Elden Ring Tarnished Edition Review

For me, Elden Ring is one of the best games I have ever played and without a doubt the best game of this generation so far. I genuinely don’t think many games have ever come close to what I experienced when I first played it. I haven’t touched Elden Ring since the original release, and considering it is one of the very few games I have actually platinumed, that probably says something. I don’t normally achievement hunt, but I had gone so deep into this world, travelled so far and invested so much time that I wanted to see everything it had to offer. I still remember vividly booting it up and just being completely in awe of what FromSoftware had created.

Coming back to it nearly four and a half years later was a strange experience because it was both incredibly familiar and somehow completely new again. There was definitely some muscle memory there. I remembered certain attacks, some of the ways I liked to approach combat and even some of the directions I wanted to travel. But that didn’t stop the feeling of being completely overwhelmed when I stepped back into The Lands Between. There is something about Elden Ring’s world that still feels almost impossible to believe. Even after everything that has come since, it remains one of the most impressive worlds I have ever explored in a game.

The Tarnished Edition also makes a pretty compelling package because you are getting the complete experience here, including the base game and Shadow of the Erdtree. The expansion itself was another incredible experience and, when you put the two together, there is an argument that this is one of the most complete gaming packages ever made. You are looking at well over 100 hours for the base game depending on how you play, explore and die repeatedly at the bosses, with Shadow of the Erdtree adding another substantial chunk of content. There is an almost ridiculous amount of quality here.

One of the biggest reasons Elden Ring worked so well when it originally released was the feeling of discovery. It didn’t constantly tell you where to go or what you were supposed to be doing although there was guidance for those that needed that agency. You simply went. You could see something in the distance, walk towards it and suddenly find yourself involved in an entirely different adventure. That sense of discovery is still here and, honestly, it is just as special as I remember. Even knowing some of what was waiting for me, I still found myself stopping to look around and appreciate just how beautiful and enormous this world is.

But this review needs to focus on the Switch 2 version because, as much as I would love to spend the entire review talking about how incredible Elden Ring is, we already know that. The real question is how well this enormous game translates onto Nintendo’s hardware. And I think the answer is surprisingly well, with some fairly obvious compromises. This isn’t a perfect version of Elden Ring, but considering what is actually being asked of the hardware, I think what has been achieved here deserves a lot of credit.

The biggest issue is performance. Elden Ring doesn’t run terribly on Switch 2, but it definitely doesn’t run as smoothly as the PS5 where I played the game originally. The frame rate can become quite choppy, particularly when you move into the larger open areas or when things get a bit chaotic, this can happen often. You can almost feel the game trying to correct itself and maintain its fps target, but there are moments where it simply can’t quite get there. Smaller areas and tighter corridors generally perform better hitting 30fps, while stepping out into the huge open world can result in a noticeable drop.

Resolution is another area where you can see the compromises being made. In docked mode, particularly on our larger HD television sets, you’ll notice it much more. Some textures look softer, details can become a little blurry and there is some noticeable pop in as the game tries to keep everything moving. I actually found myself preferring handheld mode because the compromises are far less obvious on the smaller screen. Everything feels a little more condensed, the frame rate felt more consistent to me and I wasn’t constantly looking at the finer details of the image.

The strange thing is that despite those compromises, I never felt like the game was falling apart. I deliberately played for quite a while trying to find areas where I could really push the game and see where it would struggle. I never experienced a crash and, surprisingly, I never had any major technical problems that stopped me from playing. The game is clearly working incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this enormous world function on Switch 2. That alone is something I think deserves to be commended.

There are also some nice additions here, including new playable presets characters, new weapons, armour and additional cosmetic options, including skins for Torrent your horse. These aren’t necessarily the reason you would buy the game, but they are welcome additions to an already massive package. The biggest selling point remains the fact that you are getting the base game and Shadow of the Erdtree together and able to take it anywhere. If you are someone who somehow missed the Elden Ring hype the first time around, and you only have a Switch 2, quite obviously there is almost no better way to get into it.

Playing Elden Ring on a portable system also changes the experience for me. Normally I would associate this game with sitting down for a huge gaming session, but being able to pick it up and play it wherever I wanted made it feel different. The battery does drain fairly quickly, and I was generally getting around two to three hours depending on what I was doing, but I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would. I could play for a couple of hours, put it down and come back later. For a game this enormous, that actually worked surprisingly well for me.

Handheld of course came with some additional compromises. The text on the screen was quite small, and harder to read although it wasn’t game breaking it did affect the immersion slightly as its really important to read a lot of the time if you want to learn the lore of this gorgeous world. The control also felt a little weaker, maybe as youre gripping it so tightly on a normal controller trying to make sure you can defeat the many challenging bosses. 

There is also the physical release to consider. This is a game-key card, so if you are someone who wants the entire game physically stored on the cartridge, that is something you need to be aware of. For people who are starting to build physical libraries and want everything sitting on the cartridge, that could be a disappointment. It doesn’t change the quality of the game itself, but it is worth mentioning as the gaming landscape slowly removes physical media for consumers.

Ultimately, I have to separate the game from the switch version because Elden Ring itself remains a masterpiece. I still believe it is one of the greatest games ever made, and coming back to it after nearly five years reminded me exactly why. The Switch 2 version isn’t the definitive technical version of Elden Ring, but it might be one of the most impressive portable versions of a game of this scale that I have ever played. The performance and visual compromises are impossible to ignore, but neither are the sheer amount of content, the incredible world, the combat and the fact that this entire experience can now be played on a handheld.

If you have already played Elden Ring, I think the question is whether you are ready to go back. I personally wasn’t sure I was, but once I started playing, I remembered exactly why I loved it so much. If you are one of those rare people who somehow never played it, then honestly, what are you waiting for? This is still an extraordinary game, and having the base game and Shadow of the Erdtree together makes this an absolutely ridiculous amount of quality for one package. The Switch 2 version isn’t perfect, but the fact that it exists at all is impressive.