Bloodborne (2015)

It's overrated. I've enjoyed playing and exploring the game, as well as browsing the Bloodborne wiki. Central Yharnam is the best area in the entire game—I wish the whole game had followed its design philosophy. The layered traversal, overlapping paths, and sheer scale are incredible. It's the most interesting location by far.

Castle Cainhurst should have been much larger in terms of content. It's a great place with too little to do.

Parrying is both one of the best and worst aspects of the game. You really shouldn't enter the Chalice Dungeons until the very end, or they'll ruin the experience. If you go in too early, you’ll just end up snowballing the rest of the game.

Father Gascoigne is the best boss when it comes to teaching you everything about the combat system. His family story is also the saddest part of the game.

The Bloody Crow of Cainhurst is the hardest non-boss "boss" in Bloodborne.

The game is good, but not the masterpiece it's been praised as all these years—though I still hope it gets a proper remaster or remake for PC.

Ok, so I will start with the bad things, to get that out of the way:

• It is weird that there is no re-spec option. DS2 is superior in that regard, sorry.
• Fuck Chalice Amygdala.

Ok, with that now done: Damn, Bloodborne is really one of the GOATs.

The design of this game is so, so incredibly good. I don't want to left without saying HOW FUCKING AWESOME IS THAT YOU CAN PARRY WITH YOUR FIREARM. It sounds so simple but is such a great idea. And your mana are the bullets? GENIUS, no notes. The rally system is exciting, the quality-over-quantity aspect of the weapons is so cool and refreshing after tons and tons of useless weapons in the Dark Souls games, and it only works because the weapons are so well designed. Every time I got a new tool or firearm I wanted to try it immediately (which makes the no re spec thing hurt more). It is weird that I want to try every single weapon in this game.

In my vast and comprehensive Soulslike experience (My first Dark Souls run was 10 months ago) I have to say the walls I hit in Bloodborne have been the toughest in any other game: It took almost two hours to get past Vicar Amelia. Ebrietas and Martyr Logarius were also really hard boss battles, and Oh how to forget that fucker Chalice Amygdala (seriously, how I may be able to extrude that memory from my brain, fuck). But oh every single boss battle felt so GOOD, man, even the less interesting ones like The Witches or Shadow of Yharnam. Even if I don't think that BB bosses reach the same high level of consistency of DS3, one thing it is to be said: the highest highs in BB in terms of boss battles are on another level man: Gascoigne? awesome. The One Reborn? absolutely (disgusting) awesome. Gehrman? the Moon Presence? Oh my god such awesome fights.

Another thing that I felt BB was on a different difficult level than the DS series was the level design. I am not here to lie to you guys: I am not a hardcore gamer or anything like that. I give games a fair shot but if I am stuck in a place for more than an hour I have ZERO issues opening up the old Walktrough guide/YouTube video, and with Bloodborne that first fair shot felt shorter and shorter every time. I got stuck almost immediately after Cathedral Ward, and when I finally beat Amelia and the Witches I got stuck again right away. I think it got better from that point onward because after Byrgenwerth the game is fairly linear, but there something about the level design or the atmosphere that I felt made me get stuck waaaaay easier than in Dark Souls. It may be a me thing, tho.

Now for the big thing: the Story of this game, bro. OMG what an incredible world. That descent into Eldritch madness that is so subtle yet so poignant. It is almost seamless how you start fighting werewolves and by the end you are like "Sure, at the top of this Church sits an unimaginable cosmic being full of eyes. As it happens". The story of Yharnam and its church and Byrgenwerth is so, so enthralling, man. I wanted to know more each step of the way but I was also scared of what I was about to find and even after I finish the game I was like "Ok, I want more. MORE". I guess I need to fear the old blood.

I feel its also important to highlight the DLC here, because it is an amazing piece of art on its own. Like the base game is excellent but The Old Hunters its a Masterpiece. I felt kind of sad because I made the mistake of explore the Chalice Dungeons before going to The Hunter's Nightmare, so I got there a little overpowered (I killed the sharks in like, four hits), but the atmosphere and the condensed mystery of the Hunters story and the Fishing Hamlet all in all. And Ludwig. The Ludwig boss fight immediately is one of my top 3 boss fights in all From Soft. Was the hardest? no. The most meaningful storywise? arguably no. Yet, it is an incredible piece of storytelling encompassed in a five minute battle.

