Shane
Get prepared for alot of blood letting with PlayStation’s gothic, dark and seriously difficult but most epic new IP title Bloodborne as you seek a remedy to an illness that is turning civilians into fearsome creatures.
Set in a cyber punk 1800’s town of Yarnham, a town ruined and ravaged by a blood derivative disease you are one of many travelers before you who have come to seek a cure which is said to be held within this deadly town.
Bloodborne can be likened to Dark Souls. It is a game to be played with strategy in mind where third person hack ‘n’ slash fuses with a brutal unforgiving RPG.
Starting out you will be tasked with creating your character. The level of depth to this customisation is to the extreme. From skin colour, body type, skin tone, even through to eyelash length and more.
Your character will also have a background story, known as Origins.
From a troubled childhood to being a Noble, there are 9 in total. I had hopes that this would affect gameplay in some way, whether via stamina, overall gameplay or story itself as you play through – sadly it does not.
Each Origin does however have a unique Skill Level, which will aide you, slightly, in gameplay.
Your Skill Level will increase by way of Attribute Points throughout playing.
In anycase, once you are all setup and good to go, be prepared to die.
Firstly you are infused with a small dose of the blood disease – this gives you the power and somewhat immunity required to walk among the infected and slay them.
Within the first five minutes of gameplay you will encounter your first major foe. You will die.
It is after this that you receive your weapon choices and can go forth in search of a cure.
From the Saw Cleaver, Hunter Axe or Threaded Cane. Your weapon of choice may or may not seal your fate, as they all have differing skill and strength attributes.
Blood Echoes are given after taking down a foe. This is the games’ currency and can be used to trade with Messengers for weapons and items.
Checkpoints in the game are few and far between.
This means you need to think before you kill and most of the infected (including rabid dogs) will group together.
If you can get the surprise attack, go for it. Trying to take down mobs of the infected at once will end in your peril.
Blood Vials are a necessity to get from Checkpoint to Checkpoint, this will give you a health boost, and you may find you use these more than you plan to.
Extra Vials can be picked up from those that you kill, aswell as silver bullets (these too will always run on the low side).
Items and weapon choices are matched to hot-keys and they need to be, as the game does not Pause if you go into your Inventory screen. So don’t check your goodies during a bout of combat.
Your character has a Endurance bar, which depletes in combat. You have two ranges of combat, light and heavy. As you can imagine heavy, while great against larger foes, will deplete your stamina faster.
You will need to work out a combination of the two light and heavy attacks before taking on a enemy, so size them up before you try to take them down.
Enemy AI is damn good. They will hear you if you are not careful and generally as they are usually in packs the entire lot will come for you at once. There’s no shame in trying to run away, if you can.
Bloodborne is a foreboding title, and it takes a lot of patience to get through.
Surprisingly though I never felt overly frustrated at the amount of deadly attempts I had to undertake to get through an area.
It only made me re-think my strategy, and made me more determined.
Bloodborne will go down well with fans of Dark Souls whilst also catering to those that like their hack ‘n’ slash games, like God of War as an example.
It’s a lengthy game, not only because you will die, alot, but in general play terms aswell.
While the difficulty factor may put some off, I would absolutely recommend that every PlayStation 4 owner picks this one up and gives it a go.
Online play will see you in co-op. Offline or online however, you will need to save humanity from itself all the while forging your own legend in the twisted town of Yarnham.
