VideoGame Possibly From Software’s Greatest Game
I only got into the Soulsborne series in mid-2019 but the series quickly became a personal favorite due to it’s amazing combat and world design. Bloodborne was the first game I got with my PS4 on Christmas of 2019. It took time to grow on me due to it’s insane difficulty (I get frustrated easily) but it became my favorite of From Soft’s catalog. The combat takes a more aggressive approach to Dark Souls’ more cautious. You cannot hide behind a shield and in its place you have a firearm that can stun enemies and leave them open to a riposte with proper timing. I find this approach to make the gameplay even more fun while also being a very balanced game difficulty wise that avoids frustration (though some enemies and bosses can be quite cheap). The weapons were a lot of fun to play around with and, unlike the dozens of disposable weapons in previous games, each feels unique and valuable in its own way, making repeat playthroughs to experiment with builds more fun. The world building and artstyle are extremely interesting and compelling (though there are occasional hiccups such as floating assets and seeing out of bound), though being on the PS4 does result in a rather choppy 30 FPS. The bosses, aside from a few exceptions, are really fun to fight and well balanced in terms of difficulty, with the DLC bosses in particular being some of the greatest in From Soft’s catalog. This game also kept being hard, unlike other From Soft games which dropped in difficulty the more I played, which keeps the game fresh on repeat playthroughs. The game also has a decent amount of content with a beefy campaign and fun, if repetitive, chalice dungeons so you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. I don’t know if Elden Ring will dethrone Bloodborne as my favorite From Soft game (that will take another playthrough or two of Elden Ring) but it’s definitely a masterpiece that is well worth a play and is my second favorite game of all time, beaten only by Persona 5 Royal. 10/10
VideoGame You're Dead, You're Dead, You're Dead and Outta this World
I started this game in 2017, and was enjoying myself enough that I decided to finish it completely for review. Now we are in 2022 and I'm still not done. With adult life getting in the way it'll be 2027 by the time I finish. So goddamn it, here is the review.
Bloodborne is my first go at a Souls-like game, in which you play as a semi-immortal hunter on a quest to rid a town of its monsters. Aesthetically it's a cross between Hammer Horror movies and Warhammer, with sprawling Gothic complexes, humongous weapons and beasts, and excessive references to blood. It's also a notoriously hard game, though not so much by the standards of other Souls-likes.
The first thing you do in a new game of Bloodborne is walk ten paces forward and get spontaneously mangled by a werewolf monster, marking the first of the many thousands of times you will die. Not only is every enemy extremely dangerous - even a scrawny mob of pitchfork holding peasants will kill you in seconds - but they respawn whenever you die or leave the area. Killing enemies nets you ghost money to spend on level ups and gear, but you can lose all your cash on dying. And if that weren't enough, the game deliberately obscures a lot of basic information about its world. It's a game with dense lore and history, but it is being kept from you on purpose, allowing you only glimpses as to what the hell is going on.
It is very satisfying to gradually powerup and learn every element of a region or enemy type. Eventually you can coast through, giving a friendly wave to the once terrifying enemies who could kill you in one slap. Unfortunately, the game accidentally obscures a lot of important information too. Character menus are vast, mindboggling spreadsheets for stats that make little sense. I equip powerups described with sentences like, "Bloodtinge scaling increased to 3.3%", and haven't a clue what this is supposed to mean.
The biggest frustration with Bloodborne is that it doesn't respect your time. If you die in a boss fight (which, of course you will), you are in for a long commute back to the boss arena to fight them again. But before you do that you will have to restock items, requiring you to clear the level of enemies for items and cash. Only then can you fight the boss, die in a matter of seconds, and then repeat this process again. A save function would make it a hell of a lot more convenient to play. The reason why it's taken me this bloody long to progress isn't so much the difficulty, but because I can't put up with all the faff that comes with dying, so I keep neglecting the game. I don't have time for this shit!
All this to say, I enjoy Bloodborne, satisfied at its chunky and difficult fighting, its beautiful art style, and its creepy atmosphere. But the game is let down by some frustrating design choices that are very inconvenient for anyone with a limit to their free time.