My favorite From Software game is still Dark Souls 3, but Bloodborne is not only a close, very close second, but it also the one I am sure I am going to replay first. 10 out 10.

Bloodborne is a popular Souls-like game that is mainly praised for its difficulty, but there is a big problem.

I don't like difficult games especially souls-like games. I play video games more to just have fun, relax and immerse myself in their stories and not to spend my time with difficult bosses that make me smash my controller, I don't have enough money for that. Besides, I'm not determined enough for games like that.

However, the world in the game is really well designed, has a lot of details and I love this atmosphere, with Bioshock one of the games with the best atmosphere. But if you like Souls-likes you should definitely play Bloodborne, but as I said, unfortunately it's not for me at all.

Here is a photo from the game:

This is a my second attempt at the game. at first I tried and I found it way too overwhelming, I was too scared to move and took forever to get anywhere. I only made it to the Cleric Beast, defeated it, and that was about it

Then I played Elden Ring and fell in love with that game. I think that game is a bit easier to get into, you can play with a shield that lets you tank hits rather than dodge making the learning curve easier. I eventually graduated from using a shield to using 2 heavy handed weapons and loved all about the game.

So I decided to revisit Bloodborne. And what a game. Everything I learned in Elden ring was easily transferable to Bloodborne, An area that took me several hours to clear on my first attempt, was done in 15 minutes. The Cleric beast took a handful of tries but it was down. The experience became not stressful but enjoyable, I now knew what to expect from these games and what the game expected from me.

I also learned that you don't need to kill everything you see, so that made making the runs towards the boss much easier. Losing your echoes is not a big deal, you probably get the same amount very quickly if you really wanted to. Also understanding the shortcuts and how the game was structured made the experience a breeze.

The game was still hard, but not frustating hard, the game does demand of you to take every counter seriously and not underestimate anything. But that is what makes it so compelling, there is no fluff, just meat, and more meat.

Anyways, what is so good about the game? The atmosphere and level design are phenomenal, i was blown away how every area interconnected with the surroundings via shortcuts, how the quests (the few I found) related to the world around it. The gothic aesthetic, while not my favourite, it is beautiful and carries throughout the whole game. My other favourite part about these games is that there is so much hidden in the game world in terms of progression, meaningful secrets, lore, etc... While most games nowadays will send you on a goose chase to find all 50 logs, bloodborne doesn't, and lets you find whatever you can, but they are meaningful items. You got a hat? Other than giving you stats that hat description has a whole lot lore behind it. Every item is meaningful and useful, and somehow gives you a glimpse into this world and if you try hard enough you can piece things together. Something that blew my mind is that when you play coop there is usually a message that says "a woman has ring a sinister bell" meaning, now you can be invaded by enemy players. Guess what? the woman can be found in the game world, and if killed, no more invasions? how cool is that? the game is full of stuff like that, something I loved about Eldenring as well

You found a secret area? Awesome! Most games would award you with a collectible or something silly, not bloodborne, you either got a very useful item, some sort of new NPC that helps shape the story, a full new section, oh man, it is just so beautifully crafted.

The enemies attacks are also very well designed, they are telegraphed giving you ample time to react. you do need to learn the enemies movesets and your own limits to be successful. It is like dance, but just with swords, and a lot of blood.

I think the difficulty is much lower than Eldenring, simply because the enemies are slower so their telegraphs are cleared.

Last but not least, the lore of the game is interesting, intriguing and keeps your mind wondering, while I understood little and not everything has a clear answer, it keeps your mind wondering about this strange world. And I think that is okay, watching a few videos online

Overall, it is a fantastic game that can be hard to get into if you never played anything like it. but if you learn the ropes and do not fear death, the game will become an instant favourite.

So my advice is...JOIN THE HUNT!

