My FOMO over The Duskbloods not coming to PC evaporated once I actually played it

As a die-hard fan of Elden Ring, who had amassed over 600 hours in Nightreign, the anticipation for The Duskbloods as a Switch 2 exclusive was intense. However, after participating in the closed network test over the weekend, my feelings of dread were largely unfulfilled. The test featured limited content, including only one map, six playable characters, no build customization, solo queue only, and the introduction of just a portion of the tutorial.

To make matters worse, I experienced significant input lag due to the Switch 2's docked and handheld modes, forcing me to contend with basic controls for an extended period. Despite the potential for improvement, I am cautiously optimistic that the final game will address these issues. If it does, I could end up appreciating The Duskbloods ultimately.

Nightreign initially failed to captivate me for nearly 20 hours, but once it clicked, I spent the first half of the year playing it daily, even reaching the highest rank in its ranked mode. While The Duskbloods may eventually prove to be a masterfully crafted vampire multiplayer game, as it stands now, I believe it's an aimless mess of intriguing systems that don't coalesce into something worth PC gamers investing in a $500 console for.

What does leave an impression, though, is how peculiar The Duskbloods is as a video game in 2026. At times, it feels like playing a PlayStation 2 game with an offbeat multiplayer mode concocted before battle royales and hero shooters established the standard for how it should be executed.