Bloodborne Review

Hunt Your Nightmares

Bloodborne is a beautiful, twisted, addicting, and surprisingly scary game. The spiritual successor to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, Bloodborne knows what it is even though the beginning is wildly different from the endgame. This game is dark, yet full of light; horrifying, but mesmerizing; punishing, yet rewarding. I found myself falling in love with the world around me as the game changed from a Victorian horror to a cosmic nightmare.

Bloodborne wears its influences on its sleeve. Developed by From Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio, Bloodborne is a PS4 Exclusive action role-playing game with similar elements to the Souls games. It's extremely challenging and in order to be successful one must be patient and take the time to learn the game's mechanics. It teaches you to play as you learn from your mistakes.

The opening cinematic sees your character receiving a "Blood Ministration" which leads you to the in depth character customization screen. Have some fun with this part if you want, or create a realistic looking person, your choice.

My personal favorite: The Joker. Credit to u/mynameisnotspecial on Reddit.

After that, theres another quick cutscene and then you are set loose in the city of Yharnam. As usual with the Souls games, nobody tells you what to do or where to go save for a few developer notes left on the ground telling you the basic controls and "Seek the Paleblood to transcend the hunt." Thats about all you get. Right off the bat this game is challenging. After receiving your first Trick Weapon and Firearm, you can begin to hunt down the different beasts and bosses. The combat in Bloodborne is much quicker than in Dark Souls so don't expect to stand behind your shield while blocking attacks. The game forces you to keep moving, dodging, parrying, rolling, whatever it takes to keep you from staying in one spot. I personally found this form of combat to be much more satisfying than Dark Souls.

The world of Bloodborne is dark, beautiful, and full of mystery. Every time I advanced through another boss and into a new territory, I was left in wonder at how unique the different areas are. There are city-like areas, intricate castles, and dark forests. Everything is seamlessly connected so that there are no load times between world unless you fast travel or die. And you will die a lot. Like the Souls games, Bloodborne is very difficult, but not impossible. Every enemy has their weakness. In the beginning, you just need to be prepared to die a lot. Eventually you will get better with practice. The major downside to Bloodborne at launch was the load times every time you died. They were improved in a patch so it's gotten better but sometimes they are still about thirty-seconds long, and when you're dying over and over, that might as well be an eternity.

I don't want to spoil or talk about any more story elements because like the previous games, the story is about discovering and interpreting it on your own. It's incredibly interesting though. I found it to be more intriguing than Dark Souls because there is less lore, but it's left wide open for you and other players to come up with your own theories.

PVP works the same in Bloodborne as it does in Dark Souls. Instead of special stones, you have bells that you can ring to summon other players into your world for Co-Op or to invade someone's world to steal their Blood Echoes. I used Co-Op multiple times in order to take down a boss that was giving me trouble and only had a couple connection issues. I never invaded someone's world but my world was invaded at least three times. When someone invades your world and kills you, you lose all your echoes and the person that killed you gains them. It's rather frustrating when this happens so be on the lookout.

The bosses in Bloodborne have a very deformed and gothic style to them. Some of them are wildly inspired by the horror of H.P. Lovecraft which, if you're a fan of his writing, is very very cool. I'm pretty sure I died at least once in every boss fight except for one. They all present different challenges and different fighting styles, so learn to adapt to each one.

I can't state enough how intriguing this world is to me. When the credits rolled on the ending I had logged forty-eight hours in the game and I immediately started New Game Plus to experience it all over again. It's brutally difficult but that shouldn't be a reason to hold back on this incredible game. Bloodborne is a beautiful, horrifying, mesmerizing, and addicting game full of mystery just waiting to be explored.

9.5 

+Visually gorgeous

+Intricate and quick combat

+Intriguing world

+Boss battles

-Load times between deaths