Played after DS3. It's very similar to DS3 and you can see the influence it had on that title. I found it significantly more difficult than DS3, mainly because healing was via consumables. It was all fine until I hit a difficult boss (Martyr Logarius in my case - fuck that guy). Repeated tries quickly burned through my blood vials and I had to resort to farming for echoes to resupply. That became a little tedious but in the end it was a relatively short-lived problem.

Also a bit of a pain having to return to hunters dream and come back just to rest and resupply, but soon got used to that.

Overall, obviously a fantastic game and the chalice dungeons are a great addition for when you just want that quick Bloodborne hit.

This fourth playthrough of Bloodborne cemented it in my mind as one of the greatest games of all time. The story is by far the best that FromSoft ever created. It begins as a horror/mystery of why these beasts are plaguing the streets. But through the main game and DLC, it is revealed that the university has committed an act of interplanetary genocide, evoking the wraths of the alien Gods of the other worlds. These slow revelations, from simply seeing beasts to seeing glowing blue aliens and finally God-like creatures, are masterfully done.

The exciting gameplay, beautiful leveling mechanics, diverse and unique weapons, and the customizability, all sum up to create one of the most difficult and rewarding gaming experiences I've ever had. The boss, area, and enemy designs are also outstanding.

I do have a few minor issues of course. First of all, I hate the Chalice Dungeons, but I don't let that cloud my view of the game because they are completely optional bonus content. Also some areas like the forests and Nightmare Frontier are actually not very good even by average gaming standards. Next, some of the beast bosses eventually tend to feel repetitive. And finally, a few mechanics such as visceral attacks on staircases can cause massive annoyances.

But the thing is, these issues are all very minor in a game that does everything else as close to perfect as it can get. It is a game that I believe everyone should play no matter how challenging it may appear at first. Bloodborne is one of the best games of all time, and I believe it will one day be a historical touchstone in gaming.

5.00/5.00

Full Review: https://watchreadgame.com/bloodborne-review/

Nope. Fuck this game. I'm out. And I sincerely regret having bought the entire Dark Souls franchise with the intention of playing them.

I value my sanity way too much to continue with this torture. I want to play games to have fun. Not as some internet dick-waving rite of passage.

All From Software games are now officially and permanently off my radar. And I want those 12 hours of my life back.

I have so much to say about Bloodborne. I’m not really a fan of the From Software games. I loved Dark Souls 3 when I first beat it, but I haven’t played the other games. Right now, I’m waiting for a Steam sale for Dark Souls 1 and Sekiro. Bloodborne was the first game I tried out on PSNow. The only Souls-like thing that I have played before is Hollow Knight and that is one of my top 10 favorite games of all time. Months later, I want a sequel of Bloodborne already for the PS5. If Bloodborne 2 was the only launch title that I was interested in, I feel like I’d already have my money’s worth just for that game alone during launch. Oh yeah. Bloodborne is that fucking good.

The moment I fell in love with Bloodborne was when I fought against Father Gascoigne on my first try. The grim setting, the graveyard, Gascoigne with how he teaches you how to properly play the game and how it’s not just like Dark Souls, the primitive music when he turns into a beast as the drums are banging in the background, and the quest afterwards all came together to make one of the most intense, satisfying, badass, and depressing moments I have ever experienced in a video game.

Playing aggressively is my favorite playstyle in many types of genres from shooters to fighting games to platformers. Bloodborne is absolutely the best game where you use this aggressive playstyle as it gives you many reasons to be aggressive, b-e aggressive. Once you take damage from an enemy, you’ll have to keep swinging at them to regain the health that you have lost for a short amount of time. Enemies are much faster and are less defensive compared to Dark Souls. Weight no longer matters based on what you wear. You have the same rolling speed, same invincibility frames, etc. regardless of armor. Once you shoot at the moment an enemy attacks, they become vulnerable to visceral attacks. If you dodge backwards once this happens, you have made a grave mistake doing that because it will be something that you will regret for that fight so you got to sidestep forwards to visceral attack them. In a game with such oppressive atmosphere, you need the courage to face this horrific world.

