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| Hunt Your Nightmares. |
Developer: From Software
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Version Reviewed: Exclusively for Playstation 4
Price: $59.99
Released: March 24th, 2015
Bloodborne is my first Souls game. What I mean by that is that it is the first game I have played in the style of From Software's other major projects Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2. The Souls games are known for their incredible difficulty and distinct lack of hand holding new players through it rather complex mechanics. Bloodborne is a Souls game in all but name and sought to bring that type of experience to the new generation. Did it succeed? Well let's find out.
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| Yharnam is an artistic marvel to behold. |
Bloodborne is set in and around the neo gothic city of Yharnam, home to mysterious kind of medicine known as Blood Ministration. The city is currently in a very sorry state due to being overrun by a terrifying sickness known as the Scourge of the Beast. This sickness causes anyone or anything afflicted with it to turn into a bloodthirsty beasts that kill anything on sight. You play as an outsider that has come to Yharnam to learn the secrets of Blood Ministration to cure their illness. However, you are forced into some kind of contract that forces you to become a hunter, an individual tasked with clearing the streets of Yharnam of the various beasts that now inhabit it, while also trying to uncover the greater mysteries surrounding Blood Ministration and the Healing Church that controls it.
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| Forsaken Cainhurst Castle is a mysterious place that players must find on their own. |
Bloodborne is very light on details when it comes to its plot and lore. You are given only the most basic of information on what you have to do to progress in the game and even fewer details are given on why you are actually doing it. But the details are there for people willing to look for them. By talking to friendly characters in the world, reading the descriptions of the various items you find, and even simply observing the environment around you you'll be able to put together details about the city of Yharnam and the world surrounding it. That world in question takes a lot of inspiration from classic gothic horror and the latter half of the game takes more than a little inspiration from the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Dark Souls used this method of storytelling as well and I feel it is an excellent form of narrative design that takes full advantage of gaming unique interactive elements.
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| The citizens on Yharnam on the hunt for beasts not realizing that they themselves are beasts. |
One thing that everyone that is interested in Bloodborne should keep in mind is the fact that it is an extremely hard game. Bloodborne is built on the same foundation as Demon's Souls and Dark Souls where death is common and will result in major setbacks if one isn't careful. Common enemies can kill you within seconds if the player isn't careful and boss fights require you pay close attention and think about every single move you are going to make. On top of all that every time you die you lose all of your Blood Echos (the game's currency) and if you die trying to get back to the place you died to get them back they are gone forever. If you ever sense a powerful enemy or a boss fight coming up and you have a lot of Blood Echos, then you should head to the nearest lantern and head to the Hunter's Dream (the game's hub area) and level up your character, buy useful items, or upgrade your weapons. Doing this should steadily increase your odds of overcoming the horrible beasts you come across. This might sound overwhelming and at times it is, but Bloodborne is a game that wants you to take your time and work on getting better at it over time. Bloodborne is hard and unforgiving, but it never wants to you give up which is what I feel makes it so great.
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| The Hunter's Dream is on of the strangest areas of Bloodborne, but also your only safe haven from the bloodthirsty beasts of the waking world. |
At the beginning of the game you allowed to pick a trick weapon and a firearm that will serve as your primary means of beast killing. Trick weapons are your primary means of attack and each one functions a little differently. For example, the Kirkhammer is a long sword that can deal light damage quickly to single enemies and can be turned into a giant hammer to deal heavy damage to groups of enemies at the cost of speed, while the Threaded Cane is a short sword that is great at attacking single enemies that can be turned into a chain whip that can attack groups of enemies at the cost of reduced damage. Firearms take a more secondary role. Rather then being used to take out enemies at a distance they are used to stun enemies and open them up for devastating visceral attacks. However, finding these openings can be difficult as most enemies can only be stunned while they are in the middle of doing a powerful attack. If your timing is off even a little you will get damaged. Luckily getting damaged isn't the end of the world. You are given a brief window of opportunity after being damaged to gain back your lost health by attacking nearby enemies, thought if they miss this window they can still heal with consumable blood vials. The player also gets their hands on a vast variety of tools over the course of the game from molotov cocktails to poisoned throwing knifes to bizarre spells I won't dare spoil. All of these different systems working off each other combined with a stat building system that will require players to focus on creating unique character builds makes for an extremely deep system with lots of incentive to play through the game multiple times.
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| Two Hunters fighting against the Cleric Beast, one of Bloodborne's many boss fights. |
Another great aspect of the game is the multiplayer. Throughout the game you will find these messenger creatures carrying notes written by other players that can either help or hinder you. You can also leave your own notes to help or hinder other players with the notebook item. If you are having trouble with a boss you can spend a currency called Insight that you gain by finding bosses or consuming certain items and ring a Beckoning Bell that will call other players into your world to help you or use another kind of bell that allows you enter other players worlds to help them. However, later in the game you will have to deal with other players invading your world and trying to kill you. But, you can also invade other players world and try and kill them. The bell items that let you do participate in the multiplayer are found in a hidden store in the Hunter's Dream that uses Insight as a currency. Later in the game you'll find convents that you can join that make the player versus player more interesting and meaningful.
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| A hunter evading a trap in one of Bloodborne's randomly generated Chalice Dungeons. |
When I started Bloodborne I died all the time and felt like I could never beat it. But eventually I memorized enemy tactics and environmental hazards enough to know exactly what to do to survive. By the end of the game I was skilled enough that only the most powerful enemies the game had to offer were a threat to me. And when I finally beat the game I felt a massive sense of accomplishment and I can't wait to see what the new game plus has in store for me. This game is so good I can't really come up with any major criticisms. The load times are atrocious, the hilarious rag doll physics can undermine the dark and unsettling atmosphere, the randomly generated chalice dungeons don't really live up to their full potential, and having to grind low level enemies to get blood vials and quicksilver bullets whenever I run out was really tedious. But I don't care about those few negatives points because the positives make up for all of those problems tenfold. This is the first truly great next gen game that delivers on every promise it had. If you have a PS4 and like hard games like Dark Souls then go buy this right now. You won't regret it.
