Review: Bloodborne is a maddeningly difficult but expertly crafted masterpiece

In the narrow alleyways of the cursed city Yharnam, evil lurks around every corner. Off in the distance, an unknown beast lets loose an otherworldly howl but other, nonetheless sinister, sounds can be heard just around the corner. Though the night is long and full of terrors in this town overrun with beasts, you are a hunter and the beasts will soon come to fear you.

Bloodborne, by From Software, is a third-person action/adventure game exclusively for the PlayStation 4. While it is heavy on action and exploration, with role-playing elements, combat is more about finesse and nuance than button mashing because in Yharnam, even the lowliest of monsters can end your life.

From Software is most famous for the Souls series (Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls) which are most well known for being unrelentingly difficult – and Bloodborne is no different.

Like most From games, the story in Bloodborne is incredibly vague and ambiguous but there are clues offered for those perceptive enough to pick up on them in the form of notes and NPC interactions. Players progress through the world by navigating the bleak, twisting landscape, defeating bosses and unlocking new paths. There are elements of “Metroid-vania” games, where new items are needed to progress to new areas, but Bloodborne is set up in such a way that many areas can be accessed at once and you’re never forced along a linear path.

The citizens of Yharnam have been driven mad by a strange disease or plague and do not care for outsiders

 From what I can discern the story is something along these lines – you’re a hunter participating in a beast hunt in the ancient cursed city of Yharnam. In Yharnam, consuming blood is as popular a pastime as consuming alcohol and somewhere along the way, people began consuming tainted blood which turned them into beasts. The Healing Church began organizing beast hunts to cleanse the city but as time has gone on, the city has descended further and further into madness.

There is a lot more going on (celestial beasts, a duality between the real world and the world of dreams/nightmares, various groups and covenants that have lengthy histories which are also associated with the hunt) but as this information is squirreled away in the nooks and crannies of Bloodborne, is will be a long time before players can divine some of the more ambiguous story elements.

Bloodborne is an amazingly beautiful game though that beauty comes from the high quality of the textures, characters and landscape design and not so much the actual characters and landscapes themselves. Unlike the Souls games which were fantasy-inspired, Bloodborne is much more akin to a horror movie. You’ll be spilling countless gallons of blood from huge, disgusting, horrific beasts and the settings are some of the most chilling and unsettling I’ve ever experienced. Adding to the unease is the stellar sound design. Moans, screaming and unearthly shrieks emanate from all corners of Yharnam making exploring the massive environments a frightening proposition.

For veterans of the Souls series, Bloodborne will immediately feel familiar – but there are several key differences. To begin, souls are now blood echoes and they will be your all-purpose currency and means of leveling up. There is another currency called Insight which is gained from specific items as well as encountering and defeating bosses. Insight has other purposes but I won’t spoil that here.

Bonfires (save points in Souls) are now lanterns. But these lanterns serve a different purpose than bonfires as they are used to transport you to the Hunter’s Dream. The Dream is a hub world of sorts where you can purchase items, level up your character, level up and repair weapons, fast travel to other lanterns and access the Chalice Dungeons. It’s annoying that you need to first travel to the dream to travel between lanterns, since the loading times in Bloodborne can be excruciatingly long. Traveling to the Dream also respawns enemies, much like activating a bonfire would.

Blood vials are now your means of healing, like estus flasks in Souls. Unlike estus, you can carry up to 20 vials on you at once and extra vials picked up beyond 20 will be immediately stored in your cache in the dream. A nice feature in Bloodborne is that when you die or transport between the Dream and Yharnam, your vials and quicksilver bullets will be replenished from your cache, granted you have some stored.

The landscapes of Bloodborne are massive and beautifully detailed

Unlike the Souls games, there are firearms in Bloodborne and while they can be used to deal damage, they have a much more tactical use. In Souls, using shields to execute parries and ripostes was an important element of the gameplay and in Bloodborne, your firearms take on this role. As an enemy attacks, a well-timed shot will stagger them, allowing you to initiate a “visceral attack.”

Combat in Bloodborne is much quicker than the Souls series and since there are no (worthwhile) shields, dodging enemy attacks and counterattacking quickly is your best bet to staying alive. The stamina meter is much friendlier in Bloodborne than the Souls series, quickly recharging as soon as you stop moving.

