YOU DIED: Ranking the Souls Games

Two-part Article, Day One

Abstract: The Souls video game series (Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II and Bloodborne) has been a huge part of my gaming life for the past 6 years. I have spent a lot of time playing through each one of these fantastic games, and perhaps even more time thinking about what makes them so great. Souls games are innovative rather than iterative. In this special two-part article, I will rank the Souls games. What will the order be? Stay tuned.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love making ranked lists. I make them for everything. A couple months ago I worked to throw together a list of the top five Christmas movies of all time. A week or two ago, I assembled a list of my top five superhero movies. It’s fun to look at a whole category of things and arrange them in a way meaningful to me. With the recent release of Bloodborne I got to thinking about its place within the Souls series. Now that I have completed the game, and given myself around two weeks to stew in my thoughts about it, I decided it was time to write something. And here we are now, where here on The Impact Factor I am going to rank the four Souls games. But first, a brief introduction and a couple disclaimers.

I covered this briefly in my reivew of Bloodborne, but please let me reiterate here. I am a huge fan of the Souls series—I think it is the best, most innovative video game series in modern gaming. Perhaps of all time. Though I am ranking each title here, I want to be as clear as possible before I begin: each and every one of these games is fantastic. All of Souls games were met with outstanding critical reception, from hardcore fans to games writers. Demon’s Souls was my second favorite game of 2009, Dark Souls was my 2011 game of the year, Dark Souls 2 was my second favorite game of 2014, and Bloodborne is going to be in serious contention for 2015’s game of the year. I have played the hell out of the Souls games, too. For starters, I have beaten each one. All totaled, I probably have logged around 400 hours into the Souls series. I have the platinum trophy for every Souls game except for Demon’s Souls. (For non-PlayStation folks, that means I have beaten the game and completed every developer-designed achievement, such as obtain all spells / miracles, defeat optional bosses, fully upgrade a weapon, etc.). That’s right, even for Bloodborne.

Therefore, in this ranked list, I’ll be getting into the minutia of the individual Souls games. Little things, like healing item systems or small facets of the game world, will be the factors that separate the #1 Souls game from the #4. It’s not, “this game is bad and the game is great,” but more, “this system is less successful than its counterparts in the other Souls games.” And I feel pretty confident in going into the little details, given the time and commitment I have invested into the Souls series.

Now to the disclaimers. (1) I have not played through the three DLC packages that were released for Dark Souls II. Nor have I played the remastered edition of Dark Souls II that just released 4/7/15, subtitled Scholar of the First Sin, in which many elements of the original game were tweaked. To be fair, I have heard the environments and bosses contained within the DLC packages are some of the best in the Souls series, so the placement of Dark Souls II on my ranked list could change after going through this content. For financial and time reasons, I have not been able to complete the DLC prior to writing this piece. (2) Not everything that factors into my ranking is objective. I attempted to be as objective as possible when talking about systems like combat or exploration, but so much of the Souls series is subjective, like the world, characters, and lore. (3) I played through each of the Souls game a solo as possible. Very rarely, if ever, did I summon people to help me with bosses or get through difficult areas. I engaged in a limited amount of PVP in Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, but not enough that it factors into my rankings. (4) There will probably be minor boss / area spoilers.

Rigmarole now done, onto the list!

#4: Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II was exactly the game everyone wanted it to be when it originally released in March 2014—more Dark Souls. From Software partnered with Bandai Namco to release the first direct sequel in the Souls series. Because it was a direct sequel, Dark Souls II is in many ways, the same great game its predecessor was. The same great game each of the Souls games is. Dark Souls II contains the core Souls experience: punishing combat against terrifying foes, a world with a rich history and lore all but lost to time, and a satisfying gameplay loops that lets the player weigh tremendous risks with exhilarating rewards. The three-year span between Dark Souls II and its predecessor gave the developers time to really think about the systems and mechanics of Dark Souls. Not content to rest on their laurels, the team behind Dark Souls II took some pretty substantial risks and introduced a lot of new ideas into the Souls series. In this way, Dark Souls II forges its own identity and is certainly a worthy inclusion into the pantheon of Souls games. Let’s talk about what is different in Dark Souls II.

