(Blood)Borne
Anew
Review
Bloodborne, From Software (PS4)
"The
blood makes us human, makes us more than human, makes us human no more."
Abstract: Bloodborne, the newest game from
Hidetaka Miyazaki and From Software, is an astonishing success. Bloodborne is a true evolution of the Souls series, taking an enormous leap
forward in much the same way Dark Souls
did for Demon’s Souls before it.
Miyazaki and team distilled the truest essence of what makes a Souls game work and builds upon that
foundation in a thoroughly unique and profoundly interesting way. The brutal
and often unforgiving nature of Bloodborne
works in perfect synergy with its lightning fast, hyper-aggressive precision
combat. A dark and grotesque world serves as the perfect foundation of this blood-filled
dark odyssey into madness and nightmares. Bloodborne
has a nearly unparalleled sense of cohesion, and exudes complete confidence
in every single design decision. I cannot recommend Bloodborne highly enough.
Bloodborne is a
game that has defined my day-to-day thoughts about video games for nearly nine
months. First announced as a PlayStation exclusive at E3 2014, and leaked
slightly before then as ‘Project Beast’, Bloodborne
was the next title to be released by the Japanese studio From Software. This is
the same studio that created the Souls series,
which contains Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. As many of you might know, either from my posts here
on The Impact Factor or my twitter (@alexsamocha), I am a
huge fan of the Souls series. And
that is putting it lightly. The media coverage and rave reviews for Demon’s Souls, the first game in the Souls series, got me excited enough to
finally bite the bullet and purchase a PS3. What a fantastic decision I made. Demon’s Souls brought a darkness and
difficulty to games that had seemed long forgotten. It created a compelling,
tragic world that was terrifying to explore and rife with secrets. Demon’s Souls was my second favorite game
of the year, only behind the masterpiece that is Uncharted 2. A spiritual successor (read: sequel) was announced
shortly following the Demon’s Souls’s
surprise success, which took the form of Dark
Souls. I excitedly pre-ordered the collector’s edition of Dark Souls and jumped in immediately
upon release. Everything Demon’s Souls did,
Dark Souls improved upon. Dark Souls created the seamlessly and
brilliantly interconnected world of Lordran, in which the power of old gods
waned as darkness took hold. The punishing difficulty was pushed to a level of perfection;
where each fight was a battle for survival and defeating tough areas and bosses
gave the player an unmatched endorphin rush. Dark Souls is a masterpiece of game making and game design, and is
my third favorite game of all time. Dark
Souls II, the first direct sequel of the series, looked to further refine
the mechanics and world established by Dark
Souls. I went into some length about my feelings
towards Dark Souls II. I
thought it was the second best game released in 2014. The game smartly tweaked
the original Dark Souls formula and
captured that same gratifying feeling of accomplishment, while adding new ideas
to the fray that were mostly successful.
The first time I saw the trailer for Bloodborne
I was blown away. I was getting a new entry in the Souls series only one year
after Dark Souls II had been
released? And with that first trailer came even more exciting news. Hidetaka
Miyazaki was returning to direct Bloodborne!
Miyazaki was the lead director for both Demon’s
Souls and Dark Souls, but did not hold this same role for Dark Souls II. Each new Souls game Miyazaki worked on made huge
leaps forward, both in respect to the Souls
series itself and in the larger context of all games. Miyazaki is brilliant and
innovative, and I could not wait to see what he brought to the table in Bloodborne. The final thing that grabbed
me about the trailer was the apparent return to a dark and gruesome horror,
like the one present in Demon’s Souls.
Dark Souls and its sequel, while both
filled with horrific monsters and frightening environments, steered more
towards a dark fantasy setting. Expectations through the roof, I pre-ordered and
obtained my copy on Bloodborne on
release day. I jumped in as soon as I could. 70+ hours later, I have completed
my first playthrough of Bloodborne
and am so excited to finally share my thoughts.
