Bloodborne – Review

When a game developer tries to win over the masses into trying a new game, ‘teethgrindingly difficult’ doesn’t sound like something that would be embraced by the masses fairly quickly. Nevertheless, From Software has become synonymous with this statement and has reaped the rewards, for those gamers who are willing to look beyond the ‘harder than rocks’ varnish will find an experience that is both difficult and frustrating, but equally rewarding and welcoming.

Story

You are a hunter of beasts in the lands of Yharnam. The citizens have become afflicted with a disease and it’s running rampant. Panic is spreading and total chaos ensues as people turn into werewolves. As you progress through the world and defeat bosses, things change and places that were filled with more humanoid enemies will soon be filled with grotesqueries that defy logic. The lore is spread around the world in notes and through conversations you’ll have with people that still have their wits about them. If you don’t go looking for the story, you’ll miss out on it as the story isn’t really pushed to the front. This makes it confusing as to why things start to warp out of control.

Graphics

Bloodborne’s graphics are beautiful. As you progress through the game, they also become more nightmarish. The game sets the tone with the first boss being a giant ravenous beast, towering over you. That’s what this game does best, making you feel completely fucked before you’ve even gotten into a fight with a boss. Most of them are gigantic and have terrifying anatomies, making them the embodiment of fear. Size isn’t all, as some bigger enemies aren’t all that difficult to down. It’s actually the smaller ones that are often more difficult, other hunters being the best example.

The invaders are other players and they are difficult because they aren’t scripted and so very unpredictable, but the coded A.I. hunters aren’t to be messed with either, as they’ll team up and gangbang you if you let them. It’s Bloodborne’s way of saying: don’t underestimate anything, even the creatures you’ve fought before might pack a punch you didn’t know about. After a lot of killing, your clothing will become soggy with blood or muck. Every armour acts the same physics wise, all of them move like they are made of light cloth, while quite some of them look like they are made of leather.

Sound

Music can be entrancing, enchanting and horrifying, yet a complete lack of music can also instill fear. Bloodborne perfectly finds the middle ground between letting the atmosphere grow on you and dampening your spirits. The biggest part of the game, the only things you’ll hear are the moans of the dying and the ravings of the nearly insane that want to ward you off. Sometimes the game takes you by surprise by breaking the silence with a startling cry or roar and your heart will start racing.

Boss fights are made more epic with bombastic tunes. The voice acting is done quite nicely and it feels like a curse really did just appear out of nowhere and started afflicting the innocents of the village. The voices make it sound like it could be a random English village, albeit a posh one, but an English village nonetheless.

Gameplay

Bloodborne can be frustrating with it is difficulty, but only when you force your way of playing on it. The game has a distinct way of playing, and it feels a bit like a dance. Let the enemies lead and pick up on their behaviour. Running in on enemies thinking you can just one shot them and getting cocky will get you killed. Take heed of your environment. Look around, see if there isn’t anything that might pop out at you and surprise you. At the beginning of the game, Bloodborne will surprise you once or twice, and you’ll more than likely get hit. Luckily the game doesn’t rely on this tactic to get cheap hits on you.

The game also punishes rushing. Enemies will tail you and they’ll gang up on you. Even though they might be weak, if four or five of them corner you, it’s game over. It takes more time, but it’s best to take down everything and then move on. Killing enemies yields the game’s main currency: Blood Echoes. You use this to buy armour and items and level up your character. There are some stats for you to level up and most of them are self explanatory.

Leveling up certain stats isn’t all about your preferred playstyle, because what weapon you use also comes into play. Weapons have ratings in certain aspects, like some weapons have D in Strength and E in Skill. Leveling these two up will upgrade your damage output with said weapon. You can also upgrade your weapon with Blood Shards, Twin Bloodshards, Blood Chunks and the Blood Rock to get it to the final level. These will upgrade the aspect ratio. The D might change in a C or even a B causing the stat to affect it more and causing you to do more damage with the weapon. Bloodborne has a softcap and a hardcap on the stats of your character. Hit twenty-five in a stat and upgrading it further will have less of an effect on it, hitting fifty will hard cap it and then it won’t have any effect anymore.

Insight is gained by certain encounters and at certain values you’ll start to hear and see things. Bosses and enemies will behave differently as your insight rises. They’ll do different attacks. Insight can also be used to buy armour and certain items.
If you are stuck on a boss or a certain part of the game, you can always ring your messenger bell and call over help from another world. Co-operation helps and though there is little or no way of communicating, it is still fun to do and overcome obstacles. You can also buy a bell to help others or a Sinister Bell to pester other players and fight them.

Conclusion

What is seemingly a brutally difficult game, isn’t necessarily so. It is a difficult game and will punish you if you are reckless, but if you take care, you’ll overcome almost every obstacle. Should you still have difficulty overcoming an obstacle there’s always co-op. Bloodborne is a game that doesn’t need you to be overleveled to win, because even the lower leveled enemies can take you down if you aren’t careful. It’s about getting to know the enemies and the architecture of Yharnam. If you are looking for a game that’s willing to slap you with one hand and give you treats with the other, then this is your game. If you are looking for a game that’s more gentle in its approach, then this isn’t for you. Don’t let appearances fool you, however: it might look like an extremely difficult game, but it’s more addictive than it is difficult.

Q

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First game ever was Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped, ever since then, gaming has been something that I've gravitated to. Reading's fun but not as interactive. Always up for a bout of online multiplayer. If that multiplayer is co-op. So if you are up for a friendly co-op session, hit me up. Rahenik's the name to search on PSN.

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