Bloodborne Review

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.

Bloodborne is a brilliant piece of gaming and it deserves a 9.25 out of 10.