After nearly a year and a half the PlayStation 4 finally gets the
game it deserves in the form of Bloodborne. From Software delivers one
of the most engrossing video games I've ever played. Not only is the
game pretty hard, it's also very rewarding. If you take your time
learning the game and respect it, the difficulty becomes irrelevant and
Bloodborne becomes even more enjoyable. From Software did everything
they possibly could to make Bloodborne more open to newcomers and casual
gamers, even then though Bloodborne could still be considered a
'hardcore' game. If you leave all the baggage at the door though,
Bloodborne is the best game on the PlayStation 4 and should be played by
gamers who want something more.
I was lucky enough to have some
experience with Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 before diving into
Bloodborne, so I knew what kind of experience I was getting myself into.
But unlike it's predecessors, Bloodborne sucked me into it's world in a
way I've never really experienced. I literally couldn't put the
controller down. I spent roughly just under 30 hours in the world of
Yharnam and loved almost every minute of it. My playthrough consisted of
a lot of trial and error, exploring, dying, and killing as a From
Software game should. I feel like I spent more time in areas than an
average player might, taking my time finding certain items and gear. But
if you just want to play straight through without deviating from the
main path, you can expect a 20-24 hour playthrough.
Bloodborne's
combat is one of the biggest departures From Software has made from it's
previous titles. The Souls series relied heavily on a wait around and
learn your enemy type combat, with a sword and trusty shield. With
Bloodborne, they encourage you to be the aggressor in a much more fast
pace style of gameplay. It is still smart to learn your enemy before
rushing up on them, once you do you can really put it on them. You have
the usual standard attack, heavy attack, parry, dodge, roll and it is
seriously one of the best tuned third person fighting in any game. I
just began playing the Witcher 3 and it's combat feels very floaty and
unresponsive after coming from Bloodborne. That's how good it is. No
shields in Bloodborne either, instead you get a gun. While it does some
damage, it's not used for killing enemies and barely has any range.
Instead it's used to parry enemies and stagger them so you can get the
draw. It's a smart mechanic and really fun to use once you grasp the
idea. Another huge move made by From Software is that you have a chance
to regain some of your health after it's dealt by an enemy. After being
hit, you have a very short window to strike back and regain some or all
of your health you just lost. It's an awesome mechanic and just another
way Bloodborne opens itself up to new players.
The city of Yharnam
is an absolutely gorgeous one. I'm not really into gothic steampunk
looks, but Bloodborne does it in a very subtle way. Bloodborne's areas
are very well made and are all connected brilliantly. If you don't know
anything about From Software's games, they don't have checkpoints in a
literal sense. Every so often you across lanterns in an area and when
you die that's where you respawn. The only problem is they are far and
few between. You might make it very far in an area just to die, then you
get spawned all the way back at the beginning. This is balanced out
though with the games awesome level designs. There are shortcuts placed
throughout the areas that make navigating much faster, while also making
everything connected. It's pure genius.
Bloodborne is a great
looking game from the player's perspective, but once you get close to
things or a cutscene, the game can look a bit older. For the most part
though I didn't have a problem with it. It also runs very smooth at
around 30 frames per second and 1080p. The only time the game felt a
little sluggish is when another player enters your world for co-op or
the camera is moving around a lot. But nothing game breaking. I didn't
start playing Bloodborne until after it's first huge patch, which fixed a
lot of bugs, glitches, and those horrible load times.
I only have
two complaints with the game. First is the co-op aspect of the game.
There were a couple times I wanted to play with another human companion
to clear a zone I was stuck on or fight a boss with, but couldn't. I
would ring the bell (which is how you start the match making thing) and I
would literally wait twenty minutes before a player joined in. This
made me not even bother with that element of the game. Lastly, the games
story. You would think a semi open world role playing game would have a
coherent story. Bloodborne forgives you for thinking so. While you get a
brief cinematic to open the game, everything is so vague. You must find
NPC's scattered behind closed doors to talk to them or read up on every
item description to really understand what's going on and to me it
wasn't really worth it. I'm already dedication my time just to play
you're beautifully challenging game, the least you can do is give me a
decent story I don't have to take even more more time to figure out.
Bloodborne
is a fantastic game. I would recommend it to anyone who would be
willing to pick up the controller and learn how to play. It's certainly
not for everybody though and I can't fault most gamers for letting
Bloodborne slip through their fingers. But anyone who has played the
game may be able to support what I'm about to say. Bloodborne is
definitely the best PlayStation 4 exclusive you can buy right now and
just might be the best game of this generation so far. I never thought I
would be so in love with Bloodborne. Even after beating it I can't stop
thinking about it. For the first time ever, I'm seriously considering
picking it back up to start New Game Plus to experience it again. I've
never replayed a game's campaign ever, so I think that's saying
something. Not for the story, lore, or graphics. Simply for the
gameplay, it's so responsive and rewarding I can't understand why other
developers don't fine tune their gameplay like Bloodborne.