During the Nintendo Switch 2 direct there was a surprise reveal from FromSoftware the legendary developers behind the Dark Souls games, Demon Souls, Bloodborne and most recently Elden Ring. The title of the game is The Duskbloods which is set to be a PvPvE game where players will choose one of many characters and will be dropped into an early Victorian era setting.
The Characters And Setting
As it is a PvPvE title players will be able to pick from a set of characters who have gained supernatural powers through the use of special blood. Now there was speculation that this would somehow be related to vampires which the game director Hidetaka Miyazaki confirmed that the initial concept was extremely similar to vampires.
Now the set goal of each character is that they must acquire the “First Blood” while dealing with other players and enemies on the map. The characters that we get to choose have actually been summoned from different time periods and must participate in the event.
Now the different characters have widely different powers and weapon kits it seems and at the same time they all have unique ways of traversing the map. From the trailer we saw the gun wielder leaping from high places while an armoured character was seen flying using a jetpack.
Online Multiplayer
Each lobby will consist of 8 players and will have to fight until there is a single player left standing. They can teleport to a hub to obtain rewards based on who they killed and also upgrade their equipment before heading back.
However there will be objectives for the players to complete as well, they might have to team up and defeat a boss or have to hunt another specific player in a set amount of time. These sort of change-ups are sure to keep the gameplay loop fresh and interesting.
“Victory Points” are the points that will ultimately determine the victor of that lobby which will be obtained upon defeating another player but that is not the only way to earn them. Thus it will be up to them to decide whether they should confront another player or pick another way to earn these points.
The Problem With Exclusivity
After the reveal some gamers and fans alike mentioned that this is the second game where much of the plot of concept has to do with blood. Which evokes the feeling that maybe these concepts were present for the sequel to Bloodborne but again this is fully in the territory of speculation.
What surprised and somewhat bothered viewers was the fact that Duskbloods is a Nintendo exclusive. It seems like a strange move on Nintendo’s part considering its competitors are moving in the opposite direction by releasing their exclusives on PC or on other consoles.
Sony’s prized iconic titles are all available on PC right now, The Last Of Us, the Uncharted Series and of course God of War. Microsoft released Halo on PC and Forza Horizon is going to be released on Playstation sometime this year.
The choice to lift this “exclusive” barrier led them to achieving a greater number of profits and it would be ridiculous for a company to assume at this point an exclusive will boost sales or anything of the sort for their new console.
Conclusion
While the game looks extremely interesting and the closest thing we’ll ever get to a Bloodborne 2 the prices that Nintendo are advertising are already putting off people from buying the new console anyway.
People were already angry at the price hikes and made sure to make their feelings known on various social media platforms. The release date for the game is sometime next year and it will be interesting to see if the public view shifts during that time or prices get reverted which may convince potential players to buy the console and try the game.
