Last weekend I was lucky enough to get into The Duskbloods‘ Closed Network test! And while I didn’t get a chance to play an insane amount of it due to it being available at very specific times, and one of those scheduled times being canceled due to technical issues, I wanted to talk about my experience and share my thoughts on FromSoftware’s next big game. So this will be less review and more preview.

Duskbloods is FromSoftware’s newest Souls-like and is going to be a Switch 2 exclusive! Not only that, it is going to be quite the departure from their usual Souls games. First and foremost, Duskbloods is entirely PvP with there being no single player element to the game. Something that even their last multiplayer focused game, Nightreign, had an option for! This has already alienated more than a few fans, especially the ones that don’t like interacting with the PvP of other Souls games to begin with. To me, this is extremely narrow minded. And I’m not even that big of a fan of PvP in Souls games! But let’s take a second to actually explain what Duskbloods is and how it works.

Similarly to Nightreign, a statement I will be repeating a lot through out this post, Duskbloods can seem very overwhelming and confusing not only at first glance but for the first few rounds of playing it! But I will try my best to explain how the game functions so there is a slightly clearer picture of it.

The best way I can think of to try and simplify down Duskbloods is to call it competitive Nightreign. It’s a game about running around a map trying to get things done with limited time in order to make sure you are prepared for the end of each run. In Nightreign how this works is by running around killing enemies to level up while also killing bigger enemies at forts and what not to gain weapons and abilities while a timer ticks down to when you need to come together and fight a big boss at the end of the night before repeating this again before the big final boss. Duskbloods is quite similar to this but with some big differences!

The main difference is obviously the fact that you aren’t working as a team in Duskbloods. While you can partner up with a fellow player, there will always be other enemy players competing for resources while also trying to kill you! The main resource you are gunning for in this case isn’t just levels but Virtue. Similar to how Nightreign has multiple nights to build up your character, Duskbloods has multiple phases to do the same. The big difference here being that in Nightreign you just have to make sure you don’t die from the nightly boss but in Duskbloods, if you don’t have enough Virtue you are eliminated.

To go into a bit more detail, each match has eight Bloodsworn, the player characters, and at the end of each of the phases the Bloodsworn with the least amount of Virtue are eliminated until the fourth and final phase where only three Bloodsworn are left! And when there is only one left standing, they are the winner of this match. Between the first and final phase though, players can die as many times as they want! Death is not what knocks you out, though it will obviously set you back quite a bit. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

So the goal of each phase is to level up and gain Virtue. Sometimes these goals overlap and other times they don’t as there are quite a few ways to earn Virtue with plenty not requiring battling at all. That being said, the most straight forward way is to beat strong foes! While regular enemies will always give you XP, and on rare occasions even a little Virtue, you’ll be wanting to gun for the more tough enemies around the map most of which have specific locations. You can see them from afar as well by the purple glowing spot where one will spawn when approached. Similar to Nightreign, beating tougher enemies gives you a choice of a buff! Along with the Virtue of course. These buffs range from healing more when you heal and higher resistance to ailments to slowly regaining health over time and making elemental attacks stronger! This makes hunting these foes pretty important as they don’t just give you Virtue but a buff as well. However, if you want both of those things but better, you can take on one of the bosses marked on the map!

Boss fights in Duskbloods are actually pretty interesting. Despite the game being PvP focused, other players can help with a boss fight! In fact they are very much encouraged to do so. If a boss fight begins nearby, you are given a prompt to join in and help. If you and the other players managed to take down the boss, everyone gets the Virtue and the buff. This is really interesting to me since this means taking down a boss can benefit other players, potentially ones that already have more Virtue than you, not really giving you much of a leg up. Because of this, I didn’t usually engage in boss fights preferring to go for smaller enemies or other means of getting Virtue myself. That being said, if I saw a boss was almost beaten I would join in! A scummy move, sure, but it’s cut throat out there! Still, these boss fights are really the only time all players will ever work together. So much so, you can’t attack players in a boss fight even if you aren’t joining in. Boss fights are certainly one of the more unique aspects of the game, providing a bit of a mind game on approaching them. Something I wasn’t expecting from them!

Beyond fighting though, there are some other ways to get Virtue. Mainly by exploring the map for these guys sitting in chairs. Approaching one allows you to light a flame in their skulls giving you Virtue for doing so! These are called Flame Virtue while the Virtue you earn from fights are called Repulsion Virtue. It’s important to keep in mind how much of both you are getting though as exploring and fighting earn you Commendations! In the bottom right corner of your screen you should see two symbols with numbers next to them. One will go up from beating enemies and the other from picking up items around the map. Having the highest or second highest of these will earn you Virtue throughout the phases! Though losing your placement to someone else will have that Virtue subtracted from your total! Speaking of losing Virtue though, there is one more important instance where that can happen.

