FromSoftware's Switch 2 Gamble: Elden Ring and The Duskbloods

Elden Ring runs on a Nintendo handheld. That sentence still feels impossible, yet here we are. After years of FromSoftware’s most ambitious games skipping Nintendo hardware, the Switch 2 is hosting not just Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition but also the console-exclusive The Duskbloods. For handheld players, this is the moment the platform stops being a Nintendo machine and becomes a portable that serious action RPG fans can take seriously.

But the honeymoon comes with caveats. Reviewers praise Tarnished Edition for capturing the open-world’s scope on the go, but they’re equally clear that the visual and frame-rate compromises are real when stacked against PS5 or Xbox Series X. And The Duskbloods’ network test surfaced enough online hiccups to raise eyebrows. This is FromSoftware’s toughest test on portable hardware — and Nintendo’s, too.

Tarnished Edition: Great On the Go, If You Accept the Drop

The critical consensus on Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition is that it’s a miracle of compression — a vast open world squeezing onto Nintendo’s portable. But let’s not bury the lede: this isn’t the performance you’d get on PS5 or Xbox Series X. The source notes the drop is noticeable if you’re used to those machines. For handheld players, the question isn’t whether it’s as pretty — it’s whether the frame-rate stays stable enough for a game where dodging a Margit swipe is life or death. Reviews suggest it’s playable, but not silky. That’s the tradeoff we’ve all made before: a game that goes anywhere but asks you to tolerate fewer frames and lower draw distance. What matters is that FromSoftware actually made the leap — and that future ports will be judged by this baseline.

The Duskbloods’ Network Test Just Showed How Fragile Nintendo Online Still Is

The Duskbloods is a strange beast: part Nightreign, part Kirby Air Riders’ City Trial, all FromSoftware menace. The network test feedback was all over the place — some adore it, others think it’s the studio’s most polarizing project yet. For handheld players, though, the bigger concern is the infrastructure. The source notes a rough start to the test raised red flags. Nintendo’s online has never been a strong suit, and a real-time multiplayer game that demands precision PvP needs dead-reliable netcode. On a handheld, you’re already fighting battery drain and thermal limits; an unstable connection just makes it worse. If The Duskbloods ships with matchmaking stutters, it could poison the well for future experiences from the studio’s multiplayer experiments.

The Twenty-Year Omission Is Finally Closing

FromSoftware’s relationship with Nintendo has been a series of almosts since the GameCube’s Lost Kingdoms. Dark Souls Remastered on Switch felt like a thaw, but nothing followed. The technical demands of Elden Ring made a Switch port impossible — until now. The Switch 2’s hardware finally crosses the threshold where FromSoftware’s games can run, albeit with cuts. That’s a generational shift. If Tarnished Edition sells — and its Switch 2 eShop debut suggests it already is — and The Duskbloods finds an audience despite its rough edges, expect more of the studio’s catalog to come over — and that’s a huge win for anyone who wants their Souls fix on the couch or on a flight. But if either launch stumbles, Nintendo could lose the momentum it’s built with third parties like Capcom and Square Enix. The hardware can handle their vision — barely. The question is whether players will accept the tradeoffs in exchange for the freedom of playing Elden Ring wherever they go.