The first big news concerning Bloodborne is that we finally got some official gameplay footage for the PS4 exclusive in development by Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team at From Software. On paper this sounds very exciting, but Sony decided to release it in off-screen form, and it’s only about 30 seconds anyway:
Luckily, since we last checked more previews for the title surfaced, offering much more information. IGN‘s Colin Moriarty, for example, sounds very excited despite not liking Dark Souls:
The city of Yharnam is full of perils, but it’s also stunningly beautiful to look at. Even in its pre-alpha state, which is understandably plagued by a noticeably stuttering framerate and some other impurities, I marveled at how pretty the player’s surroundings are. It has both a Gothic and Victorian feel, with beautiful castle spires and towering turrets blanketing the distance, and an endless array of brickwork everywhere you look. Little nods like a turned-over horse-drawn carriage or abandoned baby stroller pins-down its 19th century setting, and burning, crucified corpses, abandoned coffins, and shadowy apparitions remind you to be scared not only of your enemies, but of everything else around you, too. The dark, dreary nature of Yharnam at night is truly terrifying; it’s so-called (Victorian Horror) themes are obvious.
The thing is, Yharnam isn’t just frightening in premise; it’s chock-full of crazy people, caught defenseless by a spreading disease that’s driven them mad. As we’re introduced to our character a man wearing a duster, leather boots, and a cap that looks a great deal like Kain’s in Final Fantasy IV we quickly run into some of these ill citizens, and they’re none too happy you’re drawing near to them. Equipped with flaming torches, pitchforks, dull axes, and more, these foes like just about any enemy you run into in Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls aren’t slouches.
Thankfully, you too, as the player, have weapons at your disposal, including a blade crudely wrapped in tape in your right hand and a devastatingly powerful shotgun in your left. Using these weapons in tandem with one another, Bloodborne’s faster, more arcadey spirit shines through. Our demoer makes quick work of the fodder that stands before him, slicing and dicing with quick sword swipes, followed up with up-close blasts from his firearm. Interestingly, while guns in games typically give you a reason to stay back and out of the fray, using your gun effectively in Bloodborne requires you to be up front and directly in danger. A double-barrel shot acts not only as a wonderful way to dispatch your enemies; it can also be elegantly used to counterattack with devastating results.
Battles have you slashing with your mean-looking saw cleaver, which is specialized for beast hunting. While it wasn’t clear exactly how it worked in our demonstration, Miyazaki explained that it can be used tactically with its three different cut positions. Its blade can be used closed, halfway extended, or fully extended, depending on the encounter type.
Even in its alpha state, Bloodborne’s dark, gothic visuals were very easy to appreciate. This is one very good-looking game. Heavy fog, particle effects, creepy moonlit streets, and shifty shadows made Yharnam look like a place that would be outstanding to explore. Fully armed, of course. It’s like the darkest, grossest version of a Victorian-era nightmare town. They couldn’t have made it look more creepy.
And the enemies! Yikes. These were some of the grossest, freakiest creations I’ve seen since the early Silent Hill titles. Seeing the lumbering infected townspeople with their slightly too-long limbs come shuffling around the corner gave me the creeps. Massive dogs and greasy, squirming giant crows were even worse to look at in motion. They really made me uncomfortable. And the sub-bosses and final boss were things of grotesque beauty. If nothing else, I want to play through all of Bloodborne just to see how messed up these enemies can get.
Apart from the mysterious, dark setting, what most impressed me in the demo was the inventiveness of some of the enemies. After hearing a loud banging on a large gate, our hero winded round to the other side. There he found a lumbering hunchbacked giant caped in black, his face disfigured, and his right hand gripped around a slab of concrete. He swung his rock-clutching arm through rotations, looming over the hero imposingly. Even with the difficulty reduced, he seemed a tough enemy to fell.
The “blood-sucking crows” were even more memorable. These human-sized beak-snapping beasts didn’t fly for some reason – maybe because their bellies were so bloated – so instead they alarmingly lunged forwards on their fronts, seemingly increasing with size at they spread out their wings and jumped menacingly towards the camera.
There was also an interesting scenario involving a non-player character clad similarly to the hero, found fighting off two snarling werewolf-like things. Miyazaki explained there was a choice here to either help the NPC defeat the enemies or just move on and leave them be – it wasn’t noted what would happen if the hero also took on the NPC.
Abandoning the NPC proved significant, because if the hero had helped he’d have served as an ally in the eventual boss fight. Considering that was with a lanky horned demon with an exposed ribcage and tendrils running down arms that he punched venomously into the ground, an extra hand could’ve been useful. According to Miyazaki, counters and firearms were the best way to go, but as the fight slammed into a mess of arms, blunderbusses and blades, I wanted to get my hands on Bloodborne to find out for myself.
At one point, Miyazaki stumbles onto a true mob scene. A giant group of infected citizens is gathered in a town square, burning a beast before it leaves to hunt for more victims. I can’t think of any scene in the Souls games that had this many enemies on screen at once.
Rather than try to fight all of them off, Miyazaki takes a side path, killing a few crazed individuals along the way. Then he reaches a bell that he rings. This is the mob’s cue to exit, and the square clears out, allowing him to progress.
These sorts of environmental surprises are the things that will make Souls fans feel most at home in Bloodborne. Though Yharnam is a new world with a different tone from much of the series, Miyazaki says one of the core themes of the game is exploration of the unknown. He says the game will operate similarly to the first Dark Souls: It’s a large world, but players will be rewarded for exploring every inch of it with shortcuts that wrap back around into previous areas.
The demoer made her way down to the city streets, but stopped short, as up ahead, a group of infected blocked her progress. They had just recently strung up one of the many beasts roaming the city, and burned it like an effigy. Unfortunately for our player, these infected townsfolk are not friendlies. Instead of confronting them, the demoer instead went up some stairs, and took an upper pathway, across wet cobblestone and dark alleys. And in typical Demon’s Souls fashion, she gets jumped and attacked by the many enemies lurking in the shadows.
Further ahead, there were more infected townsfolk, who have burned an even bigger monster at the stake. This beast looked like some kind of werewolf. The demoer moved quietly past that group, but not before being attacked by more hidden enemies. Past the burning werewolf creature, there was a barred gate, and something big, and growling, was banging against the door, trying to open it. The player couldn’t open the gate from this side, so she instead took another side path and found herself in a large courtyard on the other side of the gate. At the urging of the commentator narrating the demo, the demoer approached the gate, and found a large, lumbering humanoid banging on the gate. They engaged in battle, and it was at this point that the commentator informed us that they had the diffculty for the E3 build had been tweaked, so it was much harder for the player to die. Good thing, as the giant charged and swung his massive hands, knocking the player to the ground multiple times before she got the upper hand and dispatched him.
Finally, GameTrailers‘ impression take video form, as usual for the website.
