The Duskbloods is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive from FromSoftware, releasing in 2026, built as an eight-player PvPvE action game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki (Nintendo, 2026). It swaps the studio's usual lonely pilgrimage for a lobby full of vampire-adjacent warriors called the Bloodsworn, all clawing at each other for a prize called First Blood.
That's a strange pivot for the team behind Elden Ring, and it's exactly why this one matters. Applications for the closed network test opened on July 22, 2026, which means the first outsiders touch the game in under a month. If you're tracking the wider Switch 2 slate, it sits alongside the rest of our upcoming Nintendo games coverage.
Note
Key Takeaways
- The Duskbloods is a Switch 2 exclusive launching in 2026, with up to 8 players per match (Nintendo, 2025).
- Matches are decided by Victory Points, not just kills, so avoiding combat is a legitimate strategy.
- Over a dozen playable Bloodsworn are customisable through "blood history and fate," which doubles as the game's lore delivery system.
- The Closed Network Test runs August 21-23, 2026 across five sessions, and needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
What Is The Duskbloods on Nintendo Switch 2?
The Duskbloods is a PvPvE multiplayer action game for up to eight players, confirmed by Nintendo for a 2026 Switch 2 release and directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki (Nintendo Creator's Voice, 2025). Players fight each other and the environment simultaneously. It began life as a Nintendo Switch project before the hardware changed under it.
Miyazaki has been open about that shift. "Just as the game started to take shape, we were approached by Nintendo with talk of Switch 2, which led us to revamp our development path with this new hardware in mind," he told Nintendo in April 2025. The newer machine's online focus, he said, let the team stay true to the original pitch.
The Duskbloods
Game Rating: Unrated (2026)
Developer: FromSoftware
One clarification worth repeating, because it caused a minor panic online: FromSoftware isn't abandoning single-player. Miyazaki went out of his way to say the studio still intends to "actively develop single player focused games" in its traditional style. The Duskbloods is an experiment, not a new house policy.
Who Are the Bloodsworn and What Is First Blood?
The Bloodsworn are the player characters, a group who gained superhuman abilities through special blood, and they're competing for a prize called First Blood during an event known as the Twilight of Humanity (Nintendo Creator's Voice, 2025). They're vampire-inspired, but deliberately not monstrous.
Romance Over Horror
Miyazaki described the goal as extracting "the sort of romantic aspects we found interesting from concepts such as vampires and blood." No hissing, no coffins. Think tragic aristocrats with sabres.
No Fixed Era
Because the Bloodsworn are summoned from different times and places, there's no single setting. Gothic and Victorian maps sit alongside early-modern locations, including the one with a train running through it from the reveal trailer.
Blood as a Theme, Not Gore
Blood here is conceptual. It stands for inherited history, transferred power, and the mark of anyone who has outgrown ordinary humanity.
The title itself is just a collective noun. "Duskbloods" refers to the player-controlled Bloodsworn summoned into that twilight, nothing more mystical than that.
If dread-soaked art direction is what pulls you in, the same instinct runs through Little Nightmares 3 on Switch, though that one keeps its horror far more literal.
How Does The Duskbloods Actually Play?
Matches support up to eight players and default to last-player-standing, though some rounds swap in different win conditions such as teaming up to bring down a boss (Nintendo Creator's Voice, 2025). Between matches you return to a hub to pick a character, customise them, and queue up again.
The loop is short: hub, match, reward, hub. Rewards land whether you win or lose, which softens the sting of an early exit.
Movement Is Loud and Fast
Sprinting, super jumps and double jumps are standard. Miyazaki called the actions "more dramatic than anything seen in our previous titles" and specifically aimed for stress-free traversal.
Everyone Has a Gun
Every character carries some means of attacking at range, and the setting allows firearms. That alone reshapes how FromSoftware encounters normally play out.
Summons in Your Pocket
Each character can summon an entity to help in a fight, giving you a second lever to pull when a duel goes badly.
Victory Points Change the Whole Calculation
Here's the mechanic most people underrate. Matches are decided by Victory Points, and direct combat is only one way to earn them. Miyazaki explicitly designed space for players who'd rather scavenge, hide, and profit from other people's fights.
