A game that wears its grotesque atmosphere and gameplay proudly. Replaying this game as a whole was just an idea I thought of on the spot after some personal issues, and after pouring out over another 80 hours I feel just the same as all those years ago when I first beat it. When first playing I remember how much I adored the gothic take it approached but the replay cemented my feelings on that. The polish in regards to level design is unmatched, like the unseen village, fishing hamlet, and a common trope even in souls games but fighting Gehrman in the flower field is spectacular.

While its base game has its own collection of positives, the elements that come together to make the DLC are still prevalent in base game to me. Ludwig, the first hunter of the healing church and my favorite boss in all of Bloodborne, and if i'm honest my favorite ost to accompany a boss in souls games, an ost that genuinely incites fear and hesitation in you. While his first phase portrays him being decrepit and broken down, the subtle touch of his second phase being reconnected with the Moonlight Greatsword and his moves in turn becoming more focused and polished than his first phase having sporadic moves to then dancing between the projectile slashes will never get tiring. His fight while taking me less than 5 tries still felt rewarding and your talk with just his floating head ontop of all the floating carcases actually got emotion from me, and the slight detail of equipping church gear allowing you to speak with him further. “Good hunter, have you seen the thread of light? Just a hair, a fleeting thing, yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beasts. I never wanted to know, what it really was. Really, I didn't” AHHHHHHHH HES DONE MIRACLESS ON MEEEE

Lady Maria is also just an absolute joy to fight and my favorite fight outside of ludwig, its a humanoid fight done perfectly. Orphan of Kos is another trip cause the scream I let out when I first beat that orphan oh my days. I’d be lying if I didnt say I hadn't had slight grievances with this game like Micolash’s fight just being dumbed down to a gimmick. The idea of traversing through Mergo’s Loft within the boss fight in itself interesting but what makes it all fall flat is Micolash himself, with his moveset being dumbed down to just spamming Augur majority of the fight. The best part of Rom’s fight being the stage itself and Hemwick Witch just being rubbish and forgettable. Also brainsuckers area alek level enemies. I could go on about the Laurence fight but my only grievance about that fight is his snatched waist that gives him that small ass hitbox. Some small things like a limited weapon inventory compared to other souls games in a way pushes you to stick to a weapon instead of shuffling through them with the trick system being an addictive feature. while most souls games aim towards abandoned stages devoid of life, Bloodborne stays loyal with Yharnam and all the areas you come across, the gothic and genuine decay carries over the story especially with the victorian era architecture and how dimmed down the colour palette throughout the story is. It’s lore that makes you pay more attention to your surroundings and want to dive in deeper to divulge answers to the world around you and the revelation that the blood thirsting monsters roaming around you are nothing but end results of the world around them plagued by the Great Ones which is an aspect that continuously pushes the story, and, succumbing to bloodlust and disease that traversed throughout Yharnam. Miyazaki presented so many layers with this game and contrived something special here

Eileen come home the kids miss you