Bloodborne is the latest action-RPG from the folks at FromSoftware; the same studio responsible for delivering Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. Unlike its predecessors, Bloodborne puts an emphasis on fast-paced action we’ve not previously seen in the sub-genre, forcing players to abandon the tactics they picked up in similar titles.
It aims to capitalize on a combination of recent market trends and the nostalgia some gamers still have for the era when every game in your collection featured at least one segment difficult enough to make you question your sanity. The only difference is Bloodborne will make you question yours much quicker and far more frequently.
Though not directly affiliated with FromSoftware’s previous work, Bloodborne inherits enough to feel familiar but includes enough deviations to regularly dismantle the strategies that some gamers might’ve hoped to carry over. The game’s difficulty level is relatively fluid, occasionally transitioning from brutally difficult to something slightly less sadistic, but the game’s toughest segments are still the sort of trials that will make you question how you spend your free time.
Bloodborne isn’t without its issues, more than enough to fall short of a five-star rating, but those who appreciate the experience that FromSoftware is trying to deliver will probably be able to overlook the most consistent complaints about the game. There are more than a few moments when Bloodborne will frustrate you in ways that don’t feel earned. However, I can honestly say I didn’t feel as though my time had been wasted after seeing that final “Prey Slaughtered” flash across the screen.
This is easily the most difficult game that I’ve played in 2015. It’s certainly not the hardest game of all time, maybe not even of the last five to ten years. But Bloodborne was more than enough to make me wonder whether or not I was some kind of masochist. Death has been less rage-inducing these last few weeks, thanks to the widely-reported load time fix, but the first month of my time with Bloodborne could’ve been recorded and used in a commercial demonstrating the durability of the DualShock 4.
What’s strange is that Bloodborne doesn’t feature the same gradual ramp-up in difficulty that we’ve come to expect from each and every non-sports game to hit the market. Yes, for the most part, you’ll fight easier bosses at the beginning and harder bosses towards the end. But your path through the heart of the Bloodborne campaign will look more like a multi-hill rollercoaster than a gradually rising slope.
I think it’s also worth pointing out that, unlike Dark Souls, calling for help from the community doesn’t guarantee a quick demise for whatever boss is giving you trouble. Perhaps that’s just the experience of someone coming to one game too late, while hitting the other (Bloodborne) at launch, but I’ve watched numerous cooperators fall before Bloodborne’s biggest threats. The recent Bloodborne patch seems to have put quite a dent in the “I beat Boss X in one attempt” chatter, too.
On the flip side, there are plenty of folks who’ve said that the reflexes they picked up in Bloodborne made similarly punishing action-RPGs less difficult during return trips. The two games may take different approaches to combat, at least in terms of pacing, but it’s not hard to see how getting comfortable with the parry system might make previous Souls games a bit easier to deal with.
Of course, before you’re going to master all of the techniques at your disposal in Bloodborne, players have to come to grips with the fact that FromSoftware expects you to approach the game with a decidedly more-aggressive approach than the studio’s previous work. As if the simple fact that the game requires you to fight uphill battles damn near from start to finish weren’t enough, FromSoftware all but dictates exactly how players will take down Bloodborne’s toughest challenges.
And I hated it.
I hated how much I’d have to dedicate to finishing Bloodborne. I hated thinking about the game when I wasn’t playing. I hated the fact that FromSoftware did such an amazing job designing Yharnam, and the surrounding area, because it left me unable to put the game down. It took me hours to get a feel for Bloodborne’s fast-paced combat, and even now I’m disappointed by the extent to which FromSoftware forces players to adopt an aggressive play style. But stopping never really felt like an option.
There have been more than a few criticisms leveled against Bloodborne, regarding the repetitiveness of the game’s architectural design and the general bleakness of the game’s appearance. To FromSoftware’s credit, the studio’s trek through the darker corners of the imagination never feels like the sort of the thing you’d see hastily sketched in a high school student’s notebook. But Bloodborne doesn’t exactly have the gaming industry’s most diverse or vibrant color palette.
That said, FromSoftware has clearly learned from its other projects and Bloodborne benefits heavily from the lessons learned while designing previous games. The studio manages to make the city of Yharnam feel big enough to host an incredible tale of struggle and small enough for players to scour the entire map on foot. Well, when you aren’t using an obvious campfire surrogate to teleport to/from each zone and the semi-supernatural hub where players can level up, buy supplies and/or fortify their gear.
