Aesthetic and thematic similarities, not to mention the word “blood,” have many FromSoftware fans convinced The Duskbloods is related in some way to the beloved 2015 action RPG, Bloodborne. To be fair, they’re definitely related by virtue of the fact that they’re both developed by FromSofware with Hidetaka Miyazaki at the helm, but according to Miyazaki himself, that’s where the connection ends.
“I expected this question, but it is a game with no connection whatsoever to Bloodborne,” he tells Inven Global. “In fact, because we’ve received this question so often, I almost regret putting the word ‘Blood’ in the title (laughs). There are merely similar terms and concepts; the themes are quite different.”
FromSoft sickos have been begging for a Bloodborne remake or remaster, or even just an official PC port, for years now, but so far it seems their pleading has fallen on deaf ears. In fact, FromSoft reportedly shot down a Bloodborne remake pitch from Demon’s Souls remake studio Bluepoint before the developer was shut down by Sony earlier this year.
Point being, Bloodborne hopefuls are desperate for something, anything to suggest FromSoft is aware of their existence. But unfortunately, The Duskbloods ain’t it, and Miyazaki says the Switch 2 exclusive will prove itself a very different game from Bloodborne at launch.
“In this network test, not much of the world’s lore is revealed, so it might be difficult to feel the differences,” he says. “However, in the commercial release (the official launch version), much more of the world lore will be uncovered, and I think by then people will realize the two games are completely different.”
Right from its announcement, The Duskbloods has been billed as something fresh and new for FromSoft, a PvPvE action game where groups of up to eight players take part in online matches with varying victory conditions. Miyazaki says it’s full of ideas FromSoft couldn’t fit into Dark Souls or Demon’s Souls, including “things that seemed like great ideas, but didn’t really fit in the context of a single-player game or within the context of those games, specifically.”
The Duskbloods is due out in 2026, and a possible leak suggests a September release date.