Why this matters: He admitted he isn't much of a PvP player himself and "wanted to make something that's satisfying even for players like me." A FromSoftware PvP game built by someone who avoids PvP is a genuinely odd premise, and it's the strongest signal that this isn't a straight arena brawler.
What Are Roles, Rivals and Companions?
Roles assign players secret objectives that create relationships mid-match, with confirmed examples including Destined Rivals and Destined Companion (Nintendo Creator's Voice, 2025). A Destined Rival must hunt down one specific opponent. A Destined Companion has to find an ally and bond with them for a special reward.
Roles are assigned through blood customisation, so you choose your own drama before the match starts. Miyazaki compared it to picking a role in a tabletop RPG, then admitted the resemblance "may reflect my own interests a bit."
Character Customisation Doubles as Storytelling
FromSoftware games usually hide lore in item descriptions. This time it lives in what the team calls "blood history and fate." Analysing and altering that history changes your abilities, appearance, inner traits, role, and relationships to other characters, and each change reveals a fragment of the world's story.
It's the same fragmentary approach fans already know, just wired directly into the progression system. Customise more, learn more.
What Happens During a Match?
Matches are shaped by an event system that can spawn special enemies, add objectives, and rewrite rewards partway through a round (Nintendo Creator's Voice, 2025). The giant stone face hanging in the sky during the reveal trailer? That's one of them.
When it appears, the environment shifts and match rewards change, which pushes eight players to re-plan on the spot. These events don't fire every round on purpose. Miyazaki wants finding them to feel like a reason to keep queuing.
PvE isn't filler either. Boss encounters are tuned to be a "tough challenge" with a real sense of accomplishment, and in some rounds killing the boss is the win condition. So the classic FromSoftware boss-learning loop survives, just with seven other people potentially stabbing you during phase two.
When Is The Duskbloods Release Date?
Nintendo's own storefront lists The Duskbloods for 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2, with no narrower date confirmed as of July 2026 (Nintendo, 2026). The game was first announced during the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct in April 2025.
The nearer date is the one that counts right now. The Closed Network Test runs across five sessions, and the application window is open today.
| # | Milestone | Date and Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Applications open | July 22, 2026, 7:00 AM PT |
| 2 | Applications close | July 28, 2026, 6:59 AM PT |
| 3 | Selection announced | August 7, 2026, 6:00 AM PT |
| 4 | Session 1 | August 21, 3:00-7:00 AM PT |
| 5 | Session 2 | August 21, 7:00-11:00 PM PT |
| 6 | Session 3 | August 22, 11:00 AM-3:00 PM PT |
| 7 | Session 4 | August 23, 3:00-7:00 AM PT |
| 8 | Session 5 | August 23, 7:00-11:00 PM PT |
Source: Siliconera, July 2026
Tip
You'll need a Nintendo Account, a Nintendo Switch 2, and an active Nintendo Switch Online membership to take part. Selected players get a download code on August 7. The stated goal of the test is checking balance, server load, and whether the multiplayer experience holds up with large player groups, so expect rough edges by design.
Full Spec Sheet for The Duskbloods
| # | Feature | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Game Title | The Duskbloods |
| 2 | Developer | FromSoftware |
| 3 | Publisher | Nintendo / FromSoftware |
| 4 | Director | Hidetaka Miyazaki |
| 5 | Platform | Nintendo Switch 2 (exclusive) |
| 6 | Release Window | 2026 |
| 7 | Announced | April 2025, Nintendo Switch 2 Direct |
| 8 | Genre | PvPvE multiplayer action |
| 9 | Player Count | Up to 8 |
| 10 | Playable Characters | Over a dozen Bloodsworn |
| 11 | Win Condition | Victory Points, last player standing, or boss defeat |
| 12 | Online Requirement | Nintendo Switch Online membership |
| 13 | Closed Network Test | August 21-23, 2026 |
Why Nintendo Wanted This Game
Switch 2 shipped 19.86 million units in its first fiscal year through March 2026, outpacing the original Switch over the same stretch (VGChartz, 2026). Nintendo's FY2026 net sales climbed 98.6% year on year to ¥2,313 billion. Hardware momentum is not the problem.
