I had zero expectations and was still underwhelmed.

I'll get the positives out of the way first.

Visually the game is beautiful. The environments perfectly capture a dark Victorian aesthetic. The lovecraft and Angels Egg imagery is apparent. The texture work is phenomenal, with details like grooves and scratches in metal, cracks and rots in wood etc. The particle effects wowed me and the fog was a marvel to look at.

Now for the negatives.

The story is nothing special. If you've played previous games you'll have a good idea of what to expect. You have your realm ruined by human and god (Great ones in this case) hubris and malice, NPCs that are crooked etc. But it does nothing interesting with the standard souls story formula. The Lovecraft influence here is incredibly shallow, and is mostly window dressing over a standard souls plot. The endings are just DS1 but lamer. The premise of a bloodborne plague is dropped around the halfway point in favor of a blatant rehash of DS1s "Preserve the world or Become a God" 2nd half. I was astounded at how the game fell on its ass so bad in this regard.

The DLCs plot is a very shallow story about the cost of secrets and not digging them up. And then it just ends.
I was told that this game and its DLC had intricate lore and a compelling plot but it was already done far better in Demons and DS1. One of the redeeming qualities of these games sans DS2 was the stories and lore, so to see it botched so badly here is baffling.

The music was a jumbled, bland mess.
Demons and DS1 and 2 had a distinct style that contributed to their atmosphere and setting. With Demons having a TV composer bringing a dark brass style and Dark 1 and 2 having industry veteran Motoi Sakuraba's bombastic-somber flexibility flurishing.
Bloodborne bungles this by having at least a dozen composers. None of the OST stands out or feels stylistically consistent. It's all bland, dark orchestral sound.

But I don't blame you for thinking there isn't OST because unlike previous entries. Most bosses for what ever reason, feel the need to constantly scream and drown out the ost and sound effects. This becomes incredibly annoying to outright aggravating when fighting bosses like Amelia and Kos. If the intent was to contribute to a horror atmosphere, my eardrums were certainly shook for the wrong reasons.

The gameplay was further Streamlined from DS2, stats were combined or removed, leveling up costs way less this time as the combat has been streamlined to be very melee focused. This makes the common joke of Soulsborne being a press circle and R1 sim very accurate to this game. The rally mechanic entices players to get aggressive and mash R1 to regain health, but this becomes moot once weapons with long reach are found.

The dodge covers way more ground this time to compensate for the shift in combat focus. But as stated earlier. A long two handed weapon lets players safely wail on mooks and not have to focus on on the rally mechanic as much as the devs intended. This is made very egregious when the player finds Ludwig's Holy blade. As not only does it have the best stats in the game (and you find it in the first 15 hours), it also has generous hitboxes in two handed mode and is good enough for the entirety of the game.

Magic was mostly removed in favor of fire arms. But Fire arms are mostly useless since you can just spam Charged R2s and zip around enemies with the generous dodge distance. Parrying with firearms can open up visceral attack chances, but this can be also done by Back stabbing fully charged R2s anyway. Making Quicksilver bullets mostly redundant until one gets powerful guns like the canon that can topple smaller bosses.

Boss fights are once again mediocre to terrible. They still aren't designed around co-op and one can simply summon help to distract the boss while they spam charged R2s. They once again try and balance this by giving bosses extra health to compensate, but the DPS of NPC summons and Player summons are so massive it makes little difference. And the player will be constantly gifted insight by the truck load for each new area and boss discovered, to the point where at the middle of the game players could have over 60 insight to summon and never have to worry about tough bosses.

What also doesn't help is that the camera is probably the absolute worst it has ever been in the series up to this point. Since 90% of the bosses are huge, and the combat is melee focused, the camera goes berserk when they get in close when locked on. And most of the damage from bosses you'll take will be from bosses eating up the entire screen with their character model while you can't see.

Remember when I said magic was mostly removed? Well, you do get certain items late game like call beyond that let you cast powerful spells in exchange for bullets. This brings back the classic problem of enemies being designed around melee builds and being unable to handle ranged magic. And while you can only manage at most 3 casts with certain runes equipped, the DPS on melee weapons with co-op partners will simply exacerbate this classic flaw.

