Recently, foreign media outlet Automaton interviewed FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki, revealing the core design of the new title "Duskbloods." The unique Role-based role-playing mechanism became the focus of this discussion.
Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that "Duskbloods" is labeled as PvPvE, but it is not the extraction shooter-style PvPvE that players might imagine. The label merely indicates that the game contains both PvP and PvE content. The project was initiated even earlier than "Elden Ring: Nightreign," and the simultaneous development of the two multiplayer projects was merely a coincidence, not representing a strategic shift by FromSoftware towards multiplayer online games. The studio will continue to produce single-player games.
The core of the match is the Virtues victory point system, inspired by the board game "Catan." In addition to defeating opponents, players can earn Virtue points by completing events, capturing points, and fulfilling Role conditions. Matches are divided into multiple elimination rounds, with the final three survivors entering the endgame. The endgame can either be a three-way PvP duel or trigger a PvE ending where players jointly defeat a boss.
The game's biggest feature is the Role/Character system, encouraging players to engage in RP (role-playing) rather than simply pursuing the most efficient功利 (utilitarian) strategy. For example, after equipping a Role themed around "Romance," the system randomly assigns another player as your lover. Both parties can become a couple by sending courtship emotes to each other, gaining match bonuses if they reach the endgame together.
Equipping a Role themed around "Nemesis" will mark a specific player as your nemesis; defeating them grants a large amount of Virtues. If you are marked, the system will provide advance warning, and you will gain a passive health regeneration effect while being hunted.
Even if you lose a match, you can still unlock story fragments and character appearances; the story does not require victory to progress. The game's narrative uses fragmented online storytelling, where specific interactions during matches unlock character-exclusive dialogues and story segments; lobby NPCs and item descriptions also help flesh out the worldview.
The full version will feature more than ten playable Duskblood characters, each with their own exclusive weapons, supporting deep customization of masks, tattoos, and Duskblood skills. The maps will include three Dusk battlefields set in different eras, not just the Gothic Victorian city from the test version. Characters generally carry both melee and ranged weapons, and the maps feature extensive vertical spatial designs to accommodate high-mobility jumping and aerial dash combat.
"Duskbloods" will include ranked matches, seasons, and leaderboards. The single-player content is relatively light, mainly providing practice modes and simulated eight-player matches for players to enjoy during server maintenance. Hidetaka Miyazaki admitted that he is not good at PvP combat, so the design deliberately reduces the weight of pure mechanical skill. He looks forward to future updates introducing mechanisms where veterans can help newcomers, allowing high-level players to become special allies or formidable enemies. Nintendo provided significant assistance to the team in terms of tutorials and rule explanations, compensating for the weak guidance in FS's previous works.