What starts off as a story about you, a hunter, going around, killing beasts in search of the mysterious Paleblood during the night of the Hunt where everyone is out to kill you, turns into something much larger that is severely fucked up. To speak about the lore on the surface level, without major spoilers, it’s about a bunch of students and a Master having conflicting thoughts on how they can become powerful. One side believes that the Old Blood, buried deep within Yharnam, makes them stronger. The other side believes that there are other ways to become stronger other than the Old Blood. Most of the story is told through item descriptions, enemy and item placements, enemy designs, and settings. Everything has a purpose in the story instead of enemy and item placements just because it’s just a game. Once you put all the pieces together like a puzzle, you’ll find some of the richest lore ever put in a piece of media.

Outside of the playstyle, Bloodborne is so much fun and is so replayable. I love the transformative weapons with 2 extremely different types of attacks. You have a cane that can turn into a whip. You have a small sword that can be turned into a large greatsword. You have a cleaver than can increase the range once you change its form. The variety is endless instead of samey weapons with just different stats like in Dark Souls. Speaking of Dark Souls, the RPG elements are more toned down so you don’t have too much to think about while playing the game. It’s all about slashing beasts and I like this change as I was never a fan of the complicated RPG stats as everything in Bloodborne is straight forward. There are so many ways of risk or reward like damaging yourself so you have more bullets to shoot. At the moment you have lost your health, you can use a blood vial or you can take the risk by swinging at an enemy until you have regained your health. I also found the parry system to be way fucking better than Dark Souls as I felt like the parry system in those games felt very imprecise compared to shooting.

Atmosphere wise, this game is really damn horrifying. Almost everything is against you. The game starts with a werewolf about to fucking kill you with its claw in your face, setting the tone that persists throughout the game, and it never stopped horrifying me and made me ask in awe and wonder, “WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK IS THAT?!”

Bloodborne is one of those rare titles where you want to beat the game all over again right after playing it, and that’s exactly what I did. It’s a game that will linger in your mind after playing through it for a long while as you ask about what things are and why they have a place. This, along with Persona 5, is my favorite game of all time. These games have exceeded my high expectations to such a point where I will never stop loving them to death, regardless of anyone else's opinions on these games. You know what? Words won't give this game justice. Just go play it, and you'll see what I mean.

PS: Fuck the spiders. Burn all of them in hell. They're the only thing I hate about this game.

Edit 3/3/2020: A day after I wrote this review, I beat it for the 3rd time.

FINAL RATING: 10/10

The game is fun but also challengeing. I like all the unique weapons and bosses. If you like hard games and Darks Souls then this is a game that you have to play.

The DLC is probaly the most challenging part of the game and is luckly DLC because it has some of the hardest bosses in the game.

This game is also preatty long. My playthrough of the game took me 40 hours and I wasn't even close to getting all the items. For the price it was when my brother got it, you can get a lot of time out of it.

You should definitely play this game.

I picked this game up back when it first came out and instantly fell in love. When I got home from school I would immediately jump back in and play it nonstop, sometimes staying up way later than I should. So just how good was it? Well...

Pros -

Where do I even start? Okay well first off the game looks absolutely gorgeous even by today's standards, seriously I can boot this up right now and still adore every inch of the beautifully crafted city of Yarnham, a city that feels like a mash of H.P. Lovecraft and Victorian England. The games great look coupled with the amazing sound design means the games atmosphere is just as chilling as you'd expect given the games setting, this game is just oozing with amazing atmosphere.

The game play is honestly my favorite out of any of the Souls games. It has the same extremely difficult but rewarding combat of the other games but with a more action heavy, more fast paced twist. Unlike the games before it blocking isn't really taken into consideration but instead super fast reaction times and pattern memorization. Also it definitely feels pretty cool to equip your Hunter with more powerful weapons and armor as well as leveling them up using Blood Echoes (this game's version of souls) but it never makes you feel to powerful so simply leveling up can help in a fight but won't make or break a fight. Much like the Dark Souls game you can find notes from other players that may or may not be helpful, its cool but you'll ignore more often than not.

