Duskbloods Keeps the Most Iconic Soulslike Feature (Not Combat!)

The Duskbloods is yet another radical departure for FromSoftware, following the company’s jackknife-dive into live-service multiplayer in Elden Ring Nightreign. But while audiences may conflate Nightreign and The Duskbloods due to their always-online, PvE(vP) nature, such comparisons ignore how novel The Duskbloods really is.

Elden Ring Nightreign is ultimately an Elden Ring spin-off; The Duskbloods is a brand-new, original FromSoftware world, one that’s been in development since at least 2019. This timeline suggests that The Duskbloods was being actively developed before the industry-shaping success of Elden Ring, and before the positive reception of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The importance of this historical context is this: The Duskbloods is not purely a response to FromSoft’s recent successes, nor an attempt to build upon something like Nightreign. All signs point to the game being a fresh and ambitious FromSoftware project, potentially the company’s most significant release since Elden Ring. As such, its narrative and tone are just as important as its combat and exploration.

How Blood History and Fate Work in The Duskbloods

The Duskbloods’ Lore Will Be Nothing to Sneeze At

In typical FromSoftware fashion, current promotional materials for The Duskbloods do little to explain its actual narrative. From trailers and interviews, however, it can be ascertained that the game will follow a clan of vampire-like beings known as Bloodsworn, also called Duskbloods. These Bloodsworn will compete across space and time to earn First Blood, a substance associated with an event called the Twilight of Humanity, which signals the end of the human race.

Lore in The Duskbloods Will Be Delivered Unconventionally

FromSoftware games, especially those directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, deliver their narratives in a unique and obtuse manner. While there are some cinematics, these are almost always vague, abstract, and interpretable: characters don’t have normal conversations, and instead speak in poetic, opaque monologues. The greatest lore insights come from environmental clues, enemy placement, and, most notably, item descriptions.

The specifics of The Duskbloods‘ item economy have yet to be revealed, but Miyazaki has suggested that the game will employ the same fundamental narrative strategies. In an interview with Nintendo, the director said:

“One thing I love doing in any game I direct is leaving fragments of lore and worldbuilding details, allowing the player the fun of using their imagination to make connections. The Duskbloods is no exception to this.”

He went on to say that character customization, which will take place in a hub area, will be framed as altering one of the protagonists’ “blood history and fate.” This process can lead to changes in a character’s appearance or abilities, but also “inner characteristics to the role they play in the world and relationships with other characters.”

Blood History and Fate and FromSoftware Switching Things Up

In that same interview, Miyazaki would eventually describe The Duskbloods‘ storytelling as “fragmentary.” That certainly sounds like typical FromSoft narrative delivery, but the protagonist-centric nature of blood history and fate makes this style fundamentally different. Put simply, lore fragments in previous FromSoftware games are usually about the world around the player-character; The Duskbloods‘ lore fragments may be about the player-characters themselves.

What Blood History and Fate Could Mean for The Duskbloods

A character’s “blood history and fate” could literally correspond to their own backstory, but since the Bloodsworn derive their powers from “special blood,” it’s also possible that blood history and fate refers to the lineage of those who were granted the same blood as a given character. This would be akin to Vampire: The Masquerade‘s lore: each of the IP’s six vampire clans is defined by blood continuity, with six types of blood corresponding to six ancient vampires.

That would explain the “history” part, but not so much the “fate” part. But considering The Duskblood‘s time-hopping premise, it’s not too great a stretch to assume that this “fate” is referencing future events. Without temporal constraints, and with the variety that comes from having so many playable characters, blood history and fate could lead to comprehensive and expansive lore, both in terms of character backstory and worldbuilding. Hopefully, couching this lore information in a customization system will make it easier to digest compared to other FromSoft stories.

It remains to be seen just how different blood history and fate will be from traditional FromSoftware progression, lore, and customization. These three systems have historically been interlinked in the developer’s previous ARPGs, but never within such a personal, character-specific context. The Duskbloods seems to get more interesting by the day; here’s hoping FromSoft’s continued experimentation pays off.