Elden Ring on a Nintendo handheld sounded like a bad joke a year ago — the Gamescom 2025 build was reportedly limping along around 15 frames per second. FromSoftware and Bandai Namco went back in, and now the Lands Between has a real date on Switch 2.
The drop
Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition launches on Switch 2 August 28, 2026 at $79.99. It bundles the 2022 base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and a pack of new content — the full package in one buy for players getting to it late on Nintendo hardware.
What's actually new
The Tarnished Edition adds two new starting classes — Knight of Ides and Heavy Warrior — plus four new armor sets with matching melee weapons and extra customization for Torrent. There's a deep-cut nod in there too: Lucatiel of Mirrah's armor from Dark Souls II is included, the kind of easter egg that makes the old heads nod.
The catch for everybody else
Here's the part that'll get talked about: the new content isn't a Switch 2 exclusive. The classes and armor drop the same day on PS5, PS4, Xbox and PC — but as paid DLC, reportedly around $3.50. So Switch 2 players get it folded into the bundle, and everyone else pays a little extra to catch up. Fair, but worth knowing before you assume you're locked out.
Why it matters
Getting a game this heavy running on Switch 2 hardware is a real engineering flex, and it puts one of the defining games of the decade in front of a whole new portable audience. FromSoftware turning a "15fps disaster" into a shipping product is the kind of behind-the-scenes grind that doesn't make trailers but tells you who's serious. August 28, the Lands Between goes portable.