Experiencing the hunt as a SoulsBorne novice…
Hello good hunters. I am a guy that has played video games all my life, but I don’t think I have ever considered myself a good gamer. Games take me far longer to beat, they offer more challenge to me than most, and I personally know at least one person better than me at every game I have ever owned. So, when I heard about the Demon Souls and Dark Souls games from From Software my initial reaction was to let them be. The difficulty seemed way too high for me with my skill level and I wasn’t confident enough to get far in the game, let alone beat it. Now fast forward a bit to 2014 at E3 where From Software showed the trailer for their newest PS4 exclusive: Bloodborne. The game looked fantastic and seemed more my speed. I was not a fan of the medieval setting of the Souls games, but this Halloween meets Victorian, suited me just fine. The trailer showed so many creepy monsters and the setting looked like something straight out of a horror movie, needless to say I was interested. However, the issue that still concerned me was the difficulty. As a broke student, spending that much money on a game that I didn’t think I could beat was an important decision. However, what changed my mind were two of my best friends (shout out to Kapil and Pranav) who kept talking about how good these games were, which led me to pre-ordering the game.
I first started the game in 2015, but to be honest I don’t remember too much of the experience. I it being really difficult and I stopped for some reason. So, the game was left on my shelf for the next half a decade. Throughout those 5 years, I heard all the praise about this game and how people were saying it was the best game on PS4. I remember thinking “this many people can’t be wrong” so I decided to give it another go. Loading back my first save file and I saw I was only 2 hours in. I have never given up on a game 2 hours in so I would have to assume it was a combination of the difficulty being overwhelming plus the struggles with being a student. I decided this time, 5 years later to commit to this and I am so glad I did.
My favorite part of the game is the combat. Where the Souls game used weapon and shield, Bloodborne uses a right-handed weapon which can transform which leads to several devastating combos and a left-handed gun which is used for parrying. Since there is no shield, this obviously means there is no guard button which makes the game so fast paced. The combat is so satisfying because there are so many ways to play it. There is also something called a visceral attack. This is an attack that occur in one of two ways. The first way is to parry an attack and press R1 for the visceral attack. The second way is to sneak up behind an enemy and hold R2 for a charged attack which leaves them vulnerable for a visceral attack. These visceral attacks do a ton of damage so your ability to find these windows is rewarded greatly. I love the combat because you can play so many different types of ways, I personally played it very faced paced and aggressive while I know others that focused on mastering parries or stealth.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the aesthetic of the overall game. The game takes place, primarily, in Yharnam, a city in the world of Bloodborne. This world seems like a combination of Gothic horror and Victorian settings. Even though hate scary movies even I loved the setting. In fact, the hardest part of the game for me was how scary it could get, I refused to play late at night! The areas can also vary greatly from a creepy cathedral to a castle in a snowy mountain. If you are a fan of this type of setting, I am confident you will enjoy this game. In addition, Bloodborne does not let the score be an afterthought, each area and each boss have music that fits the situation perfectly, it really helps bring the game to life.
The weapons also look so vastly different in Bloodborne. It is not a generic sword and shield. At the start of the game you have an option of 3 weapons: a hunters axe (strong, but slow), a cane (super quick with range, but on the weaker side) and a saw cleaver (middle of the pack). The weapons also aren’t limited to these 3, there are up to 25 different weapons each with a transformation. Each weapon looks so different and plays so different I felt like trying each weapon to see what fit my play style.
The enemies also look so completely different with witches to church doctors to wild dogs, but some of the best aesthetic in this game has to be the bosses. I absolutely loved the bosses in this game, it might actually have my favorite bosses in any game ever! These bosses never feel stale and always bring something different to the game. In the first area alone, you have a boss that is a fellow hunter in Father Gascoigne and a tendril covered beast that leaps over the whole city in the Cleric Beast. Each boss feels different and for the most part you will need a new strategy to beat each one. One interesting aspect of the bosses was that I have noticed that most people find different bosses difficult. For example, with the Cleric beast I struggled so much while Father Gascoigne I beat relatively easily. My friend who is a soul’s veteran who is playing the game for the first time had the exact opposite experience.
The bosses give you a good amount of challenge which leads to me one of the strongest points of this game and I would assume the rest of the games by From Software which is the satisfaction of beating the world and the bosses. It’s hard to really explain and part of it may be the reputation these games have, but the satisfaction you get from beating the bosses is unreal. You feel like an actual God and the more bosses you beat the greater your confidence gets. In terms of the difficulty I personally don’t think it’s THAT HARD. Trust me, I died and I’m not saying it’s not hard, but every time I died I knew what I did wrong and got a little bit farther in the game every time. I understand that this will alienate a portion of the audience and I understand some people aren’t looking for that challenge. It also follows RPG mechanics with stats so if you are struggling a lot you can always farm blood echoes, which are the experience points and currency in this game, to increase your stats to give you an easier time. The build of your character can also affect how difficult the game can be for you. For example, as a newcomer I decided to throw a lot of my blood echoes into vitality and strength, which means I had more HP to forgive my rookie mistakes and my attacks hit harder. The difficulty is the main draw point of this game, but I felt like every time I died it was fair and not because the game was too unforgiving, it was never a point where I thought I would never win.
The next point of contention that people may have would be with the story, as it is very indirect. The game does not have long cinematic cut-scenes where you are watching a movie. It’s mostly through investigating, by talking to NPC’s and listening to what bosses and enemies say that allows you to piece it all together. It may take several play throughs to really grasp everything. I personally had to go online to really find out a lot of the story. The game does offer 3 alternate endings, but not only that there is a lot of character quests and NPC dialogue where you may want to play the game over multiple times to find out how things differ. If you are looking for a more immersive story this may not be for you, but if you don’t mind doing the little things to piece things together, I think you will enjoy Bloodborne.
Now my only gripe with the game is that immediately after you finish the game you get thrown into New Game Plus. The reason why this bothers me is that I was thinking about getting the DLC. However since I beat the game, I only have 2 options. Either play the DLC under NG+ which the DLC is already apparently plenty hard so will just make it even more difficult or I will have to start a new game entirely. I wish the game gave you an option to go into NG+ like most games instead of automatically throwing you into it. One day I will play the DLC and I will most likely make a new character, but it’s a shame that I won't be using my original character.
PROS
· Lore
· Aesthetic of World
· Fast-Paced Combat
· Multiple Endings
· Multiple Story-lines
· Satisfaction of Difficulty
· Build can affect how difficult the game is
· Amazing Bosses
· Difference of enemies
· Weapon Options
· Music
CONS
· Less Cinematic Story
· Difficulty
· Thrown Straight into New Game Plus
CONSENSUS
I feel like this game will essentially alienate a portion of the audience for its lack of cinematic story and for its difficulty. However, I think this game is a must play. Months after playing this game, it is still all I think about. I don’t know if I ever had this feeling of a game before. I am so glad I listened to the community about picking this game back up as it is clearly in the conversation for one of the best games of all time.
RATING
10/10: MASTERPIECE
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