This review contains spoilers
As someone who heard of, and saw Dark Souls gameplay years prior to playing this, I wasn't exactly hopping on to play any of them anytime soon. It seemed like it would be up my alley, it's not like I resented challenging games like it, especially with people calling it the hardest shit out there (which I think is greatly embellished). But man, whistles, once I played Bloodborne, it all clicked.
The game was a bit of a learning curve, especially with it being my first Soulsborne, but holy shit were the depths of it so fun to explore (pun intended). The trick weapons are some of the coolest, most intricate weapons I've ever seen in anything, combat and appearance wise. The story, while obviously not understanding everything at first, is so fucking cool. The music during the boss fights makes you feel like you're taking on godlike beings, because, well...you are. Everything about it is just immaculate, truly felt like playing Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in 3D, with the various weapons, and armor having various stat differences.
The game is difficult, but I feel like it's a really fine-tuned difficulty. As I mentioned earlier, I think the difficulty of these games is so blown out of proportions. One of my favorite games is Spelunky, and I consider that to be THE hardest game I've ever completed. This is nothing like that, it's challenging, but not hair-pulling challenging. The difficulty is just the right amount to keep you focused, and immersed in the world at all times, which is the ultimate goal of it. Besides, if this game was truly JUST bullshit, then why is there so much art people have made about the world and characters.
The characters and covenants are what really got me invested. I was not expecting such simple interactions to develop into crucial lore additions that would just pile as the game went on; If you're paying attention to what's being told. It blew me away by how much there was truly going on in the story, and it really made me realize just how special this game, hell, this whole loosely-tied series of games FromSoftware made. There's an entire book written on dissecting the lore, which while I admittedly haven't read yet, is apparently really intricate about how it picks apart the overall narrative the game is trying to present. Here it is, I recommend giving it a read once you've completed the game yourself (I'll be going back to this link to read it myself): https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1JL5acskAT_2t062HILImBkV8eXAwaqOj611mSjK-vZ8/mobilebasic
In conclusion, if you have ANY interest in this, go fucking play it. BUT, as someone who played this game first, in the Soulsborne series, I recommend playing DS1 first. It's easily accessible, with a remaster being available on every current platform, and it eases you into the mechanics the best for the rest of the games going forward. I could make a review on DS1 as well, but that's for another time. If you've played Dark Souls, and haven't played this one, PLAY IT. If you've never played a Souls game, play DS1, THEN play this.
You won't regret it, I guaranteed you. Truly redefined my view on video games as a whole, and sure, you may have heard that from millions across the internet, but it is not hyperbole in the slightest.
The game was a bit of a learning curve, especially with it being my first Soulsborne, but holy shit were the depths of it so fun to explore (pun intended). The trick weapons are some of the coolest, most intricate weapons I've ever seen in anything, combat and appearance wise. The story, while obviously not understanding everything at first, is so fucking cool. The music during the boss fights makes you feel like you're taking on godlike beings, because, well...you are. Everything about it is just immaculate, truly felt like playing Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in 3D, with the various weapons, and armor having various stat differences.
The game is difficult, but I feel like it's a really fine-tuned difficulty. As I mentioned earlier, I think the difficulty of these games is so blown out of proportions. One of my favorite games is Spelunky, and I consider that to be THE hardest game I've ever completed. This is nothing like that, it's challenging, but not hair-pulling challenging. The difficulty is just the right amount to keep you focused, and immersed in the world at all times, which is the ultimate goal of it. Besides, if this game was truly JUST bullshit, then why is there so much art people have made about the world and characters.
The characters and covenants are what really got me invested. I was not expecting such simple interactions to develop into crucial lore additions that would just pile as the game went on; If you're paying attention to what's being told. It blew me away by how much there was truly going on in the story, and it really made me realize just how special this game, hell, this whole loosely-tied series of games FromSoftware made. There's an entire book written on dissecting the lore, which while I admittedly haven't read yet, is apparently really intricate about how it picks apart the overall narrative the game is trying to present. Here it is, I recommend giving it a read once you've completed the game yourself (I'll be going back to this link to read it myself): https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1JL5acskAT_2t062HILImBkV8eXAwaqOj611mSjK-vZ8/mobilebasic
In conclusion, if you have ANY interest in this, go fucking play it. BUT, as someone who played this game first, in the Soulsborne series, I recommend playing DS1 first. It's easily accessible, with a remaster being available on every current platform, and it eases you into the mechanics the best for the rest of the games going forward. I could make a review on DS1 as well, but that's for another time. If you've played Dark Souls, and haven't played this one, PLAY IT. If you've never played a Souls game, play DS1, THEN play this.
You won't regret it, I guaranteed you. Truly redefined my view on video games as a whole, and sure, you may have heard that from millions across the internet, but it is not hyperbole in the slightest.