’t imagine playing something like this natively on the original hardware without some pretty severe compromises.

Though, of course, there are still compromises here.

In handheld mode, I noticed some slight frame drops here and there. In most games, a couple of dropped frames aren’t going to bother me all that much, but Elden Ring is exactly the type of game where that will not only bother you but make you want to throw your console across the room. When you’re fighting something and trying to perfectly time a dodge, block or attack, even a slight performance hiccup can be incredibly annoying.

I died plenty of times because I’m not very good at Elden Ring yet. That’s fine. That’s the game. But a couple of times, I felt like the performance had something to do with it. That’s just tedious. And I will note that it didn’t happen often. In the dungeons, in tighter, more confined environments, I had no problem facing several enemies or boss fights. But when you’re trying to run around a troll in the open world on horseback, and dodge some arrows, that’s where those slight frame drops can be a pain-in-the-ass.

Dock the Nintendo Switch 2 and put Elden Ring on a larger TV, and things start to look a bit muddy, even if performance gets more consistent. So I oddly found myself favouring handheld play for the novelty of having Elden Ring on the go. Not to say it’s terrible to play the game in docked mode, but the image doesn’t have the sharpness I’d want from a game with an art direction and world like this one.

Elden Ring constantly has something in the distance that makes me wonder, “what the hell is that?” and then I inevitably start walking towards it. That’s part of what I’ve enjoyed most about finally playing the game. But on a big screen, I want those moments to look as good as possible.

I’m glad this version exists. It’s great that Nintendo players now have access to one of the biggest and most acclaimed games of the last several years. It’s another impressive port to add to the growing list of games that demonstrate just how much more capable the Nintendo Switch 2 is than the original Switch.

If the Switch 2 is your only console, I’m not sitting here telling you not to play Elden Ring. You’re getting Elden Ring, and from the time I’ve now spent with it, I’m starting to understand why everyone loved the game when it originally came out. There’s a deep desire to keep exploring at all times. The ability to back out of a dungeon and find something else to do is exciting in the Souls genre; the combat feels like a mix of Dark Souls and Sekiro, and there’s an ever-present narrative that is both confounding and intriguing at the same time.

But yes, I get it! Elden Ring is great, but… I’m fortunate enough to have other options. I can play Elden Ring on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S or PC, and it’s become increasingly difficult to ignore the longer I’ve played the Nintendo Switch 2 version. There was always going to be a point where I put the game down and said: “That’s enough for a review now.” And if I ever get some more free time! I want to start it on my PlayStation 5.

There’s something undeniably cool about having Elden Ring running on a Nintendo handheld, and if that’s the appeal for you, this version does its job. But between the occasional performance drops on handheld and the muddy visuals becoming much more noticeable when docked, I’m left looking at the other consoles sitting under my TV.

(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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