First, what works. Dark Souls II’s setting is phenomenal. The approach the developers took was surprising. In Dark Souls you explored Lordran, a kingdom in which the light of the old gods was fading as darkness took hold. Every corner of Lordran, from the NPCS to the areas to the items, contained hints of the long and distant history of the land, keeping the player intrigued with its mysteries. Dark Souls II takes that same idea, but applies it on top of the existing Dark Souls lore. To state it more clearly, the events and characters of Dark Souls are the long forgotten history in Dark Souls II. You can see the echoes of the first game in the second, separated by hundreds or thousands of years. Items hint at the world you once explored. A certain boss acts as a remnant of a time long past. And this all feels so great. To see the effects your actions had while playing Dark Souls so distantly into the future of Lordran was a special treat, and one that had me hooked. More so than any of the other Souls games, I was scouring the far corners of Dark Souls II to see how the world of Lordran had transformed, and hints at connections between the two. In this way, Dark Souls II probably has the more accessible lore and story of any of the Souls games. Granted, this comes at the cost of having played Dark Souls first. Still, I was a nice change to have a real sense of inclusion within the world. I was never confused why I was doing what I was doing, but was still left in the dark about so much that it was fun to try to assemble the puzzle of Dark Souls II’s world.

Dark Souls II did an excellent job of refining the Souls combat system. The game still plays very similarly to Dark Souls, but from a combat perspective, everything just felt a little better. Weapon collision and distance was perfect. As a series first, dual-wielding weapons was viable and gave the player a totally unique attack set. Magic was better balanced, while still powerful, it was nowhere near as effective as either Dark Souls or Demon’s Souls. On that topic, the moment-to-moment balance in Dark Souls II was nearly perfect. Nothing felt cheap or like it gave you free victories. The same kind of exploits players had been using to cheese through areas and bosses are less present here, which is something I really appreciated. Dark Souls II gave players so many different viable combat options, too. Every kind of weapon could be used effectively, whereas previous titles had pretty clear “best” weapons and shields to use as you moved through the game. The addition of new a new spell type (Hexes) and damage scaling (mundane) further allowed players to create specifically tailored builds that suited their playstyle. Dark Souls II allowed players to have the most character specialization of any game. The depth, number, and intricacy of the weapon, magic, and stat systems were superb and unmatched within the Souls games.

Dual-wielding was viable, powerful and fun. Dark Souls II improved upon
an already solid combat foundation.

Dark Souls II also brought a wealth of new ideas to the mix. Many of these ideas were successful. One thing the developers must have noticed is that players would find an easy area to ‘farm souls’. This let players grind as much as they want, and level up as much as they want (to an extent), without making any forward progress. To counter this, the developers stopped enemies from respawning after a certain number of kills. This kept the player moving forward, and was a nice little touch. Dark Souls II also introduced the Bonfire Ascetic system, in which players could use the item at a bonfire to permanently increase the difficulty of that area. This allowed players to increase the challenge as they saw fit, respawn enemies to gain more Souls (but not for free, since now they were far tougher), and bring back bosses players wanted to fight again. The Bonfire Ascetics were another way Dark Souls II gave players flexibility in how they play, and I appreciated it. Another idea that I really enjoyed, and would like to see make a return, is the drastic changes that take place in NG+ mode. After you beat the game, you are placed in NG+: you keep all of your items and level, but start from the beginning of the game. In other Souls titles, the NG+ only changes the world slightly. Bosses and enemies have more health, a couple new items can be found or bought, etc. But NG+ makes Dark Souls II an entirely different game. Enemy positions and numbers are changed. Some boss fights play radically differently. This change was fantastic, and certainly reinvigorated the game enough to warrant a second playthrough.

Not everything was so successful in Dark Souls II, however. I have several minor issues with the game, and two chief complaints. Let’s go into the core issues. First, and chief among the issues, is the healing item system present in Dark Souls II. Back from Dark Souls is the Estus Flask system, but it has been changed. Not only do you have less total chugs from the flask (aka times you can heal), but instead of a fast all-at-once heal, the flask is a slow gradually increasing heal. To fill the place of fast heals are Lifegems, consumable items the player can discover or buy. The Lifegems have instantaneous healing and the amount of health recovered depends on the size / rarity of the gem. The existence of the Lifegems posed a lot of problems. The slow healing from the Estus Flask made it unusable during combat, placing the heavy burden solely upon Lifegems. The gems were extremely effective, though, so much so I used them almost exclusively. As a consumable item Lifegems would run out, and when they did, you had to farm for more. This created tedium: by either killing enemies for their drops, or collecting souls to buy them, you had to slow down your playthrough to pick up more. Lifegems didn’t add anything of value to Dark Souls II, only more grinding.

That's a whole lot of Lifegems you got there. Probably too many.