 |
| There are a lot of terrifying areas to visit and monsters to fight in Bloodborne. |
Bloodborne is set
Yharnam, a city afflicted by a terrible curse and beset by monsters. The blood
healing once used to cure the city of all its ills has been perverted, turning
men into beasts and filling the world with grotesque abominations. At the start
of the game, you are greeted by a mysterious figure, transfused with tainted
beast blood, and warned of the terrifying things you were soon to behold. The
figure tells the player that, “You may think it all a bad dream” but the
struggles that lay before you feel all too real. The new blood coursing through
your veins empowers you, and compels the player to be a hunter of Yharnam’s
beasts. From there, the player embarks on a dark odyssey into the depths of
madness, hoping to escape the nightmare and make sense of the darkly twisted
world. As you quickly discover, you are in a ‘hunter’s dream’ and are tasked to
destroy the nightmares within. After the first few major expository scenes,
however, Bloodborne’s plot is left
mainly up to the player to discover and understand. Souls games have never been known for their narrative heft, and Bloodborne is no exception. With that
said, however, Bloodborne’s plot
feels even more intangible than any of the games before it. Item descriptions
have always gone a long way towards fleshing out the world in Souls games, and while it helps here, I
never felt like it coalesced in a meaningful way. A few extra scenes of more
transparent exposition would have gone a long way toward putting all the
confusing story pieces together. I have read some fan theories explaining their
interpretation of the plot and world, based upon the events in the game and
item descriptions, which connect the disparate pieces. More so than any other Souls game you have to really work to understand what the heck is
going on. Good thing that is really not all that important.
 |
| Want to know why this woman is standing out in the middle of an ethereal lake? Bloodborne will give you some hints, but leave you with more questions than answers. |
Bloodborne
pretty closely adheres to the key design decisions that define the Souls series, while not technically being a Souls game. For the record, I’m always
going to count it as one. Anyway. Chief among these tenants is the unforgiving
difficulty of the game. Every single entity in the game, whether it is the
player, a random monster or a boss, has low health and high attack. What this
means is that, as you’re playing, you can kill all enemies with a couple of
hits, but they can do the same to you. This teaches the player to thoughtfully
approach every single combat encounter, and weight the risk reward for any
exploration. Death in Bloodborne
isn’t a punishment, it is a lesson. The more the player learns the better they
get and more able to take on the challenges before them. Like other Souls games, Bloodborne also has a checkpoint system in the form of lamps you
can light. These act as spawn points if you die and as warp point to bring you
back to the safe area that is used to upgrade your weapons or level up. From
these lamps you can then travel a usually linear path through the world towards
your next destination, though there are often plenty of side paths to explore.
As you move deeper into the area you clear out enemies as you move towards a
boss, collecting blood echoes (equivalent to souls in previous games) that act
as a catchall currency and experience system. Importantly, like in all previous
Souls games, if you die you drop all
of these echoes—meaning you lose all experience points—unless you can get back
to the area in which you lost them and pick them back up. The same tension that
existed during exploration in the previous Souls
games holds true here. On one hand, you really want to keep pushing further to
make progress, but on the other, loosing thousands of blood echoes would be
terrible. This creates a compelling gameplay loop that perfectly balances
frustration and accomplishment. Bloodborne
once again proves this formula works, and is compelling now as it was six years
ago.
But now to the nitty gritty, or in other words, how Bloodborne differentiates itself from the rest of the Souls games. The biggest change in Bloodborne is its combat. And what an
enormous change that is. The combat in Bloodborne
is phenomenal. In prior Souls games
combat was a measured, deliberate experience. Because any attack could either
kill your character, or put them near death, combat was all about being as risk
averse as possible. This took the form for many players, myself included, for
hiding behind a shield pretty much 24/7. The biggest piece of advice that got
passed around during Demon’s Souls
and Dark Souls was, no matter where
you are going, have your shield up. Attacks can come from anywhere, so it was
good to always be on the defensive. This
is absolutely not the case in Bloodborne.
There is no blocking. There is no shield (aside from a joke one thrown in
by the developers). In its place is lighting fast, brutal, precision combat. Dodging
in Bloodborne is fast and covers an
enormous distance. Quick rolls and nimble dashes can rapidly close the distance
between you and your foe—or extend it, if you are dodging away from an attack. Bloodborne is the first game in the
series that wants you to be the
aggressor, even if the enemies are hyper aggressive too. Every system in Bloodborne is perfectly designed to
bolster this approach. For example, every time you take damage a portion of
your red health bar is turned orange for a short period of time, and this
orange health can be regained by dealing damage. This means that every time you
get hit, you want to get right back into combat to get your lost health back.
Healing items in the game, Blood vials, can be quickly used and are relatively
plentiful, further encouraging the player to get up close and personal, even if
that means taking a little damage. In place of the shield Bloodborne offers players a gun that can be used for parrying. Perfectly
times gunshots can interrupt enemy attacks leaving them open for a powerful
riposte in the form of Bloodborne’s
Visceral Attack. This is a wholly satisfying, highly skill intensive system
that again plays perfectly into the theme of player aggression. Parrying /
riposting existed in previous Souls
games, but was often too risky to attempt, so I really liked how viable it was
in Bloodborne. Not to mention how
great it felt to perform.