One redeeming quality of soulsborne that is still somewhat present is the level design. Yharnam feels like a real place with how shortcuts are designed and checkpoint placement is smart and non annoying. But this doesn't help the fact that most of the level layouts are just long narrow hallways or big open spaces. While the shortcuts are logical in how they work in universe. They don't fix the bland, unimaginative room layouts.

Leveling up and fast travel has for some reason been made more tedious by forcing player to return to the hunters dream hub to do both. This is exacerbated by the games long load times, some lasting up to 20 seconds.

For reasons beyond us, fromsoft felt the need to bring back vertical menus when one of DS2's few fixes was making horizontal menus. Why they decided this was a good idea is bewildering. As menu navigation is a complete chore.

The healing system still has not been fixed. DS1 and 2 had the right idea with the Estus system but fell on its ass by having Humanities, life gems and Healing miracles. Bloodborne's blood vials half copy the estus system but instead of having them refill at a lamp, you have to grind for them and can run out after the hunters dream refills your stock after heading to and from it. Why this team keeps getting so close, but so far in regards to this mechanic is baffling.

When I mentioned two paragraphs ago that the level design was mostly good, I was meaning to use that as a way to lead into describing how atrocious the chalice dungeons are. If you wanted to play the same 8 rooms with different textures and particle effects for 15 hours, this is the segment for you. The level design here is barebones, boss fights are 30% new, 40% regular enemies with more health, and 40% reused bosses from the main game with extra health.

The chalices make searching levels in the base game somewhat redundant, as you can input custom codes for specialized dungeons with rare items, you can even get a weapon from the final boss early this way. Making much of the "reward" for finding rare gems and weapons in the base game moot.

The DLC level design is very underwhelming, which is surprising as both DS1 and 2s DLC was excellent and actually transported you to brand new worlds and lands. The Old hunters reuses assets from the base game for 40% of it's 12 hour runtime. With the first area just being cathedral ward covered in sand. And it follows the same under designed narrow hallways and big rooms of the base game. Yet another case of Bloodborne blowing its tires and not even living up to soulsbornes standards.

There is genuinely nothing special about bloodborne. The gameplay is a boring loop of R1 circle for 40 hours. The story is rehashed, unpolished and unoriginal, the lovecraft and angel egg imagery is 95% window dressing, the music is a jumbled bland mess.

The bosses are still mediocre to terrible, and co-op still breaks them. The chalices are blatant bloat that makes exploration of the main game mostly redundant, even the series usual stellar DLC is a letdown.

If this is the only PS4 game as the jokes say it is, you'd be better off not touching this with a ten foot pole. It's one of the most bland, boring games on the platform (and that is saying something, when it comes to 1st party ps4 games) and there are hundreds of better RPGS on other systems better worth your time.

4/10.

Reviewed on Nov 07, 2021


43 Comments


2 years ago

theres a lot to respond to and I don't care to comment on everything even if I agree with a lot. 1 point is the coop for bosses as thats always intended to be an easy mode for people stuck. Could you imagine people still complain about adding an easy mode on top of that to the game? Weapons point was my favorite because they really are way too broken in this game.

2 years ago

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2 years ago

I understand my opinion is not a popular one. But if you are so upset you feel you have to fling personal attacks against me or my followers I will delete your comments. I welcome anyone who disagrees to share their opinion. But I will not tolerate personal attacks.

This is not a response to you btw jardhead. Some salty Fromsoft dickrider decided to get out of line.

2 years ago

based fuck snoy and fuck pseuds

2 years ago

Unfortunately, co-oping bosses have always made bosses laughably easy. It's why I always recommend doing everything by yourself in a first playthrough, as it makes the boss fights more enjoyable and rewarding. I really thought the music fit well with the atmosphere of the game. It's unfortunate to see that you disliked the music for Bloodborne, but it is interesting to see that you had positive things to say about Demon's Souls soundtrack as a lot of people shit on it, that was nice to see. I always thought Bloodborne's combat was at least the most interesting, in terms of melee for souls games, with every weapon being unique in their own right. I agree with your grievances regarding blood vials, as do a lot of other people. Chalice dungeons were done pretty terribly, I will admit. I do disagree with a lot of the things you said here, and you do come off as harsh sometimes, but I think you have some valid criticisms of Bloodborne.
wow, just wow

2 years ago

Cool, some actual and well articulated criticisms instead of just varying degrees of "BEST GAME EVAR" copied and pasted a bunch of times. On a side note, do you have any intention on playing Sekiro? Because after reading your other reviews , I'm genuinely curious to see your take on it.