Some may take issue with the very bare bones story that is really only told through the occasional NPC and collectible but honestly I love it. The fact that most of it is hidden away and told mostly through vague lines actually adds to the mysterious lovecraftian feeling of the game.

Cons -

I honestly don't have that many cons with this game. There was the long loading screens at launch but those have since been fixed. I suppose if I had to nitpick I could point out how It could've been a bit longer but that's really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Verdict -

I absolutely adore this game. Seriously it's not just one of my favorite games of this generation but one of my favorite games of all time. It's amazing to look at, amazing to listen to, and amazing to play. It's also got a pretty cool DLC. If you haven't played this yet than you really need to because you are missing out, it's part of the Greatest Hits collection so you should be able to get it relatively cheap.

• This review will contain NO SPOILERS I promise, so if you haven't played yet, don't worry. As I contemplate this review I have no idea where to begin. I have so much to say about this game, so many thoughts.. I could seriously write a 600 page analysis on this game. I've played all of the Souls games and I don't know whether I should compare or if I should judge this game just by its own merits.
• Here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to write the short review (100 words or less) and if you want to know more, then you can scroll down and read my rambling long in-depth review (60-page novel):
• Bloodborne: I bought an entire console and a PS+ subscription so that I could play this game. Was it worth it? Definitely. This was one of the most fascinating and fun games that I've played in a long while.
• (EDIT ~~ check out my 'Bloodborne: The Old Hunters DLC Review" because I believe the DLC is actually the best portion of this game).
  

>>>>THE SHORT REVIEW:

Pros:

• • Incredible detailed world and environments, beautiful scenery, diverse and surreal places to visit. Gorgeous, grotesque and surreal. Perfect level design.
• • Fast-paced streamlined action-based game, less RPG stat-based min-maxing with excel charts. It's all about fast fun action, visceral almost-arcade combat. It's just Fun To Play It.
• • Haunting, bizarre, abstract story with Lovecraft and David Lynch vibes. It gets really weird, really weird. I love weird.
• • Unfathomable enemies beautifully designed, strange and grotesque. AI is spot-on and fun, each enemy requires thought (like a puzzle game) and will need you to think of new strategies to beat each individual foe.
• • Ragdoll physics! They brought back the ragdolls!
• • A good starting point for players who are new to the series. Controls are responsive and intuitive. Learning curve is less-steep (than previous games). This could be a pro or a con, depending on your own preferences.

Cons:

• • For me: the game was a little too easy. I never really felt really challenged at any point in the game. Maybe it’s because I’m a Dark Souls veteran. I wanted to be punished; I wanted it to be a bit more difficult. It was a bit too easy. But I'm yet to try out the procedurally-generated Chalice Dungeons, which are a whole new world to explore. After playing the DLC and experimenting with different builds I've changed my mind, the balancing in this game is excellent and the DLC is very challenging.
• • The whole gun/counter thing I didn’t find particularly useful or engaging. Perhaps it was just because of my character build, but (other than a handful of circumstances) I found the gun/pistol mechanic to be kind of.. lacklustre (EDIT - It was my character build. The gun combat is difficult to master, it's like an advanced optional play mode. But it's an awesome part of the game. In later playthroughs I really got into this mechanic and it functions brilliantly, perhaps even superior to Dark Souls parry mechanic).
• • Lack of NPCs/characters removed that human touch from the game, making it a little impersonal. I would have liked to meet the denizens of this world and hear their stories and their thoughts, but there weren’t really any memorable characters or much dialogue at all. It made the journey a little too barren, lonely and impersonal(EDIT - On my second and third playthroughs I realised that there are many NPCs that I overlooked. I think I would like to retract this statement; especially once you add on the DLC there's actually a deep, engaging story with countless fascinating characters with dense lore and enthralling narratives).
• The Chalice dungeons were a great idea and I commend the devs for trying something new in this genre. Unfortunately it flopped, that portion of the game is boring and not worth your time: the loot and the bossfights in the chalice dungeons are great but it's a slow and boring slog to actually get to them.