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| Bloodborne's combat is consistently exciting, whether you're facing a guy with a torch or a hulking monstrosity. |
The fast, aggressive combat strengthens Bloodborne in a couple ways. First, and importantly as a Souls veteran, Bloodborne feels completely fresh and new. The combat is a
tremendous departure from the games that preceded it, but works so perfectly
you would think that it was something that had been around and reiterated upon
for years. The significance of just how much the combat sets Bloodborne apart cannot be overstated. Bloodborne is a spiritual successor to Dark Souls in the same way Dark Souls was to Demon’s Souls—the creative leap is huge. It reinvigorates and
redefines the series in much the same way Dark
Souls did, which is something I thought I would never see again. Second,
the combat brings a certain accessibility to the series for the first time. The
quickness of combat encounters will appeal to Souls vets, RPG fans and action gamers alike. It allows the player
to play the game much more like an action game at a high difficulty, rather
than a slow, methodical, and highly tactical RPG.
 |
| No matter the monster, your hunter can take it to task with your quick dodges and powerful attacks. |
Do not confuse accessibility with easiness, though. Bloodborne, for the most part, is every bit as hard as its forbears.
Especially near the beginning of the game, Bloodborne
will wipe the floor with inexperienced players until they can grasp its
intricate systems. Enemies and bosses can still kill you for one mistake. But
there is more to it. Checkpoints in the game, the lamps I mentioned earlier,
are extremely far apart. This means the player has to get through a lot of
difficult content, usually including a boss, to make it to the next lamp.
Shortcuts through the levels help, but even with them, Bloodborne probably has the longest distance from checkpoint to
boss than any other game in the Souls
series. What the combat does open up for, however, is a much higher skill
ceiling. Given my previous experience with the Souls games, and my aptitude for action games, I quickly adapted to
Bloodborne’s combat, even though I
initially thought I would be stuck in my defensive ways. Once I really got a
hold of everything, Bloodborne became
one of the easiest Souls games: far
easier than Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. To be clear, I do not think Bloodborne should be made more
difficult. Bloodborne’s combat is
still as punishing as any in the Souls
series—I just personally found it easier to not make mistakes in Bloodborne. I really enjoyed the
powerful feeling Bloodborne gave me.
 |
| Sure, Bloodborne was extremely tough at first. Once I got a hang of everything, though, I was able to take down hordes of enemies and the game's many bosses with ease. |
Speaking of powerful, I would
like to briefly mention the transforming weapons you use in Bloodborne. They are amazing. The weapons have two forms: a
fast hitting but weaker form, and a slower but more powerful form. Each weapon
presented players with a totally different way to approach combat since no two
weapons were exactly alike. The transformations also allowed another layer of
skill to permeate the combat. Mid attack you could pull off highly damaging
transformation combos, which often were invaluable in tough encounters. Not to
mention the transformation animations were fantastic and made the player feel powerful. Feel like a
badass. Bloodborne is a game that
makes you feel like a badass pretty frequently.
Not all of Bloodborne’s gameplay decisions are a step in the right direction
for the Souls series, though. My biggest
issue is with the game’s healing item, the Blood Vial. The player can hold 20
of these vials (up to 24 with the right set-up), and they can be either
collected from fallen foes or purchased with blood echoes from the store. While
having enough Blood Vials was not generally an issue for me, in some of the
tougher areas or against some of the harder bosses, I used up a lot of them.
Before I could do anything else in the game, I would then have to go ‘farm’ for
more Blood Vials to refill my stock. It was an unnecessary annoyance and slowed
down progress in the late game. Blood Vials are reminiscent of the Moon Grass
from Demon’s Souls, which was a
problem in that game too. Overall, they are a big step down from the excellent
Estus Flask in Dark Souls. An easy
solution would have been to give players 20 or so vials for every new lamp
reached or boss beaten. Additionally, the camera remains an issue in Bloodborne. When locked onto an enemy,
the camera can snap around rapidly or get ‘stuck’ behind the environment,
making it so you cannot see anything. In Bloodborne,
more so than any other Souls game, I
just kept the lock-on camera off. This worked well, but did make the combat
feel a bit more imprecise than I’m sure was intended. Finally, I have an issue
with Bloodborne’s bosses. I love the visual design of the bosses
and there are certainly some great standouts, but overall I was left wanting
more. Bloodborne’s bosses fell into
three categories: one big monster, a powerful humanoid creature, or a swarm of
small enemies. A little more boss diversity could have gone a long way, but at
the very least I appreciate that there were not any gimmick boss fights
(looking at you, worst-boss-of-the-series Bed of Chaos).
