Bloodborne

March 24, 2015 March 25, 2015 March 26, 2015

platform

PlayStation 4

genre

Action RPG

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

Bloodborne is the Japanese development studio From Software exclusively for the PlayStation 4 developed action RPG . It was published by Sony Computer Entertainment in March 2015 and is considered the spiritual successor to the games Demon's Souls and Dark Souls .

action

The setting of the game is the mystical city of Yharnam, which is said to be a powerful panacea. The player takes on the role of a sick pilgrim who has set out to find a cure for his ailment. In Yharnam he is healed by an infusion of holy blood , but with a curse on him. This very curse has spread like an epidemic in Yharnam and turned the population largely into aggressive beasts that hunt other beasts in the eternal night. The player is also kidnapped into a dream world, the hunter's dream . From this dream world, the player explores the city as a beast hunter with the loose goal of chasing pale blood .

Visually, the fictional city of Yharnam is reminiscent of the Transylvanian homeland of the fictional character Dracula with its gloomy atmosphere with Gothic-looking buildings and descriptions . The plot and background story of Yharnam (which is only revealed cryptically through notes, diary entries or item descriptions) are very much inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft .

The player finds out that the holy blood used for miraculous healing can be traced back to the elders - omnipresent, extraterrestrial beings who operate from dream worlds. The founders of Yharnam tried through this knowledge and the holy blood to raise humanity to the next level of evolution.

After killing one of the elders in a man-made nightmare world , the player can complete the story of Bloodborne through three different endings. In the hunter's dream you initially meet the first hunter Gehrman, who serves as a mentor during the game. This now offers the player to wake him up from his "dream". Gehrman kills the player, as a result of which he, freed from the hunter's dream, wakes up in Yharnam while the sun rises on the city horizon - the long night and the hunt end.

If you refuse to be woken up, there will be a fight against Gehrman. If you win this, the moon presence appears , one of the oldest and forces the player to take Gehrman's place - the long night and thus the hunt continue.

A third end can be achieved by having previously consumed three out of four umbilical cords of the ancients hidden in Yharnam . Now one can resist the will of the moon presence and, in the event of victory, will be reborn as an elder baby . It remains to be seen whether the long night and thus the hunt was overcome with the hidden end and thus finally come to an end.

Gameplay

Bloodborne contains RPG elements similar to Demon's Souls and Dark Souls from the same developer . At the beginning, the player creates an individually designed hero from different visual models, assigns a name and can set basic values such as strength, endurance, etc. The combat system equips the player with a variety of weapons, including firearms (in contrast to the Souls games, which only have bows or crossbows). In addition, the melee weapons have two different usable versions. The hatchet received at the beginning can be used as a striking weapon against nearby enemies. With the push of a button, the handle is extended and attacks against more distant targets or groups of enemies are now possible. The development of your own game character takes place, based on the titles of the Demon’s and Dark Souls series, through the blood echoes gained by fighting opponents, the universal currency in the game. These can be used to improve character attributes or weapons; furthermore, objects such as life energy, ammunition or new weapons can be acquired with it. This takes place in a protected area ("hunter's dream"), from which the areas of the game that have been visited so far can be entered, weapons and the character of the game can be improved and objects can be purchased and sold. The fights themselves are offensive and require careful consideration of when the player should start to strike or rather evade by means of a forward roll or a side step.

The recovery mechanism ("rally") represents a major innovation compared to the previous titles of the developer. After suffering damage, the player has a short time window in which he can regain his lost life by counterattacking. In addition to the absence of shields or armor that can be improved, this represents an incentive for a much more aggressive style of play than in the Dark and Demons Souls titles, for example. In addition, there is the possibility of cooperating with other players in an online multiplayer mode can, or duel them.

development

In several interviews, Hidetaka Miyazaki from From Software explains that Sony Computer Entertainment had already contacted him in 2012 and wanted to talk to him about a PlayStation 4 exclusive game. The ability to use the powerful hardware of the game console meant that Bloodborne was created parallel to the development of the game Dark Souls 2 .

Despite the comparability of the genre and the first visual impressions, it is not an official continuation of the Dark Souls series, but a further development inspired by the game mechanics of the predecessor. Another team was commissioned to develop Bloodborne internally. However, the game carries “the DNA of these games” in itself.

reception

After its appearance, the game received very high international ratings ( Metacritic : 92 out of 100). It sold a million times as of April 5, 2015.

Web links

Official website (German)