The second core issue was the bosses. The Souls series is famous for its outstanding bosses—Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls are filled with excellent ones. Dark Souls II does have some standout bosses but when looked at as a whole the bosses are underwhelming. Several of the bosses you face are just bigger versions of normal enemies. Not cool. Dark Soul II boss patterns are probably the most predictable of any Souls game. You could watch a boss for 30 seconds and have a pretty good grasp as to its attack repertoire. In other Souls games, bosses will bring out different moves depending on how low their health is. While there is some of this in Dark Souls II, there certainly is not enough of it. There also is not enough diversity of boss styles in Dark Souls II. There are far too many “dude with a sword” boss fights. The rest of my issues with the boss fights is a little more intangible. Overall the bosses were just more forgettable than other entries of the series. As bosses are usually a clear highlight of the game, Dark Souls II let me down.

The straightforward bosses and quick Lifegems combine to make Dark Souls II the easiest game in the Souls series. (DISCLAIMER: Everything I’ve read says that the Scholar of the First Sin version is Dark Souls II hard mode, but I cannot personally comment on this) The powerful combat options, plentiful souls, and relatively easy bosses make Dark Souls II less imposing than any of its peers. Stocking up on Lifegems can make whole areas a cakewalk, as you’ll have more than enough healing to play fast and loose. More predictable attack patterns mean bosses can be defeated in less attempts. It is still Dark Souls, so the game isn’t easy by conventional standards, but it is (was) certainly easier to power through than the other Souls during its initial release.

This boss might look cool, but his fight was easy and straightforward. And you fought him twice.

Dark Souls II also doesn’t take the same creative leap that Dark Souls did from Demon’s Souls, or Bloodborne does from Dark Souls.  To be fair, though, Dark Souls II is the only direct sequel so I would not expect it to be a vast departure from its predecessor. Still, a little more could have gone a long way. The rest of my complaints are super minor. I wish ragdoll physics had made it into the game. Long dialogue made it frustrating to visit the shop and level-up NPCs. The final boss was anticlimactic. I think Dark Souls II has the weakest soundtrack. Like I said, minor things, but all slightly detracted from the final experience.

Again, Dark Souls II is an excellent game, but major annoyances with the Lifegems and boss design put it in last place on this list.

#3 Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls is the game that started it all. In so many ways Demon’s Souls broke new ground. It established a foundation upon which one of the best games series’ of all time would be built upon. Demon’s Souls is perhaps one of the most forward thinking games I have ever played. Its brilliant incorporation of online elements into a single player role playing game was unprecedented. Your single player experience was alive with the echoes of others with its thoroughly nonintrusive and seamlessly integrated online features. From the bloodstains that showed you the deaths of other players, to notes scribbled throughout the world by online friend and foe alike, to the smart co-operative and competitive matchmaking—there was really nothing like it. Demon’s Souls also acknowledged what was so compelling about old school gaming and incorporated them in meaningful ways. Miyazaki and the team behind Demon’s Souls realized that the punishing difficulty of NES era games, like Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden, was missing from modern games. Games had gotten accustomed to holding the player’s hand, guiding them every step of the way. Developers were afraid to alienate players by making a game that was too hard or that withheld its secrets from the player. That is certainly not the case for Demon’s Souls. Demon’s Souls offered an unforgiving, but fair, challenge to players set within a mysterious world that begged the player to dig deep into its hidden secrets. Demon’s Souls was a perfect ‘watercooler’ game—as players rushed to forums and wikis to discuss the hidden items, areas, and story elements as they played through the game. Demon’s Souls let the players figure things out for themselves, and build upon each other’s experiences with the game. I could go on and on about the game generally, but let me get into some of the specific things that make Demon’s Souls so great.

Demon’s Souls is a beautiful, terrifying game exploding with creativity. The game is set within the derelict kingdom of Boletaria, isolated from the world by an impenetrable fog, and beset with a demon scourge following the brash actions of a desperate king. Demon’s Souls presents this dark fantasy setting perfectly. The game is a perfect mix of medieval imagery and horrifying demons. In many ways, Demon’s Souls is one of the best horror games I have ever played. The world is so dark and imposing that you are in constant fear of what you might face next. Coupled with the brutal combat that is now characteristic of the Souls series, the player feels a vulnerability that I have only ever felt in some of the greatest survival horror games like Resident Evil or Dead Space. Boletaria is diverse and interesting, as the five separate areas are distinct and memorable. Up until Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls was the only game in the Souls series that captured that sense of horror. As a fan of horror generally, I really appreciated the finesse and subtlety Demon’s Souls demonstrated in creating its monsters and areas.

