Hidetaka Miyazaki, FromSoftware president, gave multiple interviews revealing the creative process behind The Duskbloods. Speaking to IGN, the director explained that accumulated ideas from Dark Souls and Demon's Souls that didn't fit into single-player games found a home in this new multiplayer title. "There were a lot of other things that we wanted to try, things that seemed like great ideas, but didn't really fit in the context of a single-player game," Miyazaki told IGN.
Creative influences are diverse. According to GameSpot, the game's Virtue system drew inspiration from Vampire: The Masquerade, while the Sigil system is based on tabletop RPGs. Miyazaki also mentioned that modern vampire fiction such as George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream and Kim Newman's Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha influenced the aesthetic and world-building, though he clarified to Inven Global there is no connection to Bloodborne.
On the Nintendo partnership, Miyazaki told IGN the company proved "very receptive" and "forward thinking" about the game's unconventional pitch. The director also reassured fans about the future: speaking to Eurogamer and PC Gamer, Miyazaki suggested FromSoftware is keen to return to single-player games following The Duskbloods and Elden Ring: Nightreign, signaling that the current multiplayer phase doesn't represent an abandonment of the genre that made the studio famous.
Miyazaki emphasized to IGN that "the motivation is that this is a game I want to see exist," reaffirming that FromSoftware doesn't design games for specific audiences but for ideas its creators wish to realize. The Duskbloods launches exclusively on Switch 2.
