During today’s Switch 2 breakdown, Nintendo showed off an exclusive FromSoftware game for the upcoming console called The Duskbloods, which despite its online multiplayer focus looks kind of like a Bloodborne sequel in everything but name.
The Duskbloods reveal opens with a man taking a nap in an ornate chair. A woman, who appears to be lying on the floor so as to avoid the moonlight streaming through a nearby window, grabs his hand and seemingly leaves behind a circular brand. In true FromSoft fashion, she imparts cryptic dialogue through it all, telling some unseen presence, “I give you my blood. I give you my life. Turn a wheel and transport him to a night of moonlight, to humanity’s very dusk.”
What follows is a smattering of cutscenes and gameplay showcasing a semi-Gothic world that at points looks like a mashup of Bloodborne and Elden Ring as well as something completely new and steampunk-y. A futuristic train zooms through a grimy industrial district. A heroic figure, clad head to toe in clunky, Iron Man-like armor, jetpacks from a cliffside and flies above a very Victorian-era skyline. A broken, metallic man hovers dramatically in a cathedral with what looks like a rifle slung across his back.
Some of these aesthetics fly in the face of what one might expect from a Bloodborne sequel, sure, but it still feels like the FromSoft team wants us to view The Duskbloods as a spiritual successor. Bloodborne told a deeply symbolic story about humanity’s connections to blood and the moon, specifically its mythical ties to reproduction. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our first look at The Duskbloods makes frequent allusions to similar motifs, even if the game ultimately has nothing to do with Bloodborne.
Small details support this hypothesis as well. Bloodborne is the only game in the Soulsborne pseudo-genre to feature guns, and several firearms feature prominently in The Duskbloods. The official FromSoft website mentions The Duskbloods players throwing themselves into “a violent fray for ‘First Blood’,” which sounds an awful lot like Bloodborne’s elder god-linked Old Blood. And this may be a stretch, but a man near the end of The Duskbloods trailer strikes a pose (see the top of this blog post) similar to Bloodborne’s iconic Make Contact gesture.
It’s easy to understand why folks want to see Bloodborne in The Duskbloods. Developed for PlayStation 4 in cooperation with Sony’s Japan Studio (rest in peace), Bloodborne has been locked to a single platform since its 2015 launch. Fans are hungry for any acknowledgement of its existence, and they’ll eagerly tune into every major gaming event hoping for Bloodborne to make an appearance.
It’s a shame The Duskbloods may be resigned to the same fate due to its Switch 2 exclusivity, but its existence may be a clue as to what’s going on with Bloodborne behind the scenes. Sony owns that property, so any future Bloodborne project would need its approval even if FromSoftware’s developers were to develop a remaster or even a follow-up. It’s possible The Duskbloods is FromSoft’s way of finally giving folks what they want without the hassle of getting Sony’s okay.
The Duskbloods launches on the Switch 2 in 2026.
Source：https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/551375/switch-2-duskbloods-bloodborne-sequel-fromsoftware
