Elden Ring‘s Switch 2 version isn’t looking great, according to first impressions from Gamescom demos. From Software’s smash-hit open-world action RPG is one of many games available for attendees of Europe’s biggest gaming trade show to try out, and one of the most anticipated third-party Switch 2 releases, along with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Intergrade.
But unlike FF7, which is rumored to look and play great on the Switch 2, Elden Ring appears to have some serious performance problems on the handheld. While it’s not entirely clear why, or whether these issues will be addressed before launch, I have a couple of pretty good guesses.
Elden Ring Has Some Issues On Switch 2
Frame Rates Are Unsteady
According to Nintendo Life (and corroborated by various other outlets), Elden Ring‘s performance on the Switch 2 leaves a lot to be desired. Nintendo Life claims that its reporter “experiencing multiple instances of frame drops and stuttering while out in the open world, particularly after leaving the tutorial area.”
IGN shared a similar story, albeit with a more egregious trigger for frame rate drops: simply moving the camera in wide, open spaces was enough to slow the game down.
Of course, this is just an early demo – any and all comments, especially those about performance issues that could be fixed before a full launch, should be taken with a grain of salt. These issues may also be exclusive to handheld mode, and docking the console might help when it eventually comes out.
Still, it’s concerning that Elden Ring was made playable, even to a limited audience, in such a state, and that, as Nintendo Life reports, previewers weren’t allowed to capture any gameplay footage from the demo.
Frequent frame rate drops and stuttering are a no-go in any action RPG, and especially in a game that demands such quick, precise responses to enemy movement. This could be a bad omen for Elden Ring on the Switch 2, but frankly, we should’ve seen this coming.
Elden Ring’s Poor Switch 2 Performance Comes As No Surprise
We’ve Seen This All Before
This isn’t the first time an Elden Ring release has had performance issues. It ran notoriously badly on PC when it was first launched, to the point that a player-made performance boost mod made the rounds in the community.
Most of its issues were eventually patched out, which does mean the same could happen with the Switch 2 version. But for now, performance is still a major concern.
And anyway, Nintendo warned us about this a long time ago: during the April Nintendo Direct, when we first got a look at Elden Ring on the Switch 2, choppy frame rates were on full display.
Although the footage was edited enough to mask it slightly, it was noticeable when the trailer showed gameplay footage of the player character riding through Limgrave – right around the 25-second mark below.
But that was just an initial reveal – it’s concerning that the game appears to be in a similar state four months down the line, and with just another four months remaining in the game’s release window.
There’s still some time for Elden Ring to be patched up before its final release on the Switch 2, but it may have already bitten off more than it can chew. At the end of the day, it’s a huge open-world game running on a handheld – Elden Ring just might not have been a good choice for the Switch 2.
Elden Ring