The same desire for a little more
diversity carries over into the game world, too. I want to first state that I love Yharnam. It is bleak, ominous and
beautiful. The aesthetic is wonderfully creepy and it really feels like you are
exploring a nightmarish Victorian city. All of this is reinforced by a
fantastic soundtrack (I’ll link my favorite below!). With that said, many of
the environments in Bloodborne strike
the same note. Sometimes it can even be a little difficult to distinguish one
location from another, given the similar gothic architecture that is seen throughout
the game. Everything looks great and there are some standout areas, like
Cainhurst Castle and the Nightmare Frontier, but again, just a little bit more would have been nice.
But there is just so much to explore in the word, and the exploration is
fantastic. Each area has one main path that is littered with hidden paths and
secrets to explore. Shortcuts can be discovered all throughout Bloodborne that connect the environments
in interesting, and unexpected, ways. The absence of an in-game map makes the
player really learn the environments inside and out, which provides the player
with an unparalleled familiarity with the game’s environments. Bloodborne is happy to subvert player
expectations when it comes to exploring as well that, without going into
spoilers, had my jaw agape on several occasions. The focus on unconventional
exploration seeps into the game design as well. So much of Bloodborne’s story content is completely
optional. There are several
massive areas and bosses that are not at all required to beat the story, and
can even be quite difficult to find. Bloodborne
isn’t afraid to make a substantial amount of content nonobvious to the player,
and I love it. What other game would do this? Exploring the world gives the
player great new armor, access to cool weapons, and runes that allow the player
to boost their stats. And Bloodborne’s
world is massive. The game’s main story took me roughly 50 hours to complete.
 |
| Yharnam is eerie and beautiful. Exploring its many environments was a delight. |
It does not stop there though; Bloodborne
has even more content for players in the form of Chalice dungeons. For the cost
of a couple items and a few thousand blood echoes, players can create
randomized dungeons to explore. The Chalice dungeons therefore offer players
endless replayability, as no two dungeons are exactly alike. Except for the
Pthumeru Chalice dungeon series, which offers players hand-crafted dungeons
that lead to a brutally challenging, totally unique, story boss. In fact, many
of the bosses in Chalice dungeons aren’t seen elsewhere in the game. And if you
were lamenting the loss of challenge I mentioned earlier in this review, look
no further than the Chalice dungeons. Even NG+ does not come close to the
difficulty of some of the deeper dungeons. They are so hard I spent any extra
20 or so hours going through them to get to the final Pthumeru dungeon and
boss. I’ve now beaten her and achieved the platinum trophy for the game. Those
dungeons are insanely challenging.
 |
| Chalice dungeons will put even the most experienced Souls vets through the ringer. One boss in particular took me nearly 30 tries to beat. |
Finally, no Bloodborne review
would be complete without mentioning multiplayer. Asynchronous and synchronous
multiplayer has always been a huge part of the Souls series. On the asynchronous front, notes left by players are
as plentiful and great as always, and I enjoyed seeing other players’ deaths by
interacting with their bloodstains in my world. I, however, cannot comment too
thoroughly on online co-operation and invasions since I mostly try to keep my
first playthrough single player. I did engage in one PVP encounter when an
enemy summoned another player into my game, and it worked great (I won,
wahoo!). I fully expect to try out co-op summoning much more frequently in the
future, especially as I try to tackle the toughest content in the game.
Bloodborne is a
game that gives and gives and gives. It takes the tenants of the Souls game and boils them down to a core
foundation, upon which Bloodborne
innovates and redefines what a Souls
game is. Exhilarating combat, an ominous world and a real sense of mystery kept
me engaged all throughout my playthrough, and I only want more. Bloodborne is an important game: for the
future of a game series I hold so dear and, in my mind, as the first compelling
exclusive title for either console. Bloodborne
could easily be the best game this year, and even one of the best this
generation. Bloodborne is also
perhaps the most accessible Souls
game to date, so I implore you to jump in now. Please. Do it for
me?
Bloodborne
5/5
NOTE:
BOSS NAME SPOILERS BELOW
For my own sake, I wanted to record the how many tries it took me to
beat all of the bosses in Bloodborne
(aside from the ones in the Chalice). Below is the name of each boss in the
order I fought them in, and my total number of attempts to down them.
Cleric Beast: 1
Father Gascoigne: 3
Vicar Amelia: 2
Blood-starved Beast: 1
The Witch of Hemwick: 1
Darkbeast Paarl: 4
Shadow of Yharnam: 1
Rom, the Vacuous Spider: 2
Martyr Logarius: 7
Amygdala: 1
Celestial Emissary: 1
Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos: 11
One Reborn: 1
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare: 2
German, the First Hunter: 2
Moon Presence: 2Yharnam, Blood Queen: 3
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