Demon's Souls let the player explore the beautiful and terrifying world of Boletaria.

Demon’s Souls is a challenging game. If you play through the game without resorting to any cheap strategies or combat exploits (I get to this in a second), Demon’s Souls is probably the most difficult game in the Souls series. For the majority of your playthrough, your character will be at half health. If you die for any reason in Demon’s Souls you lose your human body and become a specter, the penalty for which is halving the player’s total health. You can regain your humanity by consuming items, but they are rare and expensive. Also, it’s often too risking to be human when exploring new areas or facing tough bosses, because any death for any reason will halve your health pool. With such low health, any one attack can kill you, so the player has to be on his or his toes at all times, even more so than in any other Souls game. The game let’s you know it isn’t going to be a joke right from the get go. Although it is technically possible to beat the game’s first boss, you’re designed to lose that fight. Nothing like getting ground into a fine paste from the get go to create realistic player expectations. Demon’s Souls, like all the Souls games after it, uses death as a lesson. Death teaches the player to not make mistakes, how to be better. It’s not a punishment. Progressing through Demon’s Souls feels great, not because the game is getting easier or your character is getting that much stronger, because you are getting better. It’s a feeling that is so rare, but so exceptional.

Be prepared to die. A lot. Every death is a lesson.

Fighting enemies isn’t perfect in Demon’s Souls, however, and the game had some serious balance issues. For starters, magic is completely overpowered in Demon’s Souls. Magic attacks, with minimal stat investment, do insane damage. Bosses can be killed in just a couple of hits. Unlike later games in the series that limit the number of times you can cast a spell, Demon’s Souls uses a magic bar (similar to your health and stamina bars) that can be refilled with consumable items. That meant that, if you had the right setup, you could perform as many magic attacks as you wanted. Enemies and bosses alike would melt before you, allowing for a much easier time through the game. I don’t think it is bad to use magic in Demon’s Souls, you need to take advantage of everything in your arsenal to get through this tough game, but it’s power level certainly seems unintentional. The other major issue with the combat is the various exploits that are possible. Cheap tactics can be used to defeat a number of bosses in Demon’s Souls. For example, for one boss if you stay sufficiently far away you can (very) slowly kill him with arrows without provoking a single attack. For two others, you can hide behind a nook in a wall or within a large skeletonized ribcage to be immune to most of the respective bosses’ attacks. Again, I don’t think less of anyone using these tactics (I sure did!) but they can cheapen the excellent combat design. For the most part, every Souls game after Demon’s Souls removed these kinds of exploits. And, with all that said, the bosses in Demon’s Souls are terrific. They are challenging, diverse, terrifying, and perfectly thematic. The bosses all play very differently from one another and test unique player skillsets. Plus, they all look and sound so formidable and intimidating. Nothing feels quite so great as to take down a challenging Souls boss, and Demon’s Souls gives the player a number of these triumphant endorphin rushes.

Magic was way too powerful. Even the starting spell, Soul Arrow, dealt massive damage.
You would be silly not to use it. 

Demon’s Souls is the Souls game that takes the most design risks. If any game in the Souls series is going to alienate a player, it will be this one. But I love it; I love that Miyazaki and team tried so many different innovative elements. Demon’s Souls invented the Souls style of world building. Expository cutscenes are kept to a bare minimum, allowing the world, the creatures, and the items to tell you the story of what transpired. It works so well and really keeps the player engaged. Demon’s Souls loved to teach the player through actions, not words. For instance, several NPCs are hostile, but many won’t reveal their true intentions until they have already taken something precious from you. You get such a rush playing that guessing game—who is friend, who is foe, and what everything means. Demon’s Souls took so many risks with their online features too, some of which I already touched on. A single player game that simultaneously is connected online? I had never played anything like it. These aren’t minor elements, either. One boss you face on your way towards completing the game is not a boss at all, but rather, a force that summons another player to fight you. That’s right: one of the bosses you need to beat to complete Demon’s Souls is another player. That kind of innovation still blows my mind, as there never has been anything quite like it. Some ideas are less successful in their execution, like the confusing world tendency system, but I appreciate Miyazaki and team working so hard to have so many intricacies in the game.

As seems to be a trend now with this ranking list, the healing items are an issue in Demon’s Souls as well. To heal, the player consumes Moon Grass items that, similar to the Lifegems in Dark Souls II, can be collected from fallen enemies or purchased with souls. Moon Grass was certainly plentiful in Demon’s Souls, but you could still run out of them. Again, this required backtracking and grinding to get more Moon Grass before you could proceed with the game. It is not terrible, but added unnecessary repetition to a game that already demands a high tolerance for repeating parts of the game. Similar to the situation in Dark Souls II, you could also accumulate a massive stockpile of the Moon Grass item, which helped the player to get through long stretches of enemies. The Moon Grass healing system is perfectly functional, but not ideal especially compared with the healing systems in the next two games on this list.