Conclusion: This is a brilliant and beautiful game, better than 95% of games on the market, or ever. Such incredible craftsmanship, detail and careful thought were put into every last detail of the game. The mechanics and improvements and new-direction of the game was beautifully done and it was much more streamlined, slick and manageable. Like the game and the ending itself, I am left puzzled and unsure, but it's not a bad feeling, it's a sweet sensation upon waking from a dream that you are struggling to fathom. One of the strangest, most-unique, surreal and beautiful gaming experiences I've had in a long time., This world is one that I loved and I am eager to jump straight back into. Most dreams are rarely understood, but this is one that doesn't need to be understood to be enjoyed. 5/5, one of the best games I have ever experienced.

…if you wish to know more, make yourself comfortable and read:

>>>>THE LONG REVIEW:

Story/Setting: Upon entering the strange world of Yharnam, I was at first kind of disappointed. I was presented with this kind-of cheesy "jack the ripper" ye olde London times Victorian setting with werewolves, big rats, and pitchfork-wielding angry villagers. I thought it was a little bit cheesy, and I was a bit disappointed. But it was still fun and I continued playing. Then everything went weird. As with a Lovecraft tale (H P Lovecraft, one of my favourite writers ever) it doesn't take much to break the seal on the ancient crypt and stumble upon the horrible and surreal monstrosities that lurk under the thin veil of reality. I slurped up every bit of lore and eagerly watched every little cutscene and read every single item description in the game, and I still am not entirely sure what the hell it all means. But I like that, which is reminiscent of my other biggest hero (David Lynch). I don't want to give away too much, but things are not as they seem in the cursed plague-ridden streets of Yharnam. As you progress you're taken to some of the most peculiar and beautiful locations I've ever seen in any videogame, lovingly hand-crafted. This includes the denizens of this world, some of which are strange and grotesque to the level of the Dead Space series. This world is beautiful, detailed and bizarre and all so cryptic. If you are a fan of Lovecraft then you will fall in love with this game world.

Gameplay/Difficulty: This is where I feel conflicted about the game. Perhaps because I've played through all of the brutal Souls series (multiple times) I'm just an MLG pro gamer, but I was a little disappointed with the difficulty presented in the game. I yearned for a bit more punishment. Usually balance is a good thing, but in a From Software game, I want to be frustrated, irritated and angry; I want to be faced with unfair 1-hit-kill enemies.. but of all the series, this one I kind of breezed through. I would generally kill a boss on the 2nd or 3rd attempt (as opposed to Ornstein and Smough in DS1, whom I've fought hundreds of time and I have still never beaten, unless I've had the help of co-op buddies). But perhaps this is just my personal experience, perhaps the way I built my character was a little bit too clever and refined. Perhaps I'll find a more intense challenge in the upcoming DLC. This is an easier game is in the series, a lot more forgiving, which is actually a good thing for new audiences, but for more I yearned for more challenge. But perhaps I'll find that in the Chalice Dungeons which I've barely explored (they're all procedurally-generated and randomised).

Mechanics/Combat: This game, by far, has a far better system than any of the previous games. In the prior games there were way too many options and sliders and unncessary fluff going on. Different armours and upgradable armours, hundreds of weapons and their irreversible modifiers, modifying armour/weapons, repairing armour/weapons, upgrading armour/weapons. Not to mention rings and covenants and stats and stat modifiers. And each particular weapon needed its own special kind of material to be upgraded by a particular blacksmith in a particular area. It was really over-complicated and impossible to navigate without a wiki or a spreadsheet. In the previous Souls games, you really needed to get out an excel chart and spend hours figuring out what the hell is going on and you can easily become obsessed with min/maxing all these things and the game turns more into FIFA Football Manager Simulator 2015/Microsoft Excel/Inventory Management Simulator 2015 or something. Instead in Bloodborne everything is simplified. There's only a handful of weapons; armour cannot be upgraded. There's not a whole range of character "builds"; you can't make a heavy tank-type character loaded with heavy upgraded armour. But I think these changes were good. It meant that the game was more focussed; more action-and-fun-and-combat. Everything is very fast in the game and so are you, it's all very fast-paced, more twitch-reflexy than previous games, and I liked it. Instead of spending 10 hours trying to find the perfect weapon, I picked up a weapon in the first 10 minutes of the game and just stuck with it and beat the game without even trying any of the other weapons. Shields aren't part of this game, it's more about being sneaky and fast and dodging and rolling and countering. A blade in one hand and a gun in the other. This is another qualm I have with the game.. to be honest, I hardly ever fired the gun throughout the whole game. By the end, I couldn't even pick up bullets because apparently I had 999 of them in my inventory and I had obviously hit the upper limit. They were very useful in some instances, but in some respects it didn't really work for me and I found myself just using the torch (a flaming stick thing, lol, not battery-operated) to illuminate the area and rarely used my pistol. Maybe I just suck, maybe I wasn't playing it properly, lol.. but I found it was usually much easier (and safer) to roll away from an enemy attack than to try and pistol-parry and thus put myself in harm's way. Still though, even though I pretty much ignored this 'integral feature' of the game, I still had a lot of fun. The powered-up attacks and backstabbing things were excellent additions, as well as the return of the silly ragdolls. Overall combat is more-refined than ever in this game, but it's a very different style, and in some ways I did miss the flexibility and the options to customise your build. However, if I could give it a 6th star, I would, just because they brought back silly ragdolls of dead enemies.