2 years ago

I do plan on playing Sekiro down the line. But it will be a while. I'll play Dark Souls 3 before that as well. I can't give an exact time but I'd say maybe 2-5 months from now.

Sekiro does interest me, as it seems from the surface to be Fromsoft returning to their pure action roots from the post Kings Field 4 era.
sekiro is great, not as good as bloodborne tho but still really good

2 years ago

While I enjoy the hell out of this game, as you can see from my write-up I am genuinely terrible at it compared to most, so the things that bug you about this game are things that would never even occur to me. About the only thing I could relate to was that long weapons make the game easier, but to me that's only in relation to the Hunter's Axe in the early game and exploring certain areas for the first time while collecting souls to level up vitality and strength.

Otherwise, I tend to go for the Kirkhammer, I love the stark difference between speed and power while remaining close range.

Thanks for the other perspective, so rare I see an argument against this game!
Yeah these are pretty fair criticisms. I agree with most except for the music and DLC. There is one reused area, sure, but then you get the Clocktower and the Hamlet later which are completely new. You could argue that the clocktower is a rehash of Brume Tower. I also believe that Bloodborne, like Sekiro, shouldn't be compared with Souls because the combat system is so different. And the music absolutely fucks. There are some that fall a bit flat (One Reborn is annoying and Orphan of Kos starts out great but then falls flat) or are too grandiose for the actual boss (Blood-Starved Beast and Cleric Beast goes wayyyy too hard) but otherwise they really do set the mood for certain fights very well. The Hunter has that very strong brass/string motif which switches into a chaotic mess of strings by the second phase, Darkbeast slowly builds and builds much like how the boss continues to build charge, Rom has that really cool eastern feel to it that fits the stage, Queen of the Vilebloods has those awesome menacing strings, and then Ebrietas is a really cool symphony.
In terms of combat where you say that it's an R1 circle loop... so is Souls, if you want to play it that way. There doesn't seem to be build variety as robust here but it's there in the different weapons or builds you can make. The Chalice Dungeons are garbage with the occasional neat boss, I completely agree with that. That's where the combat system REALLY breaks with the Defiled Watchdog/Amygdala and Abhorrent Beast.
If anything, Elden Ring seems to be shaping up to be something you'd enjoy more considering the combat and story wasn't all that "for you."

2 years ago

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2 years ago

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2 years ago

@Allen I see my invasion of Bloodborne and my "Has played other video games build" has caused you some distress.

My pvp skills remain elite.

2 years ago

based fuck snoy and fuck pseuds

2 years ago

Based review, bonus that it was written on my birthday

2 years ago

As much as I enjoy BB I must admit that you are spitting fax. 😔
@allen true!

1 year ago

Not you saying ds2 had distinct music

1 year ago

@The_Shrekcher Demons, and the Dark souls trilogy have a distinct consistent style with their music as they only have one, or in DS2 and DS3s case two composers. Motoi Sakuraba is one of the most prolific composers in the industry. His orchestral songs make heavy use of organs and strings. Even in games where he phones it in like Tales of hearts, Dark souls 2, etc. You can instantly tell it's him. Yuta Kitamura in 2 and 3 tries to emulate his orchestral pieces this way as well.

My main issue with the OST in Bloodborne is that none of the songs share much with one another aside from tone. The instrumentation is all over the place due to so many different composers doing their own thing with just one tonal guideline.

1 year ago

@ToasterNinja can you actually bring some examples of that?

1 year ago

Also I want to adress some of the criticisms you said

I'll argue that the story does do interesting things with the normal souls story. For one, the setting is completely different, it's gothic victorian and not medieval. The great ones behave differently from the gods from dark souls. They are more lovecraftian and less mithological.