Demon’s Souls, few faults aside, is a thoroughly cohesive, expertly designed game. I give it so much credit because it invented the foundation upon which every Souls game to following would use and build upon. When it first came out, Demon’s Souls had no peers—nothing to compare it to. It was bigger, bolder, and more innovative than nearly any game I had ever played. I love that Miyazaki took so many risks and fit so many bold ideas into Demon’s Souls, and shocked at how successfully everything was accomplished. Demon’s Souls is a masterpiece.

Oh, one last thing. I couldn’t find anywhere else to fit this in, but Demon’s Souls probably has my favorite soundtrack in the Souls series. Every song is creepy and memorable, and I still hum the title theme to myself from time to time.

I played Demon's Souls five years ago, and I still can't get this tune out of my head.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see which Souls game claimed the top spot! Will it be Bloodborne or Dark Souls?

News & Views

4/11/15-4/17/15

It’s weekend time! I know I’m excited. Going to have a fun time tonight celebrating four years together with Justine! That, and messing around with the PS VITA she got me as an anniversary gift (!!!!!!!). I have a cool selection of stuff for you guys to read this week. I found some neat pieces talking about how games helped to prepare someone for dealing with an incurable illness, the future of video games in classroom education, and of course more Bloodborne talk. If you’ve read my review, you’ll know just how amazing I think that game is. I can’t read enough about it! See you all here again soon. Keep an eye out for something a little special next week.

Spotlight

Catastrophe games: How Spelunky and XCOM helped prepare me for an incurable illness

Christian Donlan, Eurogamer

Worth Reading

I spoke at our PTA about games

Mike Krahulik, Penny Arcade

Balancing Multiplayer Games- Opportunity, Power and Relativity

Peter Qumsieh, Gamasutra

Prison Pen Pals: Talking about video games with my incarcerated brother

Ray Porreca, Wizard of Radical

Bloodborne: The Authentic European Hellscape Vacation

Aevee Bee, The GIA

The clone that wasn't

Leigh Alexander, Offworld

And the rest!

Remembering the obscure PlayStation game that just wanted you to play

Brian Crimmins, KillScreen

The PlayStation had so many small and obscure games that were released for it. One of those is Boku no Natsuyasumi. Crimmins goes into great depth about this hidden gem, and how its open world and loose mechanics created a compelling, structured gaming experience.

Modern Games Are Easily Patches: So How Can We Review Them?

Chris Kohler, Wired

This is a question I think to myself constantly. Games are no longer a static product. With patches and DLC, games are constantly evolving after release. Reviews are then presented with an enormous challenge, as release day analyses can have limited relevance to a product even a month or two out. Do you constantly re-review games? Review each patch or DLC? It’s tough and each site is finding their own way to tackle this issue.

In Bloodborne's brutal world, I found myself

Laura Hudson, Offworld

Bloodborne is a game that really spoke to me. Apparently, it’s had that same effect on so many others. Bloodborne is brutal and dark but, like Hudson, I really found myself at home in its terrifying world. Do yourself a favor and give Bloodborne a shot.

U.S. Department of Education: The future of education includes video games in classrooms

Brian Crecente, Polygon

Finally! Video games offer tremendous new ways to learn. Students can interact with material in interesting ways, and prolonged engagement with lessons can reinforce material. At least here in San Francisco, iPad gaming is used to supplement classroom learning. I’d love to see educational games proliferation throughout the U.S. in the next couple of years.

App Lets You Leave Cryptic Bloodborne Messages In Real Life

Patrick Klepek, Kotaku

Yes! As soon as I read this story, I downloaded the app. It is so much fun going through the Souls games to see what messages other users have left, warning the player of danger ahead (or, tricking them into dying). It will be fun to leave my Soapstone messages around San Francisco.

A game about cancer, one year later

Patrick Stafford, Polygon

I love that games can explore such complex emotions. Stafford’s excellent look into the upcoming game That Dragon, Cancer explores some of the developer’s ambitions in tackling the experiences and emotions of a father who lost his four-year-old son to cancer.

(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.

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.

 My favorite from the Bloodborne soundtrack, but so many of 

the songs are fantastic. 

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: 2
Yharnam, Blood Queen: 3