VideoGame The Killer Game for the PS4, Finally!
This is the Must Have Title for the Playstation 4. It's hard, but never have I experienced a game with so much reward to the player for putting the time and effort into a game. Yes, this game is hard! Yes, you will die, a lot. But, when you do make it and kill the boss it gives you such satisfaction that no other game can give you. Do yourself a favor. Buy this game! It's that addicting.
Bloodborne is as glorious as it is grotesque, a harsh and unyielding exercise in getting battered mercilessly while feeling encouraged the whole painful way. While very much a Souls game through and through, the switch from methodical and slow progression to a faster, ultimately more savage environment provides just enough of a twist to give it a wholly unique feel, a more empowering journey, for both the player and the opposition. Bloodborne is something truly special – a barbaric horror RPG that will giveth and taketh away in perfect measure, wrapped up in a perverse world that will refuse to let you go.
If you love victorian era Gothic Horror settings and if you love cool and interesting weapons and a really good challenge for your gaming skills you should definitely pick this one up, it's great to see Miyazaki back in the helm of the series, and the game is actually fun! I mean yes you'll have your frustrating parts of difficulty but you'll have definite fun! Doing it, enjoy the hunt!
VideoGame Much More Accessible Isn't the Same As Accessible
The Dark Souls series is famous for... well, for a lot of things by now, but in my mind, most of them boil down to three areas. The games are difficult, they are inaccessible, but they are well-regarded by those who manage to access them. Bloodborne, a game made by the same creators and which clearly shares a great deal of DNA with that series, represents one of the more accessible entry points... sort of.
To begin with, Bloodborne shares a lot of atmosphere with the Souls games. A bleak, gloomy setting where everything's gone to hell, and the streets are full of those poor saps who failed at doing what you're trying to do and lost their humanity in the process. From there, with an ever-growing array of equipment and feeling of mastery, you set out to figure out what's going on by reading item descriptions and engaging in cryptic conversations, save those who're still able to be saved in a series of frankly obtuse side quests, and kill all the uncontrolled monsters rampaging around the city. Not necessarily in that order.
It's a fun game, with many elements intended to emphasize speed compared to the more plodding and methodical pace Dark Souls is famous for, like being able to recover the last hit's worth of damage if you beat it out of an enemy quickly enough. And while I am bad at parrying all but the most easily-parried enemies, the game swaps out the traditional Dark Souls 100% damage reduction shield for a firearm or torch.
Admittedly, I disliked this change when I began playing, and I still wish they hadn't put a worthless shield as an equipment option as a joke, complete with an item description literally mocking players like me. I do think having that static defensive option beyond dodge, parry, or eat the hit would've been what put this game over the edge into being outright welcoming to new players instead of just the most welcoming.
But, as far as the genre goes, this game is definitely the most welcoming of its kind. It has far, far fewer stats compared to any of the Souls games, so deciding what to improve isn't such a huge obstacle if you aren't checking the Internet for tips, even if it can still feel intimidating and confusing. Upgrades can be easily swapped out at the workbench, so you aren't potentially permanently damaging an item's effectiveness if you experiment with different configurations. While the game's as bad at teaching you how to play it as ever, it's easier to fake it, and the blood vial/bullet system makes it easier to fill up mid-adventure without being quite as tethered to the lantern.
And while stripping down the equipment system means that the player doesn't find cool weapons and armor lying around to play with as often, it also means that they could put a lot of polish into the weapons they did include. The "trick weapons" are all stylish and cool, and offer a variety of playstyles.
There're a few other quibbles. Frenzy is a poor mechanic, and everything about it needed a nerf weeks before launch. Many of the later-game areas are noticeably rushed, and less interesting than what came before. The side quests are as obtuse as ever, and flubbing even a few of them can lock out some of the endings. And I tend to fall on the end of the spectrum that finds the Chalice Dungeons boring and repetitive, which especially sucks because there're important story clues squirreled away in the bottom of many of them.
Bloodborne is a good title, and the most accessible game of its kind... but I wish they'd gone the whole nine yards and just made it outright accessible.