Your point about the guns make zero sense. Guns are the only way to parry, which is an extremely valuable tool to kill enemies/bosses as quickly as possible. Backstabs require a fully charged R2 so if you the enemy is aware of you it's practicaly worthless which makes guns the only way to riposte enemies in direct combat

Summoning is an very optional feature only meant to be used by people who don't have the time or energy to "git gud". You can just ignore it. And if this annoyed you either way, I beg to god you never try elden ring ever

Another thing, in ds1 humanity was a rare item, at least on your first playthrough, and miracles require faith to use, they don't break any balance. The lifegems did that bc they were common and cheap to buy from the start in huge chunks

The first area in the dlc doesn't have the level design of cathedral ward. After you reach the church with Laurence the level is completely different so this point feels pretty disingenous. In truth, only like 10% of the dlc are assets from the main game. Also I should remind you that the first area in the dlc for ds1 is mostly a rehash of the darkroot gardens

I think this review is pretty poorly written overall to be blunt, but I don't have anything against your opinion with the game. Just wanted to share some counter-arguments without sounding like a blind fanboy tbh

1 year ago

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1 year ago

Regardless of how the great ones conduct themselves in miniscule ways, they still serve the purpose as in other souls games.
Which I explained as the endings being the exact same "Preserve the poor state of the world or a become a god" trope that wasn't utilized well.


My point about the guns makes perfect sense. Parrying is an irrelevant mechanic as I stated that the dodges cover enough distance and you can just rely on charged R2s.
They are near useless outside of the cannon you can use to stun bosses. I also mentioned that Ludwig's sword plays into this since it has a very generous hit box.
All you need to do is dodge, hit and charge. Parrying is completely pointless.

"Summoning is optional", and here we go with this tired ass excuse souls fans constantly use to justify a broken mechanic. I do not give a fuck if a mechanic is optional.
Ignoring the flaw does not invalidate the existence of that flaw and I am not going to ignore it because I am not writing an advertisement. This a review, if the devs fuck up,
I will bring it up.


Humanities in DS1 could be farmed from rats. You could get up to 99 in less than 3 hours. So yes they did break the balance of that game.


I never stated the first area in the Dlc was just the exact same cathedral ward, I mentioned it was cathedral ward with sand.


I already gave you examples of how DS2 has distinct Sakuraba music, I mentioned the instruments he uses in his orchestral pieces.


My review is not "poorly written". You just completely ignored what my points were or disregarded them.

1 year ago

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1 year ago

You didn't give any examples of music in the game that have this. You just said it. This is the definition of shallow criticism. I will disregard this point until you bring some valid examples

The point about the guns is absolute nonsense. If you find the dodge distance "too large" that doesn't invalidate an entire mechanic as you think it does. They don't have much in common and using a certain weapon doesn't prove it either. I explained why it's useful. If you personally chose not to engage with it, it doesn't make it worthless mechanic that shouldn't exist
Also the cannon is kinda just a waste of bullets ngl

Why is summoning a flaw? Bc it makes bosses easier for the people who don't want a challenge? Is a difficulty setting a flaw? Is anything that can ease your time with a game a flaw? What does a flaw ever mean to you. But you know, just disregard all of this to "omg souls fans and their shitty excuses". Intelligent argument that doesn't make you look arrogant at all

Do you think any sane player will kill rats over and over again just for some humanity? It's boring so nobody will do it and the devs know it.

"Cathedral ward with sand" is a poor piece of criticism that doesn't explain anything. Please me more insightful. Also you said that "which is surprising as both DS1 and 2s DLC was excellent and actually transported you to brand new worlds and lands.". Well guess what? This dlc does that too. There are 2 more huge areas after hunter's nightmare if you want to simplify it as "cathedral ward with sand"

The endings are basically the same, fair enough, but how is the souls plot not ulitized well? This game and dark souls have clear difference within their gods. One explains them, one doesn't. One tells you who they are and what's your purpose. The other hides that knowledge to a reveal that there is more to this world than meets the eye. If the lovecraftian horror were to just simply not exist the entire lore and plot of this game will completely fall apart by the halfway point thus proving it isn't just window dressing and it's a crucial element of the writting for this game that sets it apart from dark souls

This review isn't nearly as smart as you think it is and creates issues where there a none. I didn't adress all of your points bc I either agree to them or don't care enough to make a counter-argument. I chose the ones that were the most stupid.

But as a side-note I would highly recommend you try sekiro. It doensn't have most of the "flaws" that you have with this game

1 year ago

@TheRealBigC alright fair point