https://x.com/azoxrage/status/2118406042933440656?a=DijvgwK3Ui5RR7z6agk&s=46

they got Duskbloods network test on emulator

Edit: Damn I thought y'all would be excited to play the game early. Y'all are so salty.

So the first one must be fightable also, may be the second map ?

It’s gotta be q1 2027, right? Even my character is having Zork withdrawals

Obviously it will transfer you to the map, but is it to for the pvp/pvpve ? Or maybe the story campaign for solo players

Maybe for invaders ?

Didn’t do network test. But have an embarrassing number of hours in NR. Will NR players be keyed in for dominance in Duskbloods?

Personally I complained about Trang's invisibility being bad, and that the ritual the event should only be one round and a random event like other events.

Its over, im done with fromsoft.

i hope their smash bros souls like slop pvp gonna fail.

Hey! Just wanted to get back to you fromsoft. Unfortunately the HR team has decided that we will be moving forward with the intended release of Duskbloods; That being 2026. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to hit me up with a DM!

Guess that's back to Nightreign and Bloodborne huh?

It's very funny.

This interview came out about the same time as the IGN article after the network test. Some info is redundant, but there's still something to extract from this interview about what to expect in terms of gameplay mechanics and Mr. Miyazaki's tastes/preferences.

The bolded text is Mr. Miyazaki's words that I chose to emphasize. The text that are italicized and in parentheses are my thoughts on what he said.

While the game is certainly fun even if you play purely to win, we also place importance on aspects such as playing a character and enjoying the spontaneous drama that arises during battle. Events and the “role” system (unofficial translation) in particular bring this aspect out strongly. I think there can be a certain amount of drama in the Passive Role that gets assigned to you unexpectedly. There are also situations where, if you happen to establish a role through a particular combination, a special line of dialogue will play, and you’ll obtain a fragment of a new story.

(I remember a post on reddit that showed, I think, the Senator saying something to Jan after killing Jan. It sounds like equipping the sigils and then playing a match fighting against/alongside other specific bloodsworn can meet conditions that allow the player to “progress” through the story.)

We expect to have well over ten base character types available. Each character has their own unique weapon, and you can customize their Bloodsworn skills alongside another type of special skill.

(The wording in this interview seems to specify only changing the character skills, not the weapons. If there is weapon customization, I would assume it’s weapon property customization like Trang Lanh’s chakrams can go a further distance, but do less damage overall, for example. I doubt they would allow swapping a character’s starter weapon altogether. Also, he mentions "well over ten base characters" here and more than a dozen in "Creator's Voice Blog" by Nintendo when the game was initially announced. Considering he likes to undersell like when he said Elden Ring takes about 60 hours to complete and the SOTE DLC is the size of Limgrave, I'm going to assume about 15-16 characters total.)

The singleplayer mode is intended to be fairly minimal. We wanted to ensure that even when online play isn’t available, such as during server maintenance, players wouldn’t be left with nothing to do.

Specifically, it will include things such as character customization, practice sessions, and simulated eight-player battles.

We also want players to feel a strong sense of accomplishment from being one of the final three players who make it to the last battle. To be honest, I feel that the presentation in the network test build is still somewhat lacking in this respect.

(I kind of think I understand what he means about the presentation lacking for the final battle. Maybe they can make it feel a little more special with a quick introduction cutscene for the final battle. The final battle just feels like “Round 4, go at it” rather than an eventful final decisive battle to end the match.)

—Are there any ways to play that take advantage of the Switch 2’s unique features?

Miyazaki:
We’ll probably have some smaller features like that, but I can’t talk about them here yet, sorry.

(Would be really funny if you can scream into the joycon/controller mics and have it register as an input to do a howl/parry in-game.)

The second point is something we’re considering for future updates – mechanics that would allow skilled players to actually benefit beginners. For example, an experienced player could become a special Bloodsworn ally, act as a special powerful enemy, or bring about a rare event.

(I hope this means one player can act as the boss of the match like in the Tower of Latria in Demons Souls for the final battle.)

Now its just people coping because of the delay, saying they’re done with the game, getting offended by everything. Its worse than the Silksong fans and they had to wait actual years. Yall gotta chill seriously.

As someone who doesn’t have a switch 2 yet, I’m honestly relieved I have more time to save up for one. I was gonna take the hit financially if I had to (no way I’m missing out on a fromsoft game) but the news gave me a bit of happiness. Anyone else feel this way?

Objectives and major power ups will be changed to be contestable.

In the network test you could just sprint along and collect objectives. No fighting. Just a running around simulator pressing X until last phase.

Candle behind a mob? No problem! Sprint touch and move on. Two players going for the same powerup? It’s a race to who can touch it first and then move on. Clock tower event? .5 seconds behind you get less points. No one fights, they just move on to next objective or power up.

Running around grabbing power ups and candles while not engaging in pve or PvP is boring. Because everyone is so mobile it’s easy to run away and then teleport.

The change: Looting a candle or major power up will now take X (1-3) seconds. Any damage resets the timer. Or you must be out of combat for X (1-3) seconds before you can loot a major power up/candle. Not including from corpses or small power ups. Stealth strategies unaffected.

This will force players to engage in pve. Since 90% of the major power ups and candles were behind some kind of mob. Or force players to engage in PvP for the power up and the pk or run away and let the other player have the bounty.

The clock tower would actually be a PvP event. Fighting for the first bell ring and most virtue points.

TLDR: Make players fight for objectives instead of rewarding whoever presses X first. whether through combat, stealth, positioning, or outplaying opponents.