BLOODBORNE REVIEW

Night of the Hunter.

PS4 exclusive.

Bloodborne is a Horror RPG published by Sony and developed by FromSoftware for the Playstation 4.

This review has spoilers!

GAMEPLAY
Really excellent, where the game shines the most. The depth of combat and encouragement to explore the world felt very fulfilling. Most classes, weapons and builds could be exciting and rewarding to progress in.

Some of the changes from the Dark Souls franchise that made a difference such as the faster pace and encouragement to attack along with shields being nullified plus pistols and trick weapons being added means the game does feel different from FromSoftware's best known franchise outside of the setting and story.

Without spoiling too much, and anyone who has finished the game will surely know the boss I'm talking about, the penultimate fight was up there with my favourite bosses in any video game. When I heard people talking about one of the strengths of these games being the strategy and techniques you'd have to learn to combat bosses I really felt that facing this boss. It was a hard boss but it was a fair boss, I must have failed to beat them around a dozen times but each time the failure was on me and I knew what I had to improve next time, whether it was better learning the moveset of the boss, managing my health better or even hitting the boss when it would hurt the most. It was a really exciting experience and super rewarding when my plan finally all came together in the end and I beat the boss.

STORY
Having to piece the story together through the state of the world and the few notes and opinions you can find about it made the game so mysterious and fascinating. Some of the lore gets so crazy or even complicated that it really suits the Lovecraftian themes of unimaginable horror shine through even more.

GRAPHICS

You'd expect any game released in 2015 to at least try and move NPC's mouths when they talk however most if not all characters outside of cutscenes don't. Contrast this with the rest of the game though with the stunning city of Yarnham or the graphic detail of every monster and the game does its hardest to make up for it.

SOUND
The soundtrack is pretty brilliant. It captures all the right feelings the game is going for being eerie and scary in some parts to relentless and adrenaline inducing during some boss fights. The way the music transitions through different phases of the boss fights is a really amazing touch too. Hearing the music crescendo or build up pace as the fight gets more and more dangerous is incredible.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Plenty of side content, ways to deal with things and NG+ offers a lot of replay-ability

OVERALL
With riveting combat that excels in so many ways to the unique Lovecraftian story and setting accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack Bloodborne has all the ingredients for an outstanding game that will leave an impact on you. FromSoftware have pushed out another great RPG and even gone and exceeded Dark Souls with this brilliant title.

THE OLD HUNTERS EXPANSION
Rounds off the story and adds a lot to the lore. Ludwig, Lady Maria and Orphan of Kos are some of the best bosses in Soulsborne.

The soundtrack that accompanies Ludwig is one of the best pieces of music I've heard in a game. The way it builds between the two phases as the crazy cutscene plays before erupting into a crescendo of brilliance is really quite incredible.