The Duskbloods Playtest: Everything We Know and How To Join

FromSoftware has set the dates for players to try The Duskbloods, though the studio still hasn't fixed a launch day for the full game. The closed network test comes to Switch 2 in August, more than a year after the project's April 2025 reveal. The game still has no confirmed 2026 release date; publisher Nintendo has only insisted it stays on track for this year, and a slip into 2027 remains possible.

Via the game's official site, the test runs from 21st to 24th August, even though an early message listed the 23rd as the final day. Two things are required to take part: a Switch 2 console and an active Switch Online membership. That second condition limits the test to Switch Online subscribers, even though an online PvPvE game might be expected to open its doors wider.

The application process runs on a strict schedule. Registration opens on 22nd July (Wednesday) at 15:00 BST and closes six days later, on 28th July (Tuesday) at 14:59 BST. Selected applicants then wait until 7th August (Friday) at 14:00 BST to learn whether they made the cut. The sequence runs longer and tighter than most pre-release tests the studio has held. I think the hardware barrier, not the application draw, is the real gate: a Switch 2 plus an active Switch Online membership rules out most of the curious before they register.

A place in the test comes with fixed obligations. The servers only run during set windows, and anyone who misses a slot misses the session. The blocks spread across mornings and small hours to group players and load the servers at once. I know why the servers run in tight blocks, since these tests exist to stress infrastructure rather than to preview the game, but the 3am BST slots still ask a lot of anyone hoping to get in. The confirmed windows are:

• 21st August (Friday), 11:00 to 15:00 BST
• 22nd August (Saturday), 03:00 to 07:00 BST
• 22nd August (Saturday), 19:00 to 23:00 BST
• 23rd August (Sunday), 11:00 to 15:00 BST
• 24th August (Monday), 03:00 to 07:00 BST

FromSoftware has said upfront that bugs are likely and that balance isn't finished, a caution some players still ignore when they expect closed tests to run cleanly. The build supports online matches of up to eight players, in line with the PvPvE format confirmed in 2025. Beyond melee combat, most of what the final game will include hasn't been shown, and the studio hasn't locked down final modes or player counts.

The Duskbloods debuted at Nintendo's Switch 2 Direct in April 2025 as a Switch 2 exclusive. It looks like a collision of FromSoftware's back catalogue: a Bloodborne-style clock tower, Sekiro's Eastern setting, and Dark Souls character design, then jetpacks, steampunk hardware, and players who can turn into T. rexes. Users play as vampire-like Bloodsworn competing for the mysterious First Blood during an event the studio calls the Twilight of Humanity.

Due to this, there is no fixed era or location in which The Duskbloods takes place. There are more traditional Gothic- or Victorian-style maps as well as those depicting the closing years of the early modern period, like the one glimpsed in the trailer with the train running through it.

— Hidetaka Miyazaki

June's Nintendo Direct had promised the test for "summer" without a date, so the August window fills that gap. It was the game's first real reappearance in 14 months, following publisher assurances that it would still arrive in 2026. Nintendo and FromSoftware have kept their pledge of more Duskbloods news this year. Whether the game reaches players before December or moves into 2027 stays unresolved.

Read also, FromSoftware has confirmed new Elden Ring DLC, the Tarnished Pack, landing on 28th August for existing players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, alongside Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2.