As one of the final games announced for the Switch 2 during today’s Nintendo Direct, FromSoftware surprised everyone with the announcement of not only Elden Ring for the console, but a brand-new IP called The Duskbloods. Very clearly a spiritual successor to Bloodborne (which is still stuck in some ridiculous limbo thanks to Sony), The Duskbloods looks to incorporate some of Elden Ring’s open-world format with a touch of Armored Cores flight mechanics. Yes, you read that right: there are now jetpacks in a Souls game.

The trailer itself didn’t showcase a lot that would be new to fans of Souls titles. This seems very much like it will be cut from the cloth of Dark Souls with heavy combat, stamina management, and brutal violence. What was buried in the Direct is confirmation that Duskbloods with be an eight-player PvPvE game in a vein similar to the upcoming Elden Ring: Nightreign. Talk about deflating hype.

In a press release on the official FromSoftware website, The Duskbloods is described as “a PvPvE title with online multiplayer at its core, where up to eight players vie for supremacy among themselves and against challenging foes.” The description even mentions the “twilight of humanity” approaching, making it sound like this is either a battle royale title or an extraction game. That’s definitely not what I expected.

For now, The Duskbloods is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, and it will be hitting Nintendo’s console in 2026. There doesn’t seem to be any single-player component to speak of, so it will also require a Switch Online subscription to play.