(This video review contains footage of some boss fights, if you consider this a spoiler do not watch and check out the written review below!)
Gamer's have a love/hate relationship with games developed by From Software. Their newest title, BloodBorne, is no exception. If you need any proof that the two emotions are entangled, it waits for you here. As you die, die, and die again endless grief fill's the space between the tv and yourself. Only to be washed away in relief as you strike down the boss who killed you far too many times to keep track. Such is the cycle of BloodBorne, "We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood." A quote from the game, that to me, symbolizes what its all about. Overcoming the extreme difficulty of From Software games feels incredibly rewarding and that's what keeps people coming back. The mentality here is, "If I can beat BloodBorne, there's no game I can't handle." Package all of this into a dark, gloomy, nightmarish version of Victorian London labeled Yharnam and wrap it in a psychological cryptic narrative. The result is a game that betrays the rules of basic game design and is much better off for doing so...
Essentially a darkness has enveloped the city of Yharnam, the only citizens not turned into monsters are hidden from sight, leaving you to clean up the city and occasionally fight other Hunters like yourself. I have mixed feelings about the story. Nothing in this game is explained to you. You are fully expected to figure out everything for yourself. The only thing in this game I found even resembling a tutorial were a hand full of notes in the main hub area, called The Hunters Dream, explaining which buttons are used for attacking and which button is used to dodge. In some ways this is refreshing and in other ways its frustrating, the same can be said for so many things in BloodBorne. Overall letting the player figure it out for themselves work's and I only would have changed this approach with the narrative. Yharnam appears to be so intricate, and have so much depth. But by the time the credits scroll you still know very little about the insanely awesome bosses or characters you met in your journey. I think a lot of RPG's are cluttered with boring lore and backstory that I usually end up skimming or skipping all together. In BloodBorne I was hoping to find these tidbits of lore and they never came around.
The Art design in this game is stellar, from the scenery, to the monsters, to the weapons. Gamers have been fighting monsters for decades and the ones presented for us to slaughter in BloodBorne are top notch terrifying. The weapons are cool and unique, each one has two fighting styles that can be switched in and out mid combo. Some of them are traditional swords or axes while others turn into maces or have guns built in. The combat is done very well, in all of my many deaths I never really felt cheated in a way where I felt as tho I didn't deserve to die. A feeling I'm sure many gamer's are familiar with.
The polish can be seen in every single stone that makes up the city of Yharnam. I only wish there was a little more diversity in the area's of the game we visit. One section has you fighting through a creepy forest which was neat but other then that the entire game feels like different rooms of the same dungeon. The color scheme consists of grey. Grey castles, grey bridges, and grey sewers. There is other colors used but even the blue's in the water and on some creatures seem to have strong undertones of grey mixed in. Red appears in the form of blood but thats about it. This isn't a horrible thing, the game still looks great. I understand the developers were going for dark and beautiful but I don't think that point would be lost with just a touch more color or a touch less grey. There is also some stuttering frame rates if you happen to be fighting too many enemies at once.
Enemies are defeated by studying the attack animations. Each one has a variety of strong and weak attacks, sometimes stringing them together to throw you off. Once you learn how they move it becomes slightly less difficult to chip away at there health bars between attacks. Even near the end, monsters I fought in the beginning of the game were able to take me down if I made a mistake. A lot of enemies are slow enough to run past if there's a safe area on the other side but any attempt at blindly hacking and slashing your way through this game will be met with grim results. Bosses require specific strategies and like to change up there move-sets mid fight. I was only able to beat one boss on my first attempt while most others took me between thirty minutes to an hour. A couple of them took me even longer.
There are so many nooks and crannies in this game that you must explore or risk missing out. I believe nearly half of the bosses are optional and could be missed, there is no indicator if a boss is guarding the path you need to take or if they are just guarding a dead end. Most bosses are guarding some type of reward so it's worth taking down each one you come across. There is no map included in this game so you must try to remember which area's you have explored already. A challenge in itself considering everything is gray. There is multiple endings to this game, and if no one told you that you might never know. Various actions in the game can change things and none of these actions seem to have any impact at the time. My advice is to be cautious with the choices you make, and do not kill non threatening npc's.
There's a tricky co-op system that requires some in-game currency called insight which you use to ring a bell, if someone else is in the same area as you and also happens to be ringing a bell then they will join your game. I asked for co-op assistance for two of the boss battles I was having issues with. BloodBorne also contains a New Game+ mode for post game content and randomly generated dungeons for you to explore if you need a break from the main areas of the game.
Final Thoughts
The first few hours of BloodBorne will make you feel like a scared little boy lost in a busy city with nothing but a runny nose. By the time you're finished you will be the Karate Kid. It's a great feeling to have conquered this game, allowing you to turn each corner with confidence, but it take's time and patience to get there. The scenery is gorgeous but lacking in diversity, weapons and creature design is top notch. The narrative is cryptic, and ultimately really interesting, but it's so vague in it's explanations that it's very hard to appreciate in just one play-through.
Pro's
+Challenging game provides great feelings of great accomplishment
+Incredible Monster and Weapon design
+Excellent responsive combat.
Con's
-Not enough scenic diversity
-Vague narrative
-Challenging game provides great feelings of deep frusteration
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