FromSoftware sets The Duskbloods closed network test for August 21 on Switch 2

Nintendo and FromSoftware have locked in the dates for The Duskbloods closed network test. It runs the weekend of August 21 on Switch 2, and sign-ups open July 22 through the game's official site. If you want in, you get a week to register, and no promise you'll be picked.

This is the first real hands-on for The Duskbloods, the Switch 2 exclusive FromSoftware showed again at the June Nintendo Direct. You play one of the Bloodsworn and fight both against and alongside up to seven other players, chasing something the game calls the First Blood. Blood-based powers reshape your character and combat style as you go. For a studio known mostly for punishing single-player games, a PvPvE game built around eight-player lobbies is a genuine departure, and the network test is where we find out whether the idea holds up with real people in the room.

How to get in

Registration runs July 22 to July 28 on the official Duskbloods site. Nintendo and FromSoftware say they'll contact selected players on August 7. Two requirements are non-negotiable: a Switch 2, and an active Nintendo Switch Online membership. No console, no membership, no test.

That hardware requirement is worth sitting with. This is not an open beta you can jump into on whatever you already own. The pool is capped at people who bought Nintendo's new console, which keeps the sample small and, presumably, easier to read.

The schedule

FromSoftware is running five timed sessions across the weekend instead of leaving the servers up the whole time. That is a load test talking. The windows below come from the official site, and Nintendo notes they can still change:

In UK time that final session spills into the early hours of August 24, which is why some outlets list the test as August 21 to 24. It's the same test, just a different clock.

What the test is actually for

FromSoftware says the sessions exist to check the game's balance, see how the servers hold up under load, and confirm the multiplayer stays smooth when a lot of people pile in at once. Keep that in mind before treating any clip from the weekend as the finished game. A network test is a stress test. Builds get rebalanced afterward, and the version people play in August is not the version that ships.

The Duskbloods is still down for a 2026 release with no firm date attached. Kadokawa, FromSoftware's parent company, told investors in February that both this and Elden Ring Tarnished Edition would land on Switch 2 this year. A late-August test is the kind of thing you do when you are still trying to make that window.