When it comes to storytelling, FromSoftware takes an approach that some may find off-putting but it’s an approach that makes sense when put into context. Bloodborne is a game that requires constant attention to detail; whether it’s attack animations, a cliff-side path to treasure or the potential discovery of a new shortcut. So it only stands to reason that a constant attention to item descriptions and other environmental storytelling would be required of anyone trying to decipher all of Bloodborne’s secrets.
Without getting into spoiler territory, I will say that Bloodborne explores territory that I never expected. Honestly, I was just impressed to see how much lore is waiting to be discovered throughout the city of Yharnam. Piecing together the events that brought your character to his/her current situation provided more than enough incentive to keep trudging through the Bloodborne campaign. Even during those moments when I was giving serious consideration to snapping the game in half.
The game’s narrative twists and turns do quite a bit to keep players on their feet, too. Admittedly, my surprise/enjoyment might just be a result of my lack of experience with this style of horror. But I’m of the opinion that the Bloodborne writing team turned in a plot as good as any we’ve seen this year.
More importantly, Bloodborne’s narrative transition means FromSoftware didn’t have to figure out how it could use horror tropes to provide escalating scares across a campaign that can take 40-plus hours to complete. The tension never subsides in Bloodborne but its nature absolutely changes.
There may be an abundance of reasons to praise Bloodborne; however, that doesn’t mean the game arrived devoid of major issues. Some problems, like the game’s old load times, have been corrected via patch. But some of my complaints with Bloodborne probably involved more correctional work than we can ever realistically expect to see delivered post-launch.
The ways in which FromSoftware goes out of its way to impose its will upon the Bloodborne community is incredibly frustrating; from the moment it first becomes apparent until the final boss has fallen. Most notably, there’s the game’s complete removal of shields; a design decision that FromSoftware chalks up to community passivity. Then there’s the constant struggle to maintain a barely-adequate stash of healing items, which must be farmed with irritating regularity, and the unmentioned soft caps placed on character stats.
Even if you don’t mind the some of the studio’s gameplay modifications, it’s getting pretty difficult to forgive the shoddy camera work present in every new FromSoftware action-RPG. It’s even harder to forgive when those shortcomings impact players’ ability to complete Bloodborne’s boss fights. Though far from constant, the irritation that can result from Bloodborne’s lackluster camera controls can leave a bad taste in your mouth for days.
Bloodborne Review – Final Verdict
Bloodborne isn’t for everyone. I might even go as far to say it’s probably not for most people. In an era where cookie-cutter, hold-your-hand action games ensure you see everything packed onto their discs, Bloodborne serves a refreshing departure from the norm. There are countless segments of the story that can be skipped, unintentionally and moments that will make you wonder why you ever devoted a second of your life to playing video games.
It took me a long time to come around on Bloodborne; somewhere along the lines of 15-20 hours, if memory serves. And I still don’t love the game enough to pursue its platinum trophy, as so many in the Bloodborne community say they will. Many people aren’t willing to invest that much time in a game that they aren’t sure they’ll like. It’s even harder to take that plunge when Bloodborne, like most modern releases, currently sports a $59.99 price tag.
Bloodborne may be the most-accessible of the punishing action-RPGs created by FromSoftware but that doesn’t mean the game is easy. There are some tough encounters in Bloodborne, a shocking number of which show up during the middle of the story, and enough lore to keep junkies digging through the game for at least a month or two.
At the end of the day, Bloodborne requires a bit of a masochistic streak, quite a bit of patience and a willingness to pay attention to detail that isn’t typically necessary in modern video games. While the game isn’t going to appeal to everyone, the game seems to be a solid Game of the Year candidate for those of us who’ve managed to see Bloodborne through to completion. At this point, there’s a good chance you know whether or not you’re going to try.
Score – 4/5
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more Bloodborne coverage throughout the remainder of 2015 and for however long FromSoftware continues to produce new Bloodborne content in the months to come.
What did you think of Bloodborne? Not as fond of FromSoftware’s latest action-RPG as we are? Think there’s something else that prospective Bloodborne players should know before buying the game?
Let us know in the comments section!
