I can't believe I'm replaying the best RPG of the last decade on Switch 2
Elden Ring has its hooks in me – surely not another playthrough?!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and while Elden Ring hasn't exactly been absent in the last few years, it's nonetheless been disturbingly long since I've played the game. After finishing the brutally hard Shadow of the Erdtree expansion a couple of years ago, that was that.
Now, though, I'm back in the grip of an Elden Ring obsession, thanks to the release of the game's Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 – a port that we thought would probably have been here a year ago, but only just arrived.
FromSoftware quite rightly chose to take the time to make the game performant on the system, rather than rushing it out of the door sooner to the console's launch, and it's been striking how each wave of previews has highlighted improved stability over the last year or so.
Now, finally, millions of gamers get the chance to play what I think is probably the finest game of the last decade, on the Switch and at a smooth but obviously not totally optimal 60FPS. The Tarnished Edition packages in Shadow of the Erdtree, too, along with a couple of new starting classes, to make this technically an all-in-one of the game and all its possible content.
What a game, too. Diving back into Limgrave (the starting area) again, I'm struck immediately by how absolutely immersed I was in this whole environment the first time around. I dutifully avoided guides and discussion of the game for weeks to make sure that I didn't just follow others' tips, which actually meant I spent dozens of hours in Limgrave without even breaching the next area, Liurnia.
It's unbelievably impressive to see the game, something of a performance hog even on the PS5, running like this on a portable console this small and thin. The Switch 2's power might become a running topic once it's been around a little longer and games start to outstrip it, but for now this is a good example of how scaling things down can still make for a wondrous experience.
Sure, things are a little blurrier here than on any other platform, and sure you don't have the choice of a 60FPS mode to make combat smoother and more responsive, but it's hard to get too irate about that when I'm exploring a crystal mine on the overground, or making one more attempt at a boss while lying in my bed.
Plus, look at the header image that I captured for this story, and tell me it's not an awesome vista – part of the visual genius of Elden Ring is how it uses technically simpler distant sights to beg you for more exploration, and I just love how that's been preserved here.
Playing it once again is a genuine treat, and a good example of why I find it almost impossible to leave on holiday without packing my Switch 2 as a contingency against boredom or an idle flight.
Plus, quite frankly, half a dozen hours back in Elden Ring have made me check its release date (and that of its DLC) multiple times. Time flies, and I couldn't be more excited about any game than I will be when Elden Ring 2 is announced, as I'm realising it might be in the next couple of years.
