GoKawiilThere’s something just a little bit different about FromSoftware’s office in Tokyo. Like with any other successful video game studio, there’s extensive security to get in the door, a minimalist lobby with framed posters from the studio’s most recent releases, and a large glass display case filled with statues from ceremonies ranging from the BAFTAs to The Game Awards. But the hallways are painted black, a fitting theme for a developer known for crafting dark, gothic worlds and a hint at what new creations are lurking inside.
While it has largely become known for a singular style of action game — dubbed “Soulslike,” after the massively influential Dark Souls series — FromSoft has steadily continued to try new things, pushing its signature style into new genres. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is the studio’s next release: The Duskbloods, a competitive multiplayer game set in a world of vampires that will be exclusive to the Switch 2 and published by Nintendo when it launches later this year. It’s a new genre, new setting, new platform, and new publisher all rolled into one game. But after Elden Ring, which has sold more than 30 million copies since it launched in 2022, the team at FromSoft now also feels more assured in expanding their horizons.
“With the success of Elden Ring, as a company it has definitely allowed us to explore, I wouldn’t say risky ideas, but things that we might not have had the confidence for,” FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki, who also directed both Elden Ring and The Duskbloods, told me during a recent hands-on event at the studio’s office.
Hidetaka Miyazaki. Image: Nintendo
The studio’s rise to this point has been slow and steady. FromSoft’s first release was the dungeon crawling RPG King’s Field in 1994, and while it launched a consistent stream of titles after that — including the cult-hit mech battling Armored Core series — it was more than a decade later when the studio really started making its mark with the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009. Directed by Miyazaki, the game thrust players into a harsh fantasy world, one where death was a constant and the combat was punishing. It was an experience that demanded a lot from players, but also rewarded their patience with thrilling victories and a story that gradually revealed itself.
It was an unlikely hit that spawned a new genre of action games, and was followed up by a number of successors, including a trilogy of Dark Souls titles and the Victorian-era-inspired Bloodborne in 2015. Those games were all successes, selling millions of copies, but it wasn’t until Elden Ring that the studio had its first blockbuster hit. The game not only sold well, but spawned a large-scale expansion, a co-op spinoff called Nightreign, and an upcoming film adaptation from A24 and director Alex Garland. Part of what made Elden Ring a hit was that it took what FromSoft had become known for — relentless action, subtle storytelling, and immersive worlds — and translated it into an open-world adventure and gave players more freedom to explore its bleak and beautiful fantastical realm.
Even with its signature game style cemented, FromSoft was continuously experimenting. Sandwiched in between the launches of Dark Souls 3 (2016) and Elden Ring (2022) were a pair of one-off games — a solemn VR story called Déraciné in 2018, and a ninja action game called Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a year later — that showed the studio expanding its range. At the time, Miyazaki, who directed both games, explained FromSoft’s approach to taking on new projects.
“I think one of the studio’s characteristics is to embrace wholeheartedly what we feel is interesting; what we perceive to be worthwhile, cool, or beautiful; and to place these ideals at the foundation of the games we make,” he told me in 2019. “Part of those things we feel may deviate slightly from what is considered to have mass appeal. This ‘unorthodox’ nature could well be what ties our games and our culture together.”
Image: Nintendo
The Duskbloods may seem like a big departure, but it also fits neatly into this philosophy. Over the years, FromSoft had steadily been injecting multiplayer elements into its largely single-player games; in Elden Ring, for instance, you can summon other players to help you in battle. As the studio experimented in this realm, a number of multiplayer-centric ideas were filed away. “There are a lot of ideas that we had wanted to try that didn’t necessarily fit in that context of a single-player game,” Miyazaki said during the Duskbloods preview in Tokyo. “Those pile up over the years.” That eventually culminated into The Duskbloods.
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