5/5 ★ – bokonon764's review of Bloodborne.

This towns finished!! If Elden Ring is the Dark Souls formula at its fullest and grandest scope, then Bloodborne is that same formula at its leanest and fastest. I came back to this classic after playing through a series of sub par Soulslikes, and it was a warm reminder of what a true masterpiece is supposed to feel like. Bloodborne is one of FromSoftware’s foundational Soulslike games, or Soulsborne, as this game and the Dark Souls series are often collectively referred to. It’s a dark fantasy game with a high difficulty level; it’s opaque and chock full of secrets, and features a horror aesthetic that’s incredibly unique, it’s really difficult to pinpoint why exactly I love it so much. With its gothic and gaslit Victorian setting, it’s all pseudo-Catholicism with some Lovecraftian cosmic horror thrown in the mix. The most noticeable difference between Bloodborne and it’s predecessors is how quick combat feels in comparison. While there are a couple of shields in the game, they can’t be relied upon to tank hits; likewise, armor is more for specific resistances, and fashion, of course. Instead, the game focuses on evasion and firearm-based parrying. There’s also a rally system, which lets you regain a certain amount of health for a short time after being damaged by landing attacks. The speed and the rally system really encourage an aggressive play style. When I mentioned Bloodborne being lean, I was referring to its relative sparseness in comparison to its Dark Souls cousins. Instead of 12 stats to pour experience points into, blood echoes” as they’re called, there’s only 6. However, respecs are not a thing in this game, so once you’re locked in to a build, there’s no turning back. I went with an Arcane build, which has some of the only strong ranged capabilities in the game, in the form of “hunter tools”, I don’t know, it’s just like spells or magic or whatever. The Bloodborne fandom might not suggest this, but Bloodborne low amount of stats makes it pretty easy to play a balanced build, and then you can use a little bit of everything the game has to offer. If you want strong range, Arcane is the way to go. This is my 4th, 5th, 6th, playthrough, I’m not sure. I’ve played this game many times, but what I’ve never been able to do is get that sweet, sweet platinum, and conquer every boss that the game has to offer. I did that this time around, even the infamous Orphan of Kos, final boss of the excellent DLC expansion, The Old Hunters. Orphan is considered one of the toughest bosses in the FromSoftware catalogue, and I have to agree…it’s fuckin tough. While I abused my Arcane build to cheese a few of the tougher bosses on this playthrough, Orphan did not allow for that; it’s a knockdown, drag out fight of speed, reaction, patience, and determination. And let me tell you, that win felt fuckin great. Alongside Orphan, bosses like Lady Maria, Father Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, Ludwig the Holy Blade and the Martyr Logarius make for some of the most memorable boss battles in my whole gaming career. I also reached the lowest depths of what’s called chalice dungeons, which I also had never done before. I’m a little conflicted on the chalice dungeons; one hand, they provide the ultimate challenge to the most hardened of players, but on the other…they’re just so confusing. Online communities and the message system plays a huge part in FromSoftwares games, but the road to the bottom of the dungeons is so convoluted, I shamelessly used a guide to navigate them. There are some cool bosses and it’s just more content, more game, so I can’t complain too much. The only real issue I can think of is it’s difficult to create a character that doesn’t look wonky as fuck. You can’t change your appearance, so every time I play this game, I’m stuck playin as a total derp, but who gives a shit; this is such a non issue for me, but it’s worth noting. One of the things that makes Bloodborne truly great is its lights out design. There’s this one of kind haunting atmosphere, terrifying enemy design, and a variety of super cool environs: the eerie strings set to truly unsettling Research Hall; swollen-bellied, raven-haired monstrosities stalking the grounds of the gothic fortress Cainhurst Castle; the torch-wielding townsfolk of the opening area of Yharnam, which is, by the way, one of the greatest opening areas of any game I’ve ever played…the game world is so rich. There are these concepts of magic blood and dreams and nightmares…themes of humanity’s overreaching in our quest for power…our indifference to the suffering of other beings if we can only have power. And of course, in true FromSoftware storytelling style, the lore is very hidden, very scant. But for those who search for it (or just read about it on Reddit) it’s rewarding as fuck. It’s hard to accurately describe what about this game I love so much. It was an absolute game changer as far as the types of games I like. I really feel like it reinvigorated my love of games, and being my first Soulslike, first FromSoftware game, it opened a new world of games to me. On top of that very objective, personal perspective, subjectively, Bloodborne is so incredible. Sure, there’s flaws, every game has flaws, but this game is a gothic, horror masterpiece. Atmosphere for fuckin days, a style no one can touch. Fuckin fear the old blood, man!