Elden Ring Tarnished Edition reaches Switch 2 on August 28

Fifteen frames per second. That was the figure attached to the Switch 2 build of Elden Ring shown at gamescom in August 2025, according to reports from the show floor, and it is the number that has followed the Tarnished Edition ever since. A year later, Bandai Namco’s official page lists a release date of August 28, 2026, and as of August 22, 2026 nothing has moved it.

From the 15 fps demo to a date

Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s open-world action RPG, the one whose difficulty and enormous map turned it into a phenomenon; Bandai Namco’s page puts lifetime sales above 28 million copies. The Tarnished Edition is its Nintendo Switch 2 version, announced alongside the console and originally expected in 2025. The slip into 2026 was to give the team time for performance work, coverage of the announcement says, and previews earlier this year described a noticeably smoother build. Bandai Namco itself has not published final frame-rate or resolution targets, which is worth keeping in mind before buying on day one.

What the package contains is not in doubt. The Switch 2 edition bundles the base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, a new armor set, and customization for Torrent, the spectral horse. Nintendo’s UK store page lists the developer as FromSoftware, Inc., the publisher as Bandai Namco Entertainment, a PEGI 16 rating, single-player plus online play for one to six people, and a 41.0 GB download. Korean and Chinese are among the supported languages.

A cartridge with no game on it

Two purchase details matter more than usual here. First, the price: retail listings in the US put the Tarnished Edition at $79.99 and in the UK at £64.99. For comparison, that is roughly the base game plus the expansion bought separately on other platforms. Second, the physical version is a Game-Key Card, a Switch 2 format in which the cartridge holds no game data and simply unlocks a download from the eShop. You need the 41 GB of storage and an internet connection either way, so the choice between boxed and digital is mostly about whether you want something you can resell.

Pre-ordering adds two gestures, “The Ring” and “Ring of Miquella.” Bandai Namco’s page notes they can also be obtained later in the game, so nothing is lost by waiting for launch-day performance tests.

What the other platforms get for 4.99 euros

The new content is not locked to Nintendo. In a June 30 post, Bandai Namco Europe detailed a “Tarnished Pack” that brings the same additions to existing versions of the game: two new starting classes, the Heavy Knight and the Idus Knight, four new armor sets and three skins for Torrent. It goes on sale on August 28, 2026 on each platform’s digital store and on Bandai Namco’s own site, at a standard price of 4.99 euros. Existing owners on PC, PlayStation or Xbox therefore pay a few euros, not a new full price, to try the new classes.

For a new player the arithmetic is simple. If you own no version of Elden Ring and want it portable, the Switch 2 edition is the only option and it is complete. If you own it elsewhere, the Tarnished Pack is the cheap route to the new classes. If you are curious but unsure the hardware will hold up, the open question is exactly the one Bandai Namco has not answered: how the final build runs docked and in handheld mode. The first weekend of reports after August 28 will settle that better than any press release.