Bloodborne is a third-person action/slashy/kill-bosses-and-dunk-casuals PS4 EXCLUSIVE game by FROM Software, and a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It's set in the Victorian era-inspired Yharnam, a city famed for it's "ancient medical remedies". However, a plague has hit Yharnam, transforming it's denizens into massive beasts made of rotting flesh, cracked bones, and nightmares. Oh, and blood. So. Much. Blood. The townsfolk who haven't been infected have taken to the streets in mobs to hunt down the foul beasts and outsiders who dare step foot in the run-down city. Enter you - a traveler stricken with the same plague, travelling to Yharnam to be cured (sound familiar?). Instead of the world's medical mecca, you find yourself in a very hostile place, but you must press on to free yourself of the curse you've been struck with.
Unlike FROM's previous work, Bloodborne throws out the medieval dark fantasy, riddled with castles and dark outdoor environments, and introduces a fresh new style - a dense, dark cityscape, with tight corners, tall buildings, and haunting catacombs. The architecture is reminiscent of Victorian-era London and Paris, with clock towers and added spook.
In terms of gameplay, the motto of the game is basically "Fuck shields"! There won't be any this time around, as fights are more focused on quick and aggressive combat, not passively hiding behind a shield waiting for the right opportunity. To offset the lack of shields, Bloodborne has a health regain system. When you're hit, there's a small window in which you can regain a fairly large portion of the health lost by counter-attacking the enemy. The weapons in Bloodborne also vastly differ from those in previous Souls games. For starters: there's fucking guns. In the more modern setting, magic is out the window, replaced by firearms. So far, we've seen a shotgun, a pistol, and a fucking minigun-cannon thing. These guns, however, are not that strong at range, and are mainly used as a sort of parry/stun mechanism. Shooting an enemy at the right moment will stun them, leaving them open for an awesome, bloody, powerful critical attack. The weapons themselves have also undergone significant change. Every weapon we've seen so far has been able to transform, going from one mode to another. One weapon goes from hand-axe to halberd. Another goes from sword to hammer, all at the touch of a button. Weapons can also be transformed mid-attack chain, creating interesting and powerful attack combos. The Estus Flask has been replaced by Blood Vials, one-time use items that can be found off of corpses or just on the ground. Players can use either purified blood or tainted blood, the latter being much easier to obtain. However, using too much tainted blood transforms you into a Beast, and you become stronger, shapeshift, but become harder to control.
Online functions seem to work similarly to FROM's previous games, with a "summoning" and "invading" system, but these details have only been slightly revealed through the alpha. And yes, don't worry, messages are still around. Destroy but hole.
But enough chatter. Here's some videos and pictures!
VIDEOS!
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See you in Yharnam!