5/5 ★ – Ota_Kuu's review of Bloodborne.

FromSoftware has perfected the fantasy genre- fire breathing dragons and knights within castles. This along with the infamous difficulty, are the things expected from Dark Souls. Yet the deviation seen in Bloodborne allowed for something absolutely different and outstanding. A world built with gothic architecture and lore laced with werewolves, giant beasts and the eventual discovery of lovecraftian cosmic horrors that consume the plot so beautifully that players are swept away with how connected everything truely is from a story prospective. The changes Bloodborne made to its combat seperated itself from past Souls games as well. The slow, calculated, back and forth exhange of weapons seen in the Souls series was not seen here, no longer were players able to hide behind a shield until it was safe to attack. We were introduced to the "Rally System" of Bloodborne, the abilitiy to regain lost health if you able to retaliate quickly enough against enemies, and the fast quick stepping speed is seen in the character player and enemies alike. This change started the pattern of quick reactive combat that we would come to see in FromSoftware's later titles such as Sekiro, and hopefully Elden Ring as well. With the removal of shields nearly completely and these differences to combat, there was monumental change to the usual and familiar Souls formula. That said, the Dark Souls parry was replaced with perfectly timing a shot of your gun with the attack of the enemy; another addition that separates Bloodborne from other games in the franchise. Praise aside, Bloodborne's difficulty is undoubtedly one of its most negative aspects to new players as these bosses are by far more aggressive and faster than other Souls bosses making Bloodborne one of the most unpredictable in the series, thus making it most likely the most difficult. Adding the Old Hunters DLC into the mix as well as ng+ difficulties allows for a challenge for veteran players long past their first playthrough. There are optional bosses as well as missable quests and 3 endings to obtain that adds to the replayability as well. PvP and co op is here thought it is handled not at all like other titles. Rather that using summoning signs, a bell system has been implemented that allows for the "beckoning" of players. This causes a bell woman to appear that then rings a "sinister bell," allowing invaders the change to be matched with that perticular host. There are some areas that come with a bell woman which usually leads to popular dueling and invasion spots, but most of the time invasions can feel onesided with the host able to overwhelm the invader with their summons a lot of the time. That said, it's next change to the match making in this title that really is an odd additive. Rather than being matched by level range as well as by weapon upgrades, Bloodborne fully matches co op as well as invasions by level alone, meaning there is a high reward for rushing through the game to get fully upgraded at an absurdly low level to get an over powered weapon that allows you to chew through host, invader and boss alike. It could be to balance out one sided invasions, though unusual. This is related to the chalice dungeons-- an absolutely optional and often missed additive only seen in Bloodborne. Dungeon after dungeon and boss after boss, this is where the Old Ones were first discovered and these locations hold some of the most valuable gems, added upgrades to your weapons that can increase the physical damage by an extreme amount. All of these things allow for a very different player experience that seems to reward this skillful behavior. Adding Arcane (Bloodborne's form of spells) into build making as well as the numerous trick weapons allows for a lot of build diversity as well as adds to replay value. Another aspect to note is the annual event "Return to Yharnam" that increases the player base in both co op and pvp. During this player-made event people return for a new playthrough during Halloween due to Bloodborne's spookier atmosphere. The system of Insite allows for your character to see the oddities of the world with the more 'Insite" or knowledge obtained, allowing one to witness enemies shoot unusual projectiles as well as witness the cosmic horros hidden in plain sight. H.P. Lovecraft would be proud. The challenge of Bloodborne is all encompassing and the story is the most interestingly unique and nightmarish in the Souls Series. The bosses are vastly different from each other, but are usually seperated based on two categories "beast" or "hunter" and as the game progresses "cosmic." But remember: -A hunter must hunt and shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity-