Summary
The odds are that I would never playBloodbornefrom a thematic standpoint, but that same theme is exactly what made me fall in love with it. The 2015 hit title by FromSoftware, designed exclusively for PlayStation 4 consoles, is a fan-favorite among soulslike players and a lot of it is due to its unique gameplay. While still a soulslike game, the title set in Yharnam has a remarkable trick weapon system that allows players to, essentially, wield two distinct weapons in a single slot, and alternate between them seamlessly.
Unlike many other games in the popular sub-genre,Bloodborneis not set in a dark medieval fantasy world and, instead, plays out on the streets of a gruesome Victorian-style city called Yharnam, which has been plagued by a mysterious blood cult that has been transforming regular denizens into monsters. With a much more somber approach,Bloodborneis more akin to a horror game than a regular adventure one, and that melds into the narrative. This is exactly why playingBloodbornein the first place is such a surprise to me: I do not play horror games.
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I’d Never Play A Horror-Fueled Game Like Bloodborne, Yet It Grabbed Me
The Soulslike Title Became One Of My Top 10 Favorite Games
Some sort of unresolved past trauma or never-developed fortitude to mentally withstand the pressures of horror as a genre is exactly what has kept me away from titles likeResident EvilandSilent Hillall my life. I know the types of stories and, often, masterpieces I miss out on, but there is a psychological trigger that impedes me from proceeding into a dark room where I know bloodthirsty danger lurks.The big difference withBloodborneis that it was never marketed as a horror game, even if consistent fear is part of its guiding narrative.
Upon being ambushed by a Garden of Eyes in the most hideous jumpscare of my gaming experience and having my brains sucked out, I came to the realization that I was not playing a standard-issue soulslike game with a darker setting.
The fact that it was a soulslike was an attractive selling point, in fact. Diving into the world of Yharnam in search of memorable challenges and, of course, supreme world design and an exquisite soundtrack – all of which are recurrent in games created by FromSoftware –I started my adventure into what I originally perceived as a grittier soulslikethan theDark Soulsseries orSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The first gameplay hours felt like what I was expecting from any other soulslike; unique, but not enough that it would be set too far apart from other titles.
As a late soulslike bloomer, I ventured intoBloodborneafter having played throughSekiro.
Having gone through nearly half of the campaign, I beat the Shadow of Yharnam and proceeded to the Byrgenwerth map. Surely, I had stumbled upon several mind-bending opponents and menaces throughout the oppressive maps, butentering Byrgenwerth was a shift in how I perceived the game.
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Upon being ambushed by a Garden of Eyes in the most hideous jumpscare of my gaming experience and having my brains sucked out, I came to the realization that I was not playing a standard-issue soulslike game with a darker setting. Instead,Bloodborneis a horror game with a soulslike gameplay approach.
Seeing that opponent’s design and how it behaved instantly reminded me of being persecuted by something in any type of survival horror game, and that alone made me realize everything else in the game is exactly the same. Not only are the opponents designed to look fearful, butthey drastically get worse throughout your adventure.
In the first few hours in Yharnam, you face a few humans plagued by blood, which makes them develop lycanthropic features. There were a few otherscary bosses inBloodborne’s initial hours, but nothing strays too far away from what FromSoftware is known for.
Bloodborne’s Story Is About Fear And Overcoming It
FromSoftware’s Title Delves Into The Very Essence Of Horror
The realization that what I was playing was a horror game all along started to connect some previous design choices I had noticed.The maps are darker and narrower, the musical arrangement is more somber, and the story’s sinister development from a gothic horror tale into a cosmic horror story were all deliberate choicesthat moldedBloodborneinto what it is: a game about fear and overcoming that very feeling. FromSoftware’s 2015 title gradually escalates the horror factor in its design as players progress through the campaign.
If players were initially frightened about being hunted by a mob of lycanthropic men in the first few minutes,a few hours later their main concern will be how to manage existential dread. Upon completing the Byrgenwerth map and defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider boss, players see the collapse of the veil hiding the blood moon and the true horrors around them, and that is whereBloodbornereally starts to openly embrace its cosmic horror narrative.
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After this, players see that the places they once felt somewhat comfortable in, such as Yharnam itself, are actually overrun by Lesser Amygdala hanging from buildings, just waiting for prey. Rom was protecting players from seeing everything horrible around them, and now, players have to overcome this newfound fear of being a squishable human among gargantuan space deities.
There truly is something awe-inspiring in feeling fear, the most primal of animal emotions.
The game’s entire ambiance and darker design on all fronts are aboutimposing fear on the player and forcing them to overcome that feeling in order to proceed. Once they do, they beat the once-menacing boss of that respective stage and venture forward. Then,Bloodborneescalates its horror once again, forcing players to leave their comfort zone and overcome a sense of dread only to continue onward on their adventure.
This is not a horror game in the traditional sense of the genre, since a lot of the classic survival horror mechanics are not there.It is, however, in its essence, a game about horror that inspires the same fear that other horror titles do– and it does so with extreme precision. The 2015 game was able to tell a horror story without limiting itself to regular staples in the genre and, instead, weave a remarkable and dread-inspired story through a soulslike perspective.
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While I am still too frightful to play many horror games, the haunting world ofBloodborneeasily became one of my favorites, and it helped me create a new appreciation and respect for the genre, so much so that I’ve started dipping my feet into some titles and movies that I otherwise would have actively avoided altogether. There truly is something awe-inspiring in feeling fear, the most primal of animal emotions. Now, wewait for aBloodbornesequelor remake.
Bloodborne
Bloodborne is an action RPG developed by FromSoftware. The player assumes control of a Hunter who must navigate the streets of the gothic city of Yharnam, contending with its hostile residents who have been transformed into bloodthirsty creatures by a plague-like disease. Seeking the source of the pestilence, the Hunter fights to uncover Yharnam’s secrets, facing horrifying beasts and cosmic entities along the way.
