REVIEW

Bloodborne Review

by Sam Foxall, March 30th, 2015

Bloodborne will be a first step into the brutal world of From Software games for many but for a Souls veteran like myself, it was simultaneously a homecoming and a brand new experience. Switching to Souls autopilot only got me so far, as hordes of aggressive beasts and humans tore me to shreds. Bloodborne still has the brutal feel and dark undertones of previous Souls games, yet it makes some key changes which fundamentally change how you play. At the same time, From Software have made some puzzling missteps and have fallen back on tiring tropes, making Yharnam feel like a literal ghost town while you adventure through its festering corridors. So, does Bloodborne do enough different to bring new players in and surprise the old, or do we need some new blood injected into the From Software team?

Bloodborne’s setting acts as the clearest departure from the Souls series, swapping the medieval lands of Lordran and Drangleic to the gothic horrors of Yharnam. Yharnam is a labyrinth of looming cathedrals, toxic woods and unsettling nightmare worlds, all united by the creeping blood plague which twists everything it touches. From Software chooses then to swap the varied lands of previous games, like the poisonous swap of Blighttown and the lava filled caverns of the Lost Izalith, for a more consistent setting and tone. Gone are the questionable level transitions from Dark Souls 2, where a lift in a free standing castle suddenly transports you to a volcano fortress which appears out of nowhere. Bloodborne thus feels like a careful blending of the interconnected areas of Dark Souls, with the warp system of Dark Souls 2. While it does get the first element right, with there being several helpful shortcuts and passageways which link areas together, Bloodborne’s warp system feels like a failed attempt to edit the much maligned bonfire warps of Dark Souls 2.

Unlike Dark Souls 2, where you could warp between any bonfires that you find, Bloodborne has you warp back to the hub area of the Hunter’s Dream before letting you warp to the location you want from a series of delineating warp stones. The main problem is thanks to Bloodborne’s unforgivably long load times, moving from one area to the next can take up to 4 minutes, if the loading times are especially bad. I can understand that From Software want to preserve the interconnected world of Yharnam, but when you have to return to the hub to level up and you can only reach certain areas by warping, you end up spending a lot of your time just staring at a loading screen. This would be somewhat alleviated if you have item descriptions to read whilst waiting for an area to load but these are mysteriously absent, forcing you to stare at the word Bloodborne for up to a minute and 10 seconds, if the game isn’t behaving. What makes this even worse is that you can only get enemies to respawn in an area if you warp out and warp back in, due to the removal of a rest feature at the game’s lamp checkpoints. Now, you are forced to sit through two long loading screens when you are grinding, making the already laborious experience even longer. This is one of many questionable missteps that From Software makes in Bloodborne, by making unnecessary changes to systems that weren’t that broken in previous games.

This stretches to the game’s hub as well, being changed to be more like the removed Nexus area from Demon’s Souls, rather than a location which is central to the game world which you normally move around in. The problem with the Hunter’s Dream is that it has none of the bustling activity seen in other hub locations, with there only being 2 interactable NPCs at once who have little to say as well as lacking the memorable music or layout of Majula or Firelink Shrine. Again, it doesn’t break Bloodborne in any way, it is all functional and streamlines many aspects of previous hub worlds, but lacks the personality of those previous places. You get the ability to actually sell items for Blood Echoes (the game’s currency and XP) as well as improve and repair weapons right from the get go, but you don’t get any witty banter or lore when talking with the blacksmith or the local shopkeeper.

The Hunter’s Dream can’t hold a candle to the likes of the Nexus or Firelink Shrine.

Streamlining is the key word when looking at much of Bloodborne. In many cases, streamlining the skill system and equipment has been great for both new and old players, removing stats that no-one particularly paid attention to and getting rid of the much maligned equipment load. However, edits to how co-op and PvP works have done more harm than good, creating an unbalanced experience for invaders and an overly complicated system for summoning players into your world. First off, when you are summoning players in, you spend a point of Insight (which we will discuss more soon) before your partner has even entered the game and due to Bloodborne’s mixed netcode, you could never get anyone responding to your call for help. Moreover, when you do finally summon someone in using the Beckoning Bell, it is only then that invaders can come to ruin your day. In the majority of areas, successful summoning of an allied player is what triggers the specific NPC which beckons solely invaders, rather than the Beckoning Bell acting as a call to both benevolent and malevolent players.

This NPC can be killed and thus, stop any invaders joining your game. This then ruins the great sense of risk which existed in earlier Souls games, where turning into human form gave you the possibility of getting help but the fear that you could easily be invaded and struck down. If your co-op partner spawns by the bell NPC and kills them, the feeling of danger that comes with summoning is completely lost and it gets rid of one of the great thrills that was so effective in previous From Software games. As well as this, invaders and players who enjoy PvP get the short end of the stick, as every invasion usually ends up as a 2 or 3 on 1 battle and makes it that certain areas of the game are ruled out for organised PvP, if you killed the bell NPC. There is an ability to join a covenant later in the game that gives some sort of consolation for Hunters who want to dig into the game’s PvP component, but it feels completely neutered when compared to how integrated and effective both PvP and co-op was in other Souls games.

