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The Duskbloods Network Test offers us our first opportunity to get to know the characters we’ll eventually meet in the full game. Granted, this first beta is just a taste. Only a handful of the possible options are here, with 10 Bloodsworn planned to appear when the title launches. Given the bloody themes, such as the ability to drink the blood of opponents or enthrall NPC enemies to turn them to your side as you play, “vampires” may come to mind when heading into The Duskbloods. When Nintendo invited Siliconera to travel and go hands-on with the game in Tokyo, that also meant getting to ask FromSoftware President and Director Hidetaka Miyazaki about the game and the other horror influences that helped shape character designs and gameplay elements.
When Siliconera asked Miyazaki about The Duskbloods influences on Bloodsworn characters beyond and including vampires, the director said, “I would say that the point that you raised about that being a co-inspiration is there. We try to keep that as the core and, from there, are expanding outwards. The character design especially, I think you can get an idea of there are things that are sort of more Asian-influenced and characters like Zork that are way out there, but are still technically part of the Bloodsworn. So we kind of put our own spin on it in that interpretation of what could be a Bloodsworn… quite wide and varied for players to enjoy.”
The Duskbloods Director Hidetaka Miyazaki also went over the vampire element as part of the response to Siliconera. He noted, “I think with traditional vampires, it’s very easy to the interpretation there to be very sort of monstrous. Very, like the classic idea of a vampire. We wanted to take a bit of a side step from that and have something where it reveals more about their society. More about the sort of influences there and their philosophy and things like that. A little bit more tame compared to something that is just like a complete monster. So that’s why we’re referring to them as the Bloodsworn this time around as well.”
The Sniper Layla also came up as another specific Bloodsworn character referenced alongside Zork in this The Duskbloods interview, with Miyazaki referring to her as a “mummy-ish” character and there being a “spectrum” for these individuals’ designs.
Miyazaki also brought up how narrative and lore may come up regarding characters when responding to a question from Game Informer’s Marcus Stewart. He noted, “The story, things like text and things like the actual narrative, is definitely alive and well in this game.” Specifically, he cited a House of Night NPC who will reside on the second floor of the hub building and provide insights throughout the game.
More importantly, when it comes to specific characters used in The Duskbloods, Miyazaki said, “…The customization elements that will exist in the final game will add to this. They’re called Bloodlines. But basically it has you progress where, as you play with certain characters in the multiplayer, you will sort of unlock aspects of their customization that reveals things like history, their relationships with other characters, things like that.”
The Duskbloods Network Test will kick off on the Switch 2 on August 21, 2026, and the game is expected to come to the system in 2026.
Disclaimer: Nintendo invited Siliconera and covered the writer’s travel.
