Recently, foreign media outlet IGN released an exclusive interview with FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki, discussing the design origins of the NS2-exclusive PvPvE new title The Duskbloods, collaboration with Nintendo, gameplay and narrative philosophy, and the studio's future direction. Development began in 2021, with many ideas stemming from multiplayer concepts that couldn't be included in previous Souls-like single-player games, such as derivatives of systems like Covenants and Invasions.
The design of The Duskbloods is heavily influenced by board games and TRPGs (Tabletop Role-Playing Games). The Virtue system draws inspiration from victory points in board games, allowing players to achieve match objectives through diverse means rather than just combat. The Mark system borrows from TRPG dice-rolling mechanics to drive complex interactions between characters and players.
Hidetaka Miyazaki admitted that he is not skilled at high-intensity PvP action games, so during production, he prioritized asking himself, "Would I find this fun to play?" hoping to cater to players who dislike intense confrontation. Even in the endgame, players can configure their enhanced AI companion "Kin" to handle most of the combat damage output, allowing themselves to take a support role. Even if they don't secure victory, completing the match will unlock rewards such as story content and cosmetics, reducing frustration. The game will also include a special ninth-player PvP mode similar to invasions in the Souls series, satisfying fans of hardcore competition.
Hidetaka Miyazaki also explained the reason for choosing to collaborate with Nintendo. When the team presented the game's concept to Nintendo, the latter showed great enthusiasm and acceptance, demonstrating forward-thinking in project implementation. Nintendo provided significant assistance in game balance adjustments and tutorial guidance for newcomers, compensating for FromSoftware's historical weakness in guiding players.
As a multiplayer game, The Duskbloods explores unique narrative methods. Through the "Bloodline" system, players can randomly unlock hidden storylines and special dialogues between characters by meeting specific conditions during online matches, gradually uncovering the characters' pasts throughout battles. Story content will continue to expand with future updates.
For online testing, the team is closely monitoring player feedback on the Mark system, map generation, and item randomization mechanics. They will continue to adjust the balance between randomized and fixed content. After launch, they will keep fixing bugs and iterating on balance, but cannot yet reveal the roadmap for future paid content updates. The matchmaking system will use ranks to distinguish between newcomers and veterans, while also exploring gameplay that encourages positive interaction between skilled and new players to prevent poor experiences caused by skill gaps.
Regarding the consecutive release of two multiplayer titles, Elden Ring: Nightreign and The Duskbloods, Hidetaka Miyazaki clarified that this does not represent a strategic shift toward multiplayer at the studio. The two projects simply happened to have overlapping development cycles. FromSoftware still places high importance on single-player game development, and completing these multiplayer projects has even sparked the team's desire to return to single-player games. While he is optimistic about the future of online games, the studio does not chase industry commercial trends and prioritizes creating the games they want to make.
The Duskbloods will launch on Switch 2 in 2026; the exact release date has not been announced.