Elden Ring in 2026: The State of the Game, the Switch 2 Launch, and the A24 Film

Elden Ring launched in February 2022. Four years later it still regularly lands in the top 40 most-played games on Steam, the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is widely considered the best FromSoftware content ever released, and an A24 film adaptation directed by Alex Garland is 20 months from release. This is not a game that aged quietly.

Here is the state of the game in June 2026.

Where the Game Stands: Patch 1.16

The current version is patch 1.16, released in March 2026. The patch focused primarily on balance adjustments and DLC area stability. Notable changes:

• Rivers of Blood slight nerf — the Corpse Piler skill damage reduced by 8%; still the dominant bleed option but no longer as oppressively dominant in PvP invasion scenarios
• Several DLC boss phase timings adjusted — Promised Consort Radahn's Phase 2 transition window now gives players a slightly longer window before the first explosive attack; still the hardest boss in the game
• Spirit Ash intelligence improvements — the Mimic Tear no longer occasionally ignores the player's active buff rotation before attacking
• PC performance fixes — frame stutter on the Altus Plateau high-draw-distance areas (particularly the Erdtree approach) was improved on NVIDIA 4090-class GPUs

The game is in an excellent place for new players. Four years of patches have smoothed the roughest friction points without fundamentally changing why the game is great.

Shadow of the Erdtree: Still Worth It in 2026

Released June 2024, the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC remains the single largest expansion FromSoftware has ever shipped — a complete second continent (the Shadow Realm) with:

• 10 new main bosses, with Messmer the Impaler and Promised Consort Radahn being two of the best boss designs in the franchise
• 8 new legacy dungeons (full-scale areas the size of Stormveil Castle or larger)
• ~100 new weapons spanning new weapon categories and existing ones
• ~30 new sorceries and incantations including new schools exclusive to the Shadow Realm
• Full questlines for Miquella, Thiollier, Moore, Igon, and Leda — the best NPC writing in any FromSoftware game

The DLC requires completing two base game events to access: defeat Starscourge Radahn (optional in the base game but required for DLC access), and defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood. Once both are done, interact with the withered Miquella arm in Mohg's arena to enter the Shadow Realm.

The difficulty warning is real: the DLC is tuned significantly harder than base game endgame. You need 60 Vigor minimum and a full set of Scadutree Blessing upgrades (collected throughout the Shadow Realm) to survive DLC boss hits. Go in at 40 Vigor and you will get one-shot repeatedly. This is intentional and worth respecting.

The Big News: Tarnished Edition — Nintendo Switch 2, August 28

The most significant Elden Ring development since the DLC itself: the Tarnished Edition launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28, 2026.

This is the complete package — base game, Shadow of the Erdtree, and new content that hasn't existed before:

What's New in Tarnished Edition

Two new starting classes:
- Heavy Knight — starts in heavy black plate armor with a curved greatsword. Pure Strength focus. A Dark Souls II callback aesthetic.
- Idius Knight — light greatsword and shield setup, Dexterity-focused. Fast, controlled, Carian-adjacent in feel.

Neither class adds anything mechanically unavailable elsewhere (you can build these loadouts from any class eventually), but having two new first-run starting experiences is genuinely meaningful for a game whose opening ten hours are so critical to how you understand the combat.

Four new armor sets — designed to reference FromSoftware's legacy. The Lucatiel armor set from Dark Souls II is back. Sets based on Henri of Astora and Horace the Hushed (both DS3 NPCs) are confirmed. These aren't nostalgia gimmicks — they're well-designed sets that fit the Lands Between's visual language.

New weapon: Mirrah Greatsword — a straight greatsword referencing the Mirrah lineage from the Souls series. Good base stats, clean moveset, no signature skill gimmick — exactly what players who want a traditional sword-and-board option needed.

Three Torrent cosmetic skins — including a white-coat variant and a Night's Cavalry-inspired dark version. No gameplay impact, but Torrent is on-screen for a substantial portion of the game and cosmetic options have been wanted since launch.

Two new gestures — "The Ring" and "Ring of Miquella."

Switch 2 Performance

The Switch 2 version targets 60fps docked / 30fps handheld. Based on early reports, docked mode holds 60fps in most areas with occasional drops in the most demanding scenes (the open-world areas with multiple enemy groups). Handheld holds 30fps stably. The compression on textures in handheld mode is noticeable to a trained eye, but the game looks and plays well on the smaller screen.

The portable factor is genuinely new. The ability to do a dungeon run, attempt a boss, or explore a region during a commute or on a couch without committing to a full session at a desk changes how approachable the game is for people with less contiguous play time.

Tarnished Pack on Other Platforms

The new classes, armor, weapon, and Torrent skins all release simultaneously on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Steam as the Tarnished Pack DLC on August 28. Price in Japan is 550 yen (~$4 USD). Existing owners can add the new content without buying the Switch 2 version or repurchasing the game.

The A24 Film: Alex Garland, March 3, 2028

The confirmed details:

• Director: Alex Garland (Ex Machina, 28 Days Later, Civil War, Men)
• Studio: A24 (of Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hereditary, Midsommar — the genre-defining prestige studio of the last decade)
• Release date: March 3, 2028 (confirmed IMAX)
• Budget: $100M+, confirmed blockbuster production
• Cast: Kit Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Ben Whishaw, Nick Offerman, Jonathan Pryce

The project is in active production. Garland's track record on adapting abstract, world-building-heavy source material (Annihilation was his screenplay) makes this a credible adaptation. A24's genre pedigree aligns with the tone of the Lands Between.

Why this matters for WizardsTower: The film's marketing cycle begins in earnest in 2027. Every person who sees the trailer and decides to try the game is going to search for guides. The sorcerer and mage niche is our specific territory — the film's visual language heavily references glintstone magic, the Erdtree, and the sorcery tradition. We're early.

Should You Play in 2026?

Yes, but with context:

The game's community has matured past the initial period where invasion and PvP were active stressors for new players. The current playerbase skews toward cooperative play and guide-assisted exploration. You can summon help for bosses without stigma; using Spirit Ashes is normalized; the wiki and the WizardsTower guides cover everything.

The question isn't "is the game still worth it" — it is, clearly. The question is which version. Our recommendation:

• Haven't played, want to try it on something new: Switch 2 Tarnished Edition on August 28 — the complete package, portable, includes all new content
• Have a gaming PC: Steam, base game + DLC bundle, mod support for future replays
• PS5 owner: PS5 version, stable 60fps, DualSense haptics, free upgrade from PS4 if you own that version
• Mac user: Shadow PC (cloud gaming) or wait for the Switch 2 version and play it on the couch

The game is not going anywhere. The film coming in 2028 is going to create a second wave of new players — if you want to be ahead of that wave and have something to show your friends when they ask "should I play this?", now is a better time than two years from now.

Guides for every aspect of Elden Ring are in The Tarnished's Codex →. If you're new, start with the Getting Started guide or go directly to the Mage Build guide if you know you want to play a sorcerer.