The Duskbloods, FromSoftware's upcoming Nintendo Switch 2-exclusive action RPG, is partly the result of studio president Hidetaka Miyazaki and the other developers behind games like Dark Souls finally making use of ideas they've sat on for years.
Speaking with IGN, Miyazaki explains (via interpreter) that "a lot of our previous titles, such as Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls series" included "a lot of unique online elements" but couldn't accommodate everything FromSoftware had in mind.
"There were also a lot of other things that we wanted to try, things that seemed like great ideas, but didn't really fit in the context of a single-player game or within the context of those games, specifically," Miyazaki continues.
"Over time, a lot of those ideas piled up, things that you wish you could have done here and there. Having an outlet for them, somewhere we can find a place where they all fit, or can be made to fit specifically in that multiplayer context, is something that was always at the forefront of my mind."
On the heels of Elden Ring, which is essentially Dark Souls 4, 5, and 6 in a trench coat, Miyazaki's comments are especially interesting. And even more so after Elden Ring Nightreign, an oddball spinoff that, itself, leveraged some ideas that dated back to Dark Souls 3, as Junya Ishizaki, who was recommended for the director role by Miyazaki, told GamesRadar+ last year. Increasingly, it feels like The Duskbloods will show us a different, even weirder side of FromSoftware.
As a PvPvE game, The Duskbloods leans more into the asynchronous multiplayer that's come to define the Souls games and leverages it in new, still largely unknown ways. Miyazaki mentions one approach here.
"There will definitely be a section of the customization that caters towards that playstyle for people who don't want to necessarily always be in an intense PVP thing, even if they make it to the end and want to take more of a backseat and enjoy the game in a different way," he says.
The Duskbloods has a closed network test rolling out this month ahead of a still-undated 2026 launch on Switch 2.
In June, as FromSoftware owner Kadokawa worked to fend off investors clamoring for a regime change, Miyazaki teased multiple games in the works.
