As much as I love FromSoftware’s games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls, I’ve never been the biggest fan of its PvP. That’s why I’ve been skeptical about The Duskbloods from the day of its reveal.
The Duskbloods is part Bloodborne, part Elden Ring: Nightreign, and even part Armored Core, and these are all three games I love quite a bit. That’s why, after playing it for several hours during the network test this past weekend, it pains me to say I don’t love it yet. In fact, I don’t really know what I think about it yet.
The root of the issue, as will be the case with most people that Duskbloods does not strike a chord with, is that it’s a PvP-focused game. In other FromSoft titles, PvP is part of the core experience at times but also more of an add-on than a focus. In Duskbloods, it’s everything.
While the new Switch 2 exclusive is a PvPvE title with AI enemies and bosses roaming its maps, in the end, it comes down to you against other players. And while the combat is fun, fast-paced, and unique, you have to wade through a mountain of confusing mechanics and features to get there.
Like Elden Ring: Nightreign before it, Duskbloods has the potential to have a lot going on in any given match, except this time you need to worry about dealing with other players while it’s happening. Pulling up the map, reading its numerous icons, and planning out a route of attack to best farm the points you need to stay alive and make it to the final showdown is very daunting at first. Learning it will come with time, but it felt like a filter to me.
Nightreign vibes also ring true with the gameplay loop of slaying enemies quickly, finding bosses, and farming foes to rack up score and level up so you can better face the tasks at hand. But then the endgame comes, and it devolves into a PvP battle royale where FromSoft’s trademark jank feels even weirder now thanks to some over-the-top movement abilities like triple-jumps and mid-air dodges.
Nearly every fight becomes a struggle of both sides spamming buttons to avoid damage, so naturally, certain characters and abilities will end up feeling stronger than others. And at that point, I’m playing a sweaty multiplayer game and not a FromSoft game anymore, so I feel like I’ll end up getting over it pretty quickly.
What’s exciting about Duskbloods to me is that the all-familiar glory of a FromSoft classic is there at every turn. The setting is incredible, with gorgeous visuals on the Switch 2, although the framerate chugs at times. The playable maps drip with Bloodborne-like gothic aura, and the enemies found within them are fitting of the locales while also being fantastical. The playable characters are weird and fun. The music is, as usual, bombastic and epic, a trademark of just about every game this studio has made.
The closed network test had some slight teases of an overarching storyline in the game, and it’s one that I would love to delve into and discover for myself. FromSoft’s world-building is one of its games’ main draws for me, but if it’s gated behind having to sweat in PvP to unlock lore and progress a potential plot, then that’s a bummer.
The fact of the matter is that I don’t enjoy the PvP combat in these games. I never really have, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that. I know that there’s an audience for these games, because I’ve watched Soulslike PvP creators like Oroboro and Peeve for well over a decade, and I understand the appeal. It’s thrilling, but balancing is going to be something to keep an eye on, because a handful of characters quickly took over as “meta” picks for how strong they are (maybe giving one character a sniper rifle wasn’t the best idea).
The Duskbloods has the framework of a game I know and love, but the PvP flavoring is probably just not for me. I’d wager that this will be the case for many players, and this evokes memories of a game like Marathon where the base game is fun and the world is awesome, but needing to sweat in PvP to progress quickly becomes a turn-off.
This is the game that FromSoft wanted to make. It’s a natural progression of their last few titles, and one that CEO Hidetaka Miyazaki is excited about. In the end, though, it just might not be a game that I enjoy for long, and that bums me out because I love so much about what it could be.
I’m still excited for the full release, and I don’t want to fully judge it before trying the entire thing. It’s still slated to come out in 2026, so we should be getting some release date information soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this launching in December. I’ll be there to feast on its contents like a vampire, hoping to find something within its blood to sate my gaming desires.