Levels/Environment: Throughout the game you traverse such a diverse range of different and beautifully crafted places, incredible old gothic cathedrals, horrid swamps, creepy cemeteries, and stranger surreal nightmarish surroundings as the game reaches its final climax. The game has a dream-like quality, and from the very beginning you are informed that perhaps it is all "a dream" which makes me think of Lynch's Mulholland Drive but perhaps I'm just connecting things to this that aren't necessarily connected. As opposed to the terrible and unforgivable levels from Dark Souls 2 (which seemed like bad Unreal Tournament levels made by a 12 year old) the levels Bloodborne see a glorious return to ingenious level design (of Dark Souls 1). Instead of plopping down warp bonfires every 200 feet, the world is all seamlessly interconnected with secret doors, shortcuts and elevators. Whoever plotted out this world must be a genius. There are two distinct little PvP zones (which are intentionally labelled as a dream and a nightmare [EDIT: oh, actually, the castle also]), otherwise the entire gameworld can be traversed from one end to the other on foot, so it's an "open world" in that sense, although bonfires are available if you want to fast-travel to a certain location. The levels are crafted wonderfully with lots of secret passages and alternate routes and ladders and elevators; a beautiful rich environment to explore, and if you do explore you will be rewarded with the treasures you'll find.

Ragdoll Physics: I'm sorry, but this needs a section of its own. There's something wonderful about vanquishing a difficult foe, and then being able to run around in circles and play as watch as their lifeless corpse flops around in a silly fashion. Glorious. Especially when the monster is some horrible blobby cthulhu monster thing. Just glorious. Thank you From Software.

Multiplayer: Very well implemented. The ghosting, blood stains and all the other fun stuff from the previous games were there. Other than a few unique places in the game, "invasions" are pretty much removed from the game, and even in those "PvP zones" you can easily disable those features using an in-game mechanic, which was nice. People who are obsessed with the PvP elements of the Souls series might be disappointed with Bloodborne but I never really cared for PvP battles/invasions, they usually just ruined my fun. So I liked how multiplayer was implemented, also (sadly) the messaging system was a lot more limited (one of the only good features of Dark Souls 2) I wish there had been more options to write funnies in the messages. But overall the online features were great and breathed life into the game; made me feel like I wasn't alone on the journey, and the messaging system saved my life on more than one occasion "Beware of ambush ahead, tread carefully".

Characters/Atmosphere: The atmosphere of the game was fascinating. Instead of the darkness and despair of Demon's and Dark Souls (1), this game had a different feeling. It was certainly bleak, but not so malevolent and hopeless. It was more like some sort of strange ethereal nightmare/dream, very peculiar, very lonely. In some ways though, I missed the unforgettable characters from the prior souls games (like Solaire of Astoria or Siegmeyer of Catarina, the various Black Smiths). In this game there aren't really any characters with in-depth story arcs. There's a couple friendly/rude denizens that you encounter throughout the land, but (other than the 'lifeless doll') there was very little dialogue and all the characters were pretty much forgettable one-liners (like 1-line villagers in old JRPGS) without much personality. You are alone in this nightmare. I would have liked to have seen a few more friends along the way to speak with and get a deeper sense of the world; but perhaps this lack of characters was intentional to ensure that the world remained somewhat solemn, obscure, lonely; the dreamer is alone inside his the dream.