In Bloodborne, along with your firearms, you will be dealing damage with your Trick Weapons. You get a choice of three to pick from at the beginning (and don’t sweat the choice too much, you’ll be able to acquire those other weapons and many more later on) and each weapon has two positions – regular and extended. For example, the saw cleaver (which is represented on the game’s cover) attacks very quickly when in regular position but can be switched to extended which doubles its range at the cost of some attack speed. There are several unique weapons to be found and part of the fun is experimenting with each one in its various modes to discover which fits your play style the best.

But the biggest similarity between Bloodborne and Souls is that you will die. A lot. Probably more often than you ever have in any other game. Even if you were an expert at the Souls games, you will die often in Bloodborne. But don’t get discouraged – you should learn something from every death. Whether it’s observing an enemy’s movement, learning the layout of a map, or getting a better handle on your own player movement, every death is a learning experience that you can build on when you respawn. Yes, you still lose all your blood echoes when you die and often you’ll die before you can recollect them but the beasts of Yharnam are plentiful and the hunt is long giving you ample opportunity to earn more.

Those who have played the Souls series will be aware of the challenges presented by Bloodborne but new players may be discouraged by the ambiguity, obscurity and difficulty of the game. The trick to enjoying Bloodborne is not only persistence but to understand that you’re not going to understand or experience everything. There are always going to be more secrets, elements and areas hidden away in some out of the way corner of the game which could offer an item or it could open up an entire new area. I’m convinced you could spend a week straight playing Bloodborne and there will still be things you miss.

For example, I recently found a huge side area, featuring a massively detailed environment and enemies I didn’t encounter anywhere else. And the means of accessing this environment are very roundabout and obscure. I still don’t know why From would hide something like that away, but there are many of these kinds of secrets tucked away in Bloodborne.

And take it from me, a gamer who was not fond of the Souls series, your persistence is rewarded. It may be defeating a boss you thought was impossible. It may be finding an awesome new weapon. Or it may be discovering a brand new area of the game which offers new enemies and new challenges to overcome.

For example, one of the first feelings of accomplishment I had in Bloodborne wasn’t beating a boss– it was opening a gate. That might sound pretty dull, but not when you considered the circumstances.

Some of the enemies and bosses tower over your character in Bloodborne

 Bloodborne’s level design, like the Souls games, is incredibly intricate. The areas are massive and twist and turn in on themselves, giving them a maze-like quality. And since there is no in-game map to be had, it’s very easy to get lost. But there are several shortcuts in each area which make navigation and exploration much easier. Not having the best sense of direction, I was thrilled when I worked my way through a series of dank sewers and opened a gate and realized that I recognized the area I was in and that getting back to those sewers from the initial lantern just got much easier. I got so much confidence in myself and how I was progressing just from opening a gate that I realized just how rewarding overcoming the rest of the game could be.

I mentioned Chalice Dungeons earlier and I want to expound on them a little. In the Dream, there are several headstones – some which act as fast travel points to lanterns but others are entrances into the various Chalice Dungeons. There are several different chalices to find throughout the game and several more in the dungeons themselves.

You need special materials to access these procedurally generated dungeons, and much more of these materials can be found in the dungeons themselves. The Chalice Dungeons serve to both challenge your skills and extend the life of the game overall. Each dungeon has several layers and are capped off by a boss fight.

I’ve only started dabbling in the dungeons and I really like what they offer. Say you’re stuck on a particular boss (or bosses) or don’t know exactly know how to proceed and you’re getting frustrated. You can take a journey into a Chalice Dungeon, earn some XP, and explore an entirely different section of the game, taking your mind off your earlier difficulties and in the process, upgrade your character and maybe get the slight edge you need to overcome what was previously holding you back.

The Dungeons offer so much content they could have easily been added in a later update or sold as DLC but From decided to include them from the start, which was a genius choice considering the smoldering hate and scorn gamers have for developers they deem to be withholding finished content to sell you later.

Bloodborne came out on March 24 and I think I’ve been playing it nonstop since then. I’ve been completely enthralled with its challenge and atmosphere that I’ve had little desire to play anything else. Given the chance, Bloodborne will do the same to you too. Some may be turned off by its ambiguity and steep learning curve, but those willing to stick with it and conquer its many tribulations will find a rewarding experience offered by few other games.