It sounds like I don’t like Bloodborne from what I have said so far, but it is my love of the series and From Software’s mechanical style, that makes these oversights so off-putting. The more aggressive combat in Bloodborne is miles more engaging than the defensive and lumbering battle of Dark Souls. Being on the attack is the optimal strategy most of the time, as enemies can be easily staggered and you will more often than not, recover from any damage taken by continuing to swing your weapon. This is due to the new health recovery system, where damage does not automatically tick off your life bar once you are hit, but gives you a few seconds to recover this lost life by attacking your foe. This then creates an interesting situation where offensive play can actually save your skin and desperately making those final attacks on the boss may result in victory rather than defeat.

The Insight system found in game is a beautiful blend of story and mechanics, with the world of Yharnam changing as you gain greater Insight into the nightmarish nature of the city. As you realise the true nature of the city, enemies become more difficult with enchanted weaponry and new attacks while you start to see certain aspects of the world that you have never seen before. It creates a very unsettling feeling, as your character becomes more susceptible to Frenzy and you realise just how doomed Yharnam is. It is an incredibly effective way of intertwining the game’s narrative and mechanics and it is a shame that Miyazaki and his team did not do more with this method of storytelling. As for the game’s narrative, it is basically the same story from Demon’s and Dark Souls, told in the same way but with the names changed. I understand that people like to piece together the story via item descriptions and obscure clues but this is the 4th game where From Software has essentially told the same story about cosmic power both enlightening and corrupting a place, with you being the person who can ultimately continue or end the cycle. I can let it slide this time but if we get the same overarching story in Bloodborne 2, I’m going to be annoyed.

I’m sure he just wants a cuddle.

The addition of firearms, originally seen as a questionable inclusion as they could seem overpowered when compared to swords and other melee weapons, really complement Bloodborne’s more aggressive combat. Pistols and rifles act as your primary engagement tool, allowing you to aggro enemies from afar and make combat a less chaotic affair, while the blunderbuss and other short range weapons are much better for staggering close range foes. The gun then acts as your tool for parrying enemies, with a well-timed shot knocking them to the ground and giving you time to land a visceral attack. You can even parry someone whilst they are using an item, which is fantastic when someone you are invading is trying to heal up and helps make combat feel truly dangerous.

The new trick weapons are also a novel addition, being very similar to the transforming Switch Axe and Charge Blade of Monster Hunter. Each melee weapon has a 1 handed version and a transformed 2 handed version, with swords transforming into rock hammers or axes turning into massive polearms. The transform animations look and sound amazing, with weapons locking in place with a satisfying click. You can even transform your weapon mid combo, which deepens your offensive options even more, as you capitalise on your enemy’s staggered state with a two handed sword blow to the spine. However, this comes with the trade-off that there are only about 10 or 12 trick weapons in the game, a severe downgrade from the multitude of weapons found in previous Souls games.

As for boss encounters, they range from absolutely jaw dropping to simply alright. There has yet to be a boss battle that rivals the intensity of Ornstein and Smough, yet the sheer lunacy of some of the boss designs make Bloodborne’s baddies very memorable. The game’s 2nd boss is a definite highlight, being a multi-staged duel which showcases how thrilling Bloodborne’s more aggressive focus is when compared to the defensive nature of the Souls games. There are a couple of stinkers in here, be it straight reskins of bosses found in previous games, encounters where you simply have hundreds of other enemies thrown at you which you can’t possibly account for due to the game’s wonky camera and lock on or bosses where their visual design make it incredibly hard to see what you are doing in battle. They do fade into the background, as the truly epic boss encounters are ones that will stick with you for a while.

Bloodborne’s Chalice Dungeons act as a fun diversion for players wishing to grind out special versions of trick weapons, or see all the bosses the game has to offer but they seem to have no real lasting appeal. Some root chalices end up generating very samey dungeons and they do unfortunately lack the excellent level design found in the main game. The special trick weapons are cool finds but due to the current state of PvP, mean there is little reason to continue to grind these dungeons for that amazing Holy Blade as it is incredibly difficult to find duellists. Hopefully, this will change as patches alter how the Chalice Dungeons work but in their current state, I don’t think I will be running Chalice Dungeons in 6 months’ time.

Bloodborne is a tricky beast to pin down, as it makes some great changes to the core Soulsian systems while also making some rather large missteps in general world navigation and in the online experience. I think it does offer enough new things to entice new players in but veterans may become disillusioned with it after completing the main game and realising there aren’t as many of the features that kept them so hooked on previous From Software titles. It is a must buy for anyone with a PS4, being the first real killer app for any system, but it may not be as exhilarating to those who have travelled through a previous nightmarish world from the mind of Miyazaki.