For our latest game review, we have one of our latest Flipgeeks Contributors, Dian Raval, who shares his take on one of the most talked about game these days, From Software’s latest offering, Bloodborne. 

This game is like hot pepper; you love it, but boy does it burn. Bloodborne is the fourth game in From Software’s Souls series, although technically this is the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, the first in the series and a PlayStation exclusive. These games are known for their sadistic difficulty, eerie atmosphere, rich lore, and brutal difficulty. Oh, and did I mention they’re difficult? Don’t let it intimidate you however, because the Souls series tend to be brilliant games and Bloodborne is looking to be the best one yet…

Story

The game takes place in the gothic, ruined city of Yharnam which is rumored to house a potent medical remedy.  The player takes the role of a traveler seeking the remedy to cure afflictions. All is not well however, when it turns out the city is plagued and the people are dead, crazy, or transformed into horrid beasts. You wake up in what looks like an abandoned clinic where a mysterious old man injects you with who-knows-what. Next thing you know, you’ve become a Hunter. Special individuals that hunt down those afflicted in an attempt to cleanse the old city. But if we dig deeper into the story, we realize that the truth is much, much more disturbing than that.

Without giving anything away, the foundation of Bloodborne’s lore is heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. With the story unfolding subtly through the player’s own investigation as opposed to the typical way of unraveling stories in video games by use of cutscenes which the game also have but used mainly just to let you know you’ve hit a milestone on your progress.  The story isn’t exactly simple either, as the only certainty on the game’s plot is uncertainty. It leaves much to the player’s own interpretation. Maddening.

Gameplay

The game is a straight forward Action RPG with a big emphasis on difficulty. It plays a lot like any of the previews Souls games with a couple of distinct differences that changes the usual flow of combat. Combat moves are primarily assigned to the shoulder buttons, with R1 and R2 for both quick and heavy/charge attacks with your right-hand weapon, L1 for weapon tricks which I’ll explain later, and L2 for attacks with the left-hand weapon. Right hand weapons have ‘tricks’ which is a different mode for your weapon. (i.e. a cane that turns into a steel whip or a sword that doubles into a scythe)  This opens up to new combat moves for you to utilize depending on the situation.
The game endorses fast-paced and aggressive bouts, giving exceptional mobility to you and your enemies. Even the larger types of enemies that you’d think would be sluggish due to their massive weight. Boy was I wrong. The game is also a big believer of high-risk-high-reward, landing a perfectly timed shot from your gun just before being hit by an enemy attack will leave it staggered and wide open to a follow up Visceral Attack that deals a massive amount of damage and knocking the recipient several feet away, most likely dead.

The game also offers multiplayer, both cooperative and competitive. For co-op, you can either let people join your world, or you join theirs. Up to two people can join a host’s game in co-op, with a possible third if invaded. Invasion is the game’s competitive mode. You can invade another player’s game with the purpose to hunt him down and kill him, or vice versa. It’s a thrilling experience, as it has always been with previous Souls games only this time; the fights are more frantic and aggressive.

Then there’s Chalice Rituals. Chalice Rituals are the games’ instance dungeons. You make your way through a procedurally generated dungeon to find a Lever that opens the path to the dungeon boss which once beaten, progresses you to the next floor. This is a great way to play co-op with your friends and adds a significant amount of replayability.

Overall, the game’s mechanics and implementations are solid. The only problem is that it does little to no effort of holding a newcomers hand. If you are used to games that make you feel like a God, you are going to have a hard time. Although the game’s difficulty and approach is as intended, it feels like it wasn’t well emphasized.

Visuals and Performance

The games locales are absolutely gorgeous. They nailed the whole gothic, ruined dystopia setting complemented by the game’s brilliantly disturbing soundtrack and ambience not unlike the H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthullu stories, which Bloodborne is apparently, a huge inspiration to.But if there are two things I like the most about the games visuals, its blood and trench coats.

Each strike gushes out a satisfying shower of blood leaving splatters on whatever surface it lands on. Simple concept but executed wonderfully. The blood reflects light and the splatters match the angle of the attack swings. Shed enough blood and you start to see realistic pools of it on the floor. Beasts and clothing are very detailed. The textures of fabric are realistic, and anything that dangles on your outfit moves independently with the game’s physics. Beasts are also incredibly detailed, which adds up to their overall creepiness.

You can’t achieve this kind of graphical fidelity without some sort of trade-off, which leads me to the games worst trait, the loading times. The game actually holds a mostly steady framerate despite the amount of detail the game boasts. Sadly, the same can’t be said about the loadtimes, as it takes 20-40 seconds. That doesn’t sound like much, but for a game that gets you killed a lot, you’re going to suffer those 20-40 seconds very often. You also can’t warp from one area to another and would have to go back to the game’s central hub first, and then warp to the area you wanted to go to, which is twice the loading.

From Software stated that they are working on a patch to reduce load times, which will most likely reduce the game’s details in which case I’m willing to suffer through the loading because the overall visuals of this game is it’s best feat.

Overall

Bloodborne is brilliant. It is absolutely brilliant. The only thing that might stop you from getting this game is for fear of its difficulty. Sure, the game is harsh, cruel even.  And it can get frustrating at times, but overcoming the games challenges give you the feeling of profound satisfaction, a feeling absent in most games today. This game does not hold your hand while you play, but trust me, you do not want to skip this game. Bloodborne  is an instant classic and is an essential addition to anyone’s PS4 library.

Before we go, here’s the author’s own video stream of one of the game’s boss fights. Enjoy!