FromSoftware return after successful titles Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2, with Gothic RPG Bloodborne.
Bloodborne is instantly recognisable to Souls fans as most of the core mechanics are the same, the differences being the use of special weapons and the healing process, which now makes use of the triangle button. However, the game is not set in the Souls universe, and has its own original story.
The reason for it being quite similar to FromSoft’s previous works is because the genius behind Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki is the games’ director. This is the ‘other project’ he was said to be working on when he told Edge Magazine back in 2013 that, “I want to clarify that I will be a supervisor, not the actual director or producer (of Dark Souls 2).”
A hunter’s guide to surviving in Yharnam
Bloodborne has the same feeling of victory upon conquering an area boss that Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls had, and the sense of wanting to explore the unknown at the risk of losing precious blood echoes.
Welcome to Yharnam, a distant forgotten city in an isolated valley far to the east. A place said to be cursed; infamous for its local afflication known as the scourge of the beast.
The scourge errodes one’s reason, until man becomes beast. At night, the hunters track down these inhuman creatures.
Yet, this heretical town is also home to an acient medical practice. Those with incrurable afflications brave the long journey to the city, seeking Yharnam’s mysterious treatment.
Bloodborne
The game keeps to its grim roots and is unforgiving, the same as what we are used to seeing, however the setting has shifted away from knights and dragons to focus more on hunters and beasts, in the Gothic city of Yharnam. The plot, which suggests that you are searching for a cure for your disease, is also really intriguing as, though turning into a werewolf-like monster sounds badass, you don’t really want to become the thing which other travellers are trying to kill.
PvE
This brings me onto the gameplay, which has been slightly tweaked to match the setting. For instance your shield (heavily featured in Souls games) has been replaced with an offhand gun, used for defensive purposes while promoting a more fast-paced combat system. This also rewards players for taking chances and playing aggressively as you can regain lost health by quickly slaying enemies and absorbing their blood.
Bloodborne retains the gruelling RPG elements of FromSoft’s previous titles whilst also looking visually amazing, albeit gory and gloomy. The game is difficult but not unfair as you learn from mistakes and find new ways to tackle foes; for instance using special items like Molotov cocktails to deal extra damage. Just be cautious that there will be easy ways for your character to die (as always).
There are also new ‘trick weapons’ which are featured in the story trailer and gameplay demos. These can be altered by tapping L1 to deal with situations as required as each is unique, viable and fun to use, just pay attention to your build if you want to use specific weapons. These contribute to the fun, engaging combat and to the deep lore, which can be partly obtained via item descriptions. For more aid see Sony’s Bloodborne tips page.
Speaking of weapons, they are lacking (the DLC added more), especially when compared to Dark Souls 2 which seemed to have tons of, quite frankly, un-viable options. However ‘trick weapons’ do more as all of them have unique move sets instead of just copy-paste for each class. For example the starting weapon I went with, the threaded cane, is a short sword which then turns into a whip – very cool and useful as a skill weapon in the early game.
There is back-tracking in Bloodborne, however it is done excellently as you will notice locked doors to come back to, or quests that you need to progress in. Just a warning on this however, an NPC called Eileen the Crow actually disappeared on me in my first playthrough, destroying one of the side quests, so be careful (I think this was user error though, killed a boss I shouldn’t have).
PvP
Despite there being multiplayer in Bloodborne, there is a greater focus on the single player experience. The inclusion of having to find 1 point of insight before you can activate multiplayer and level up makes it so everyone is on their own for the first section of the game, giving the community that great sense of dread.
The online element to the game will be recognisable as ‘signs’ (now ‘notes’) and ‘bloodstains’ (now ‘tombstones’) show player to player interaction, and summoning a player to help rid the city of deformed creatures, or to duel works with the use of a beckoning bell.
To make up for this there are areas called Chalice Dungeons, which can be created and explored with a friend (if you share it and use the same glyph) which include a wealth of enemies to fight and loot to raid. These are a very interesting addition to the game as there are 4 different Chalices each with a few different dungeons to keep you occupied whilst playing through the story.
Conclusion
For me the most gripping thing about Bloodborne is the environment; it doesn’t just look cool, but it’s also fleshed out and familiar whilst being completely different to anything we’ve seen before. This then complements the games’ lore filled story and makes boss battles even more epic and actually pretty scary (the Cleric Beast is a good example of this).
Taking into account the story, setting and gameplay, Bloodborne gets a solid near perfect from me. It has taken what worked well from the previous FromSoft games and has applied it in a unique fashion which has made it one of my favourite games, and definitely a candidate for game of the year (2015).
If you didn’t like any of the Souls games then Bloodborne probably won’t be for you, although you’ve read this far so you must be at least a little bit interested. My hat is off to FromSoftware because the game is simply fantastic, and I would recommend it to any Souls fan. If you haven’t played it yet now is definitely the time.
Bloodborne is out now for PlayStation 4.
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Bloodborne
The Good
- Haunting yet intriguing boss designs
- Slick, fast-paced gameplay
- Awesome online beast-slaying
- The Gothic/Lovecraftian setting is brilliant
- The DLC Old Hunters is also worth a play