What exactly is in the Ashes of Lack pack?

Two starting classes, four armor sets, and three appearances for Torrent. It's cosmetic content and alternative game starts, nothing groundbreaking.

Why are players upset over €4.99?

It's not the price that's the issue, it's the principle: content meant for the Switch 2 being sold separately when Elden Ring's previous DLC was either complete or free. Players fear a new direction for FromSoftware toward monetization.

Has Bandai Namco responded to the criticism?

No, the publisher hasn't issued any comment. The only promise at the end of the 1.17 patch notes: to keep improving quality of life, a generic line that already closed out patch 1.16.1.

Is it really that expensive for cosmetics?

The amount isn't the real issue. It's the philosophy: carving up a port's bonuses to sell them separately breaks the unspoken contract FromSoftware had with its community.

Elden Ring: the Tarnished Pack caps at 51% positive reviews on Steam

The ELDEN RING Tarnished Pack has been on sale since Friday, August 28, 2026 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC, at the standard price of €4.99 announced by Bandai Namco — $4.99 on Steam in the US. As of August 30, its Steam page rates it "Mixed": 51% of 1,471 reviews are positive.

The criticism is always the same in the negative reviews: this content should have been free, or at the very least bundled with Shadow of the Erdtree. The pack simply resells separately the bonuses from Elden Ring Tarnished Edition, the Nintendo Switch 2 version — two new starting classes, the Heavy Knight and the Idus Knight, four new armor sets and three customization skins for Torrent, your spectral steed — and the comparison with Oblivion's infamous paid horse armor keeps coming up even in positive reviews. Several buyers say they're actually less worried about the $4.99 than about a change in approach at FromSoftware.

An ELDEN RING character in a wide pointed hat holds a longsword in one hand and a red cloth in the other, in front of the ramparts of a ruined fortress under a red sky. — One of the four official screenshots illustrating the ELDEN RING Tarnished Pack's Steam page. Credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Bandai Namco has published nothing about these reviews, neither on its website nor on Steam. The publisher's only commitment regarding what comes next lies in the sentence closing the patch notes for version 1.17, published on August 27: "We will continue to make improvements so that you can enjoy ELDEN RING more comfortably." These notes only exist in English, and the same promise already closed the notes for 1.16.1, back in August 2025. No timeline, no roadmap.

Our take: at $4.99, it's not the amount that's the issue, it's the principle. Content designed to sell a Switch 2 port, chopped up into micro-DLC elsewhere, in a game whose previous additions were either a full expansion or a free update. Steam's 51% says it all.