Retaining those owners is. Nintendo forecasts 16.5 million Switch 2 units for the following fiscal year, a deliberate step down, which shifts the burden onto software that keeps people subscribed and playing. Sony and Microsoft are working the same problem from the other side, as our upcoming console games coverage shows.
An Online Anchor
A repeatable eight-player loop with per-match rewards is exactly the kind of title that justifies a Nintendo Switch Online renewal every twelve months.
A Different Audience
FromSoftware brings an older, action-hungry crowd that Mario Kart and Pokémon don't reach on their own.
A Genuine Exclusive
Nothing about this game is coming to PS5 or PC. In a generation defined by multiplatform ports, that's rarer than it used to be.
What We Still Don't Know
Nintendo has not confirmed a price, an exact release date, monetisation model, or post-launch content plan for The Duskbloods as of July 2026. The store listing still reads simply "2026."
A few open questions worth watching through the network test:
- Is there monetisation beyond the box price? Nothing has been said either way.
- How long is a match? Never stated publicly.
- Can you play solo or with a fixed squad? Roles imply matchmaking with strangers, but party support is unconfirmed.
- How many maps at launch? Only a handful have been shown.
- Will it run at 60 FPS? No performance target has been announced.
Anyone telling you otherwise is guessing. Treat leaked "October window" reports as rumour until Nintendo says so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Duskbloods a Souls game?
No. It's a PvPvE multiplayer action title for up to eight players, structured around short matches and a hub, not an interconnected single-player world. It shares FromSoftware's combat pedigree and demanding boss design, but the format is closer to a competitive extraction game than to Dark Souls. Readers after squad-based campaigns will find better matches among our games similar to Gears of War.
Is The Duskbloods coming to PS5 or PC?
No. The Duskbloods is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, confirmed by Nintendo on its official product page in 2026. The project was originally in development for the first Switch before moving to Switch 2 hardware, and no other platform has ever been announced.
Do you need Nintendo Switch Online to play?
Yes. The game is online multiplayer at its core, and Nintendo's own disclaimers state that a Nintendo Switch Online membership and Nintendo Account are required for online features. The Closed Network Test in August 2026 carries the same requirement.
Can you avoid PvP in The Duskbloods?
Partly. Victory Points can be earned through opportunistic play rather than direct combat, and some matches are won by defeating a boss instead of other players. Miyazaki designed the system specifically so players who dislike PvP can still compete meaningfully.
How many characters are in The Duskbloods?
Over a dozen playable Bloodsworn, each with a distinct identity, appearance, weapons and abilities. Every one of them can be further customised through the "blood history and fate" system, which alters stats, looks, in-world role and relationships with other characters.
Should You Be Watching This One?
If you liked Bloodborne's aesthetic but bounced off its difficulty curve, The Duskbloods is worth a look. The romanticised Gothic setting is unmistakably FromSoftware, and Victory Points give non-aggressive players a real path to winning.
If you want another 60-hour solo campaign, this isn't it, and Miyazaki has said as much. Watch the August network test instead of the trailers. Server tests tend to reveal how a game actually feels far faster than any marketing beat, and this one lands three weeks from now.
Planning what to play while you wait? Our upcoming PC games hub tracks the same release window across the other side of the fence.
Screenshots and key art courtesy of Nintendo and FromSoftware, used for editorial coverage. The Duskbloods is a trademark of its respective owners.
Sources
- Nintendo, The Duskbloods product page, retrieved 2026-07-22, https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-duskbloods-switch-2/
- Nintendo, Creator's Voice: Hidetaka Miyazaki on The Duskbloods (parts 1-3), retrieved 2026-07-22, https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/creators-voice-the-duskbloods-part-1/
- Siliconera, The Duskbloods Closed Network Test Starts August 21, 2026, retrieved 2026-07-22, https://www.siliconera.com/the-duskbloods-closed-network-test-starts-august-21-2026/
- VGChartz, Switch 2 Ships 19.86 Million Units as of March 2026, retrieved 2026-07-22, https://www.vgchartz.com/article/467766/switch-2-ships-1986-million-units-as-of-march-2026-switch-1-ships-15592-million/
