This was my first experience with FromSoftware’s 'Souls-like' games, so there’s a lot of new literacy and things I had to unlearn about “action” games. It’s been fascinating and rewarding.
I think the most impactful difference in gameplay here is the stamina bar. Having to essentially manage the amount of "action" you can do in short bursts is a massive change in the rhythm, pacing, and approach to battles. And it's genius. It makes every single encounter meaningful; you cannot just mindlessly attack until the enemy is gone. You must be more strategic, plan better the amount of attacks you can try, when to retrieve, and generally be more observant of the enemies. It results in a highly engaging combat system.
The game world is fantastically realized. It’s always a bit impressive when you’re exploring deep into an area and then you reach a gate or ladder that takes you back to an early part of the world, and you realize how intricate and connected the whole thing is.
I love the setting and the architecture.
The atmosphere is dark, tense, sometimes hopeless and eventually terrifying. For me, playing this in online mode is essential, as reading notes, seeing the white ghosts of other players right there you with you makes the whole journey much less tense and endurable.
The story is vague and has to be discovered and dug out by the player, which is very different and more engaging. Relying on notes scarcely scattered all over the game, short monologues from the characters you encounter, and item descriptions for storytelling results in a story open for ample interpretations and mystery, but it also encourages for inquisitiveness during exploration.
The second biggest impactful difference in the game’s design is the lack of any sort of map. I love this; every game that offers a map should always provide an option to disable it, and I always do disable them on the ones that do. Not having a map makes for a more immersive exploration of the world, and it works to great effects in Bloodborne. You get to know and familiarize with every single corner of this world.
Having said that, I didn’t enjoy the areas that are not set in the cities or more “civilized” settings (like the Forbidden Woods) - they felt less engrossing and a bit cheap.
And yes, the game is very challenging, and strangely, it feels specially difficult at the beginning. But I do believe that in order to overcome the initial spike, you need mostly to be patient and receptive of what the game is trying to teach you through its mechanics instead of expecting a traditional over-expository tutorial. Everything has to be discovered on your own, but every discovery is rewarding and worthwhile.
While I don’t have a big problem with the frame-rate in general, it does sometimes feel a bit sluggish, which is a shame. But considering its age - it’s a 5-year-old game - I find it technically ok. Having said that, it is very weird how there’s no lip or mouth movements when characters speak - it feels very outdated.
Ultimately, Bloodborne was a remarkable and different experience that I overall am very glad with having completed.
I think the most impactful difference in gameplay here is the stamina bar. Having to essentially manage the amount of "action" you can do in short bursts is a massive change in the rhythm, pacing, and approach to battles. And it's genius. It makes every single encounter meaningful; you cannot just mindlessly attack until the enemy is gone. You must be more strategic, plan better the amount of attacks you can try, when to retrieve, and generally be more observant of the enemies. It results in a highly engaging combat system.
The game world is fantastically realized. It’s always a bit impressive when you’re exploring deep into an area and then you reach a gate or ladder that takes you back to an early part of the world, and you realize how intricate and connected the whole thing is.
I love the setting and the architecture.
The atmosphere is dark, tense, sometimes hopeless and eventually terrifying. For me, playing this in online mode is essential, as reading notes, seeing the white ghosts of other players right there you with you makes the whole journey much less tense and endurable.
The story is vague and has to be discovered and dug out by the player, which is very different and more engaging. Relying on notes scarcely scattered all over the game, short monologues from the characters you encounter, and item descriptions for storytelling results in a story open for ample interpretations and mystery, but it also encourages for inquisitiveness during exploration.
The second biggest impactful difference in the game’s design is the lack of any sort of map. I love this; every game that offers a map should always provide an option to disable it, and I always do disable them on the ones that do. Not having a map makes for a more immersive exploration of the world, and it works to great effects in Bloodborne. You get to know and familiarize with every single corner of this world.
Having said that, I didn’t enjoy the areas that are not set in the cities or more “civilized” settings (like the Forbidden Woods) - they felt less engrossing and a bit cheap.
And yes, the game is very challenging, and strangely, it feels specially difficult at the beginning. But I do believe that in order to overcome the initial spike, you need mostly to be patient and receptive of what the game is trying to teach you through its mechanics instead of expecting a traditional over-expository tutorial. Everything has to be discovered on your own, but every discovery is rewarding and worthwhile.
While I don’t have a big problem with the frame-rate in general, it does sometimes feel a bit sluggish, which is a shame. But considering its age - it’s a 5-year-old game - I find it technically ok. Having said that, it is very weird how there’s no lip or mouth movements when characters speak - it feels very outdated.
Ultimately, Bloodborne was a remarkable and different experience that I overall am very glad with having completed.
Reviewed on Jan 03, 2021