Conclusion: This is a brilliant and beautiful game, better than 95% of games on the market, or ever. Such incredible craftsmanship, detail and careful thought was put into every last portion of the game and yet it is not flawless. I felt this game was a return to Demon's Souls in many ways, it was more similar to that game than to either of the Dark Souls games. Yet for some reason, if I was forced to give an opinion, I would still say that Demon's Souls is still the masterwork, the finest of the 4 in the "Souls Series". I felt a bit too lonely in this world, and I wish there would have been more NPCs to speak to; perhaps the plot was a little too obscured to the point that the game felt somewhat impersonal, it lacked that human touch, that emotional connection. Also, once you got a handle on the mechanics, most of the enemies (including the bosses) provided very little challenge. But, saying that, the mechanics and improvements and new-direction of the game was beautifully done and it was much more streamlined, slick and manageable, great for players who are new to this series. Like the game and the ending itself, I am left puzzled and unsure, but it's not a bad feeling, it's a sweet sensation upon waking from a dream that you are struggling to fathom. Is this a game for everyone? Probably not. But if you liked the earlier Souls games, you'll certainly love this game. And if you're new to the franchise, this would be an excellent starting point. It's one of the strangest, most-unique and beautiful gaming experiences I've had in a long time, and despite minor flaws, this world is one that I want I am eager to jump straight back into. Most dreams are rarely understood, but this is one that doesn't need to be understood to be enjoyed. 5/5, one of the best games I have ever experienced.

(5 Star Rating / 5 bags of popcorn).

And now: One more screenshot, just for fun! I love my Silent Hill 2 "Pyramid Head" costume. Amazing! Yup, things certainly get pretty weird in this game. I love it!

What an insane experience.

I bought Demon's Souls when it first came out and I gave it a bit of a go but never really got into it. The same with Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2, I just never got hooked and probably only played about 4 hours between the 3 of them. Due to all of the disappointing games that have come out over the past while I actually advised my boyfriend to cancel his preorder until we saw some reviews of the game. Then they started coming out with 4/5 and 9/10 and I realised this could be something special.

And it definitely has been. I was the first to play it over my boyfriend on March 27th and I've barely put it down since then. I haven't gone near any other games and I'm completely hooked, even after finishing it, I still want more.

It is tough. I did rage and I did have to take a few breaks now and again. But that feeling of accomplishment you get when you finally get down a boss you've been struggling on is like nothing else. It really is something special, I can't even describe it.

The level design is absolutely spectacular, one of my favourite things about the game. The excitement you feel when you're wandering around, you unlock a shortcut and as you explore something clicks and suddenly exclaim "Oh, I know where I am!" is amazing. It's so fulfilling and completing that circle of exploration is so satisfying.

Combat is great. It's fun, fast and very visually appealing. Whilst it's true that the variety of weapons and armor isn't the best, it's clear that a lot of thought and effort went into each weapon and armor set. It's so exciting getting a new weapon and testing out it's attack animations and trick forms.

I adore the level of hidden choices within the game, primarily to do with NPCs and how you deal with them. There's a number of different things you can do and many things you can miss if you're not diligent enough to go looking for them.

The story is so interesting and dark and weird. Most of the story isn't handed to you - you have to go looking for it, through item descriptions and talking to NPCs. Even then, there's still a lot you have to work out yourself and there's many secrets about the world to still be discovered which I love.

Overall, I've had an absolute blast with Bloodborne. It's exceeded my expectations and then some. I still need more of my Bloodborne fix at the moment and I have many things I still want to explore and do within the game. But when I'm done with it I will most certainly be going back through the previous Souls games and playing through the games that started it all.

May the good blood guide you.