The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct just dropped, and along with it a brand new From Software game, which is exclusive to the console and launching in 2026. Naturally, everybody thought that it was Bloodborne 2, but the truth is stranger still. The Duskbloods is an 8-player PvPvE experience with “online multiplayer at its core.” So, imagine Escape from Tarkov directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you, but it’s all there on the company website.
It’s not yet clear whether The Duskbloods will feature offline single-player in any capacity, though we’ll find out more when a Creator’s Voice developer diary arrives later this week. In the meantime, let’s see what we can divine from the available materials.
What’s going on in the reveal trailer?
The world that The Duskbloods’ first trailer introduces us to is a wild one, with vampires, high-speed rail, jetpack robots, tommy guns, dinosaurs and fancy boys… It’s a heady blend of inspirations this time around, evocative of previous Soulsborne milieus with a few new styles thrown in for good measure.
One vignette shows a character in hunter’s garb riding through a Victorian street. It’s a scene that could have easily opened a Bloodborne 2 trailer, but it’s followed by another vignette of a hero casting a spell, inexplicably turning into a Tyrranosaurus rex and chowing on a wizard.
Gameplay-wise, it seems to be introducing a series of distinct characters that offer variant play styles. There’s the machine gun-toting, acrobatic vampire bloke that dominates the runtime, and a latex samurai who summons a co-op partner at the 2:25 mark. Personally, I’m most interested by the mechanical diving suit fellow who can fly around the map at breakneck speed.
There’s also a few boss-like enemies interspersed in the footage, including a giant winged moon that looks plucked from the mind of Yoko Taro, as well as a clear rumination on the Dark Souls basilisk but bigger, frog-like and somehow even more nightmare-inducing. Not looking forward to brawling with that one.
What does the press release say?
Beyond the above, the press release states that up to 8 players will “vie for supremacy among themselves and against challenging foes.” Sounds like Hunt: Showdown or Escape from Tarkov, but with spine-chilling creature design. The official website also gives us a name for our octet — The Bloodsworn.
The marketing copy notes that the Bloodsworn are “a group that has transcended human strength thanks to their special blood.” “Throw yourself into a violent fray for “First Blood” as the twilight of humanity approaches,” the press release continues.
I’m not quite sure how this will shake out, but The Duskbloods sounds very different to a traditional single-player Dark Souls game, where multiplayer encounters are optional. if I had to speculate based on the trailer alone, maybe this means that matches in The Duskbloods take place on a multiplayer server that doubles as an enormous Soulsborne-esque map.
Perhaps you pick your character from one of the eight heroes shown in the trailer, each with defined skills, loadouts and traversal abilities (like the robot guy’s jetpack, or the machine gun vampire’s mega-leap), and tackle the various challenges littered through the environments.
In a 2023 interview with IGN, The Duskbloods Director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that he has been looking to games like Escape from Tarkov for inspiration, which may help to indicate why From Software is taking this multiplayer-first approach. “Other folks in the industry, they keep updating multiplayer network functionality and the game design in order to change the way that the players are involved in the gameplay, and how the players are used as one of the resources for the gameplay,” Miyazaki told IGN.
If it is some kind of extraction game as the PvPvE moniker suggests, you may need to collaborate to track and best the most formidable bosses, but you might also be able to hunt and betray other players during that process, for loot or bragging rights. The heart-in-your-mouth adrenaline of getting in, getting loot and getting out in Hunt: Showdown immediately comes to mind here.
Bounty hunting, risking an ambush and trying to escape all the while dealing with low-level enemies and crafty players… these are all scenarios that could suit the Soulsborne mould, with a bit of clever iteration. If I’m right, then that’s quite a hectic concept to graft onto this genre, but I’m intrigued by the sheer ambition of it.
So The Duskbloods is nothing like Bloodborne, then?
We can’t be sure, but beyond the world design, it doesn’t seem like it! After years of influential market dominance, it appears that From Software is back in its proverbial bag, coming up with new ways to engage with the formula the studio birthed when Demon’s Souls launched back in 2009. It’s a trendy spaghetti at the wall scenario, but one that has my interest piqued.
Recently, the company shocked everyone with the reveal of Elden Ring: Nightreign, a procedurally-generated, battle royale-inspired take on Elden Ring, for teams of three players in co-op. The Duskbloods feels like another push in an unproven multiplayer-first direction, but one that I’m certainly more interested in. The promise of a handcrafted From Software world and another helping of archaeological storytelling is enough to lure me in here… even if it does mean I will be at the whim of other players for most of its runtime.
We don’t run ads on Postmode, so if you enjoyed this piece, please consider supporting Postmode on Patreon or tipping us via Kofi!
