Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition Is Out on Switch 2, and the Port Actually Holds 30fps [UPDATE]

Remember the panic when early Elden Ring Switch 2 builds were reportedly limping along at 15fps in 2025, and the whole thing got delayed? Forget it. Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition is out today, and the reviews are in: it holds close to a stable 30fps in both docked and handheld mode, with only the odd dip across a full playthrough. That is not the compromised mess people feared.

The numbers

It is sitting at 91 on Metacritic from 40 reviews, with Nintendo Life handing it a 9 and calling it one of the finest games on the Switch 2 right now. The trade-off is visual, not mechanical: character detail is dialled back and textures look softer up close. Playing it, you mostly don't notice. Pop-in is minimal, the framerate is steady, and the Lands Between survives the shrink to a handheld screen better than a game this size has any right to.

What's in the box

Tarnished Edition includes the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, plus content that's new to this version: two new starting classes, four new armour sets, and three customisation skins for Torrent, which is the first time you've ever been able to reskin the horse. If you're on PS5, Xbox, or PC and feeling left out, all of that new content drops as paid DLC on those platforms the same day.

The one honest caveat: it targets 30fps, full stop, docked or handheld. There's no 60fps mode to unlock. For a game that leans on deliberate, readable combat that's fine, and after the year this port has had, a rock-solid 30 is the win. If you've never played Elden Ring and you own a Switch 2, this is a very easy recommendation.