Last week, the first critical reviews of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition for Switch 2 appeared. Digital Foundry editors tested the game, and the impressions were alarming — the new version of one of the biggest hits of recent years shows weak results in its current state.
John Linneman of Digital Foundry did not hide his disappointment after the presentation at gamescom: "My impression is that this is simply unacceptable. I wouldn't release such a product now. The game runs like a poorly optimized game on PS3," the journalist noted, emphasizing that the performance is far from what one would expect from the new Nintendo console.
Fans are also expressing dissatisfaction. Some call the port "broken," wondering why the game runs worse on Switch 2 than on Steam Deck. Questions arise about a possible mistake by Nintendo, which limited developers' access to the Switch 2 developer kit, which may have hindered optimization for release.
Linneman added that the problem is not only the complexity of the game, but also hardware limitations. Elden Ring is a demanding game, and the FromSoftware engine has always created difficulties on different platforms. On Switch 2, the main bottleneck seems to be the processor, which limits performance more than on Steam Deck.
Digital Foundry reminds that Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition is still in development. The release on Switch 2 is scheduled for 2025, and FromSoftware has time for corrections, but the task remains difficult.