I've spent too many hours in the Lands Between. I've gone from a lowly Prisoner to Ranni's consort, delved deep below Leyndell in pursuit of the infamous Flame of Frenzy and, like most players, massacred countless Albinaurics along the way. Having earned every achievement across PC, PS5 and Xbox, I figured I was finally free of FromSoftware's open-world action-RPG masterpiece – but after playing Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2, I fear I will once again be charmed by the Grace of Gold.
Despite my initial concerns about the Nintendo Switch 2's limited hardware compared to the other platforms I've played on, I'm delighted to say Elden Ring runs very well in handheld mode, which is the only way I tested the game during my session. Although, I did briefly see the game running in docked mode and observed some lightly choppy visuals.
Field trip
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Starting a new game run, I sprinted out of the Chapel of Anticipation. I was on a schedule, having been challenged to beat Margit before the playable demo timed out. I'm no speedrunner, but 15 minutes proved ample time to take a few swings at the Fell Omen – although that wasn't really my priority.
This brief scouting mission into Limgrave was to see how Nintendo's hardware handled FromSoftware's enormous title: the frames stayed consistent throughout, the audio was crisp and clear, the controls were responsive, and the Erdtree looked as majestic on Switch 2 as when I first laid eyes on it back in 2022.
The only downside I found while playing in handheld mode is the initial loading screen when beginning my session, which was long enough to awkwardly make eye contact with myself in the screen's reflection. Uncomfortably long wait over, I had as enjoyable an experience in Elden Ring Tarnished Edition as ever, dashing across the Tree Sentinel's path, before acquiring Torrent and galloping through the winding hills that precede Margit's spawning point. However, I did delay my assault to slaughter Varré because I've simply no time for anyone who calls me maidenless in 2026.
Having chosen the new Knight class for my playthrough, I immediately fell in love with the starting curved greatsword. It's huge (no, not too big to be called a sword), feels naughtily hefty when two-handed, and comes with an Ash of War that, when unleashed, sees the player character strike with a flamboyant spin that is reminiscent of Link's Beyblade-esque attack in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, albeit without the cartoonish lack of control.
As someone who enjoys playing strength builds in FromSoftware games ever since picking up the Zweihander in Dark Souls, I felt right at home with the Knight and their strikingly large suit of armor. However, the character type starts off on the overencumbered side, which means we're reduced to fat-rolling – dodging slowly, in lighter layman's terms.
This isn't how I'm used to playing Elden Ring but it's something I learned to live with quickly enough. Sadly, I made the discovery that my character was carrying too much weight when I tried to dodge one of Margit's attacks and took a comically hard hit to my helmeted face. I then realized the curved greatsword wasn't as long as I'm used to, resulting in another emphatic blow to the jaw. This time I didn't get back up.
Flattening Varré with my new weapon was over too soon, but Margit proved a perfect sparring partner for getting to grips with the Knight class. It's a hardy build that makes most field encounters feel trivial, but against a relatively agile boss character the vibe shifts to a more balanced, fair match up. I'll no doubt need to level up the starting blade, but otherwise this Tarnished Edition exclusive is exactly what I want for my next run of Elden Ring. Now I just have to wait for it to be released this year. Oh, and buy a Switch 2 now that I know Nintendo's device is capable of handling such a massive and magnificent game.
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