At the end of each phase the ritual will begin! Marked on the map, a ritual site will appear. In this site are special golden pillars that when interacted with give you Virtue! But very importantly, they only give you that Virtue if you are the last person to interact with them. If another player comes in and does the same, that Virtue will be theirs at the end of the phase. But that’s not the only important part of the ritual. While in the ritual area, killing another player will earn you quite a bit of Virtue! Making the ritual as a whole a massive risk but with the biggest Virtue pay out. You could just simply ignore the ritual and go about collecting Virtue as you were before, but that means you are potentially missing out on so much Virtue by not taking those pillars or killing other players. This ritual phase can completely flip around who is number one! After all, if you are simply strong enough to kill other players while holding a pillar, you can earn an insane amount. It’s a great comeback mechanic that ensures that even if you have a terrible start to a game you can still come out on top.

Another important feature I should mention though is the Kin system! While you can team up with a fellow Bloodsworn, you are also encourage to get a Kin. These are NPC allies that aid you in battle in various ways. I didn’t get a chance to try all of them, as there were a surprising amount, but each one I did try was useful in battle in their own way! Some seem to grant buffs while others will attack whatever you are fighting. My favorite was probably the gunslinger Beatrice! A very combat focused kin that was great at range and close up. You are very much encouraged to get a kin, which are identified by glowing golden rings, toward the start of each game as they will level up along side you. Meaning the earlier you get one the earlier you can start leveling them! While they don’t seem to get any new abilities and what not from leveling, it is still important to get them stronger so they can be an even bigger help in a fight. The way they are implemented is great as they don’t slow down the player at all. If a player gets far enough away the kin will simply teleport to them rather than needing to catch up or anything like that making them always an asset in fight. And given that you aren’t given a boost or anything for not using one, at least that I’m aware of, there really doesn’t seem to be any reason not to grab one!

Once there is only three Bloodsworn left, the game enters the final phase! Unlike the other phases, this one is pure combat and all about being the last one standing. All three players are brought to a small arena and are given two lives each. Additionally, the player with the most Virtue going into this phase is given an extra health boost as a reward! From here, it’s a battle to see who is truly the best. It is very intense and having it be three players instead of just a one on one between two offers up some interesting strategies. Such as trying to gang up on one player, holding back and just letting a fight play out, or trying to kill the other players kin while they fight. There are many ways the fight can go! But once everything is said and done and you are the last Bloodsworn standing, you are rewarded with a cutscene ending the night!

And that is basically the game as a whole! At least for the network test. I’m sure there will be more to the game when it fully releases. It is a very interesting experience that I enjoyed but I am going to be curious to see how many others latch on to it.

While Nightreign did very well, better than FromSoft thought it would from what I can tell, it still did divide some of the Souls fan base by being so multiplayer focused despite the fact that it still was a Souls game at its core. And while Duskbloods is very similar to Nightreign, it strays even further from what a Souls game usually is by not only being multiplayer focused but also being PvP focused with seemingly no single player element. Even before the network test there have been plenty of people complaining about the fact the game is entirely multiplayer focused. However, for me personally, I’m really happy to see FromSoft trying something new like this!

If you asked me before if I thought a PvP version of Nightreign would be fun I would have certainly said no but clearly I would have been wrong! While brief, I enjoyed my time with Duskbloods quite a bit, enough that I know I will be picking it up whenever it actually releases. It is a very weird game, one that I still need to get more of a feel for but at its core it is a ton of fun! I suppose my only real concern about the game would be progression. I feel like multiplayer focused games like this need something for the player to work towards, to grind for. I’m not exactly sure what that could be for Duskbloods beyond maybe cosmetics for the Bloodsworn. It is confirmed that there will be a ranked mode in the game at launch as the option was there in the network test but it wasn’t selectable! Climbing the ranks could be a good incentive but that would push the game further down this hardcore route. Which isn’t entirely a bad thing, especially if that is FromSoftware’s goal, but this could alienate more casual players by not giving them any incentive to play.

Like I said, that is currently my only major concern with the game! Duskbloods, at its core, is a really fun and addictive game with a unique and solid game play loop. One that hopefully isn’t written off simply because it is PvP only. The network test may have only just ended but I am already wanting to play more and in theory we shouldn’t have to wait much longer! The game is, as of me writing this, still planned for a release in 2026 which I really hope they are able to stick to. I am also curious if FromSoft plans to support this game long term. I doubt they will treat it as a live service giving it constant updates with plans to keep it going for years, but I’d like to hope we at least get what Nightreign did with some free updates over the course of a year before ending it off with a big paid update at the end! But we’ll have to wait and see for now.

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? Interested in Duskbloods? Are you a fan of Souls-like games? I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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