While some of the slots fall in unsociable hours (only the most dedicated Souls fans in the UK will be getting up at 3am on a Monday morning), there’s a decent spread of sessions across the four days and you shouldn’t have trouble being around for at least one. However, we’re wondering how many of you managed to get into the beta.
Obviously, this is a network test, so the chances of spending hours looking at an error screen are non-zero. We here at Team NL will be raring to go at 11am BST on Friday, but we’re also tempering expectations — especially for the first session — and steeling ourselves for connection issues. FromSoft will have bug report forms and a survey live from Friday, and obviously the whole point of the test is to identify issues.
If you read Nintendo’s interview with FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki, you’ll have a good idea of the character based set-up. In a nutshell, you take on the role of your vampiric chosen character/class and battle seven other players until there’s just one left.
However, within that framework there are further goals related to character relationships, working collaboratively to take down other enemies, and other wrinkles and victory conditions — including seeking out specific rivals — beyond just being the last Bloodsworn standing. Miyazaki said he’s not much a fan of PvP, so there should be plenty to do when you’re not pummelling other players.
It’s an intriguing premise, especially given this studio’s heritage, and especially with it being a Switch 2 exclusive. There’s still no date on the full release beyond “2026”, although with Elden Ring arriving next week (and with the Switch 2 port looking tasty according to Japanese previews), a few months’ wait would give us time to explore The Lands Between first.
If you weren’t selected and you’re looking forward to a media blowout over the weekend, it’s worth noting this point from FromSoft’s T&Cs:
Posting or streaming videos or screenshots of this in-development title is not allowed. Thank you for your understanding.
Hmm. That doesn’t prevent us all discussing our impressions, of course (and the internet is…the internet), but unless you want Miyazaki-san knocking on your digital door, best keep those off-screen vids to yourself for the moment.
Did you get into the Duskbloods beta test? Planning on staying up late/waking up early for an unsociable session? Expecting to see a lot of YOU DIED screens or more connection error screens? Let us know below.
Note. This article originally mentioned Bandai Namco as the publisher, but unlike the Souls series, FromSoftware is publishing The Duskbloods itself. We’ve tweaked the text to reflect this – apologies for the error!