Elden Ring’s promised update with new classes and armor will finally be ours in August⁠—but we still don’t know if it’s paid or free

Bandai Namco has revealed that the Switch 2 “Tarnished Edition” of Elden Ring will finally launch on August 28. But who cares about that⁠—the company’s press release also confirmed that the Tarnished Edition’s new goodies will also be coming to the PC version on the same day.

The Tarnished Edition was initially supposed to be a launch game for the Switch 2, but amid reports of booboo performance at preview events, it was unceremoniously booted into 2026 with no firm launch window. No skin off my back, but the delay took the Tarnished Edition patch on other platforms with it.

And there’s some juicy stuff in there, like two new starting classes: The big boy Heavy Knight and the dexlord Knight of Ides. The former is an Iron Tarkus-looking lad with new armor and a new weapon, a never-before-seen curved greatsword, but paradoxically, he doesn’t have a shield. Heavy Knight had the community in a tizzy with an early peek at his strength build-centric, powergaming-friendly stat spread.

I’m more excited about the Knight of Ides, though, who starts the game with some badass-looking armor and the killer M’lady light greatsword, a standout weapon from the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion that previously took dozens of hours to acquire. I’ve been holding off on a new playthrough so I could rock with the Knight of Ides.

The Tarnished Edition will also come with other new weapons and armor, like Lucatiel of Mirrah’s set from Dark Souls 2, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that FromSoft has been holding some surprises in reserve. Now there’s only one question left: Is this a free update, or paid DLC?

PCG’s other Elden aficionados and I have always assumed the former, but there are worrying signs. In PCG editor emeritus Rich Stanton’s initial writeup of the Tarnished Edition, he flagged some language that implied the new content was paid, but chalked it up to auto translation errors. Now have a look at the language in Bandai Namco’s latest press release:

“ELDEN RING Tarnished Edition is coming 28 August to Nintendo Switch 2, and the new content will also be available to purchase [emphasis mine] for PS4, PS5, XBOX One, XBOX Series X|S, and PC via Steam.“

Benefit of the doubt could have that meaning new copies of Elden Ring will be sold with Tarnished Ed. content, but that seems like more of a stretch to me as I write it.

If the Tarnished update just costs a fiver, I won’t be super-mad, and PCG senior guides writer Sean Martin pointed out that a paid addon almost feels like a promise of something more substantial—those goodies in reserve I mentioned. I’ve reached out to Bandai Namco for comment, and will update this story if I hear back.