Bloodborne

About Bloodborne

Bloodborne is an action RPG by FromSoftware, directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and published by Sony for PlayStation 4 in March 2015. It is a PS4 exclusive that also plays on PS5 through backward compatibility, and it is included in the PlayStation Plus Extra catalogue.

You arrive in Yharnam, an ancient city of Victorian gothic streets cursed with an illness spreading like wildfire. The store's own words promise danger, death and madness around every corner: deranged mobs carrying torches, beasts in the alleys, and nightmarish creatures guarding the city's darkest secrets.

Combat is fast and close. You carry trick weapons that change form, such as the saw cleaver, in one hand and a firearm in the other, used to interrupt attacks and open enemies to a visceral strike. The game is built around dodging, counterattacking and close-range aggression rather than hiding. Lamps act as checkpoints and lead to the Hunter's Dream, a hub where you level up and upgrade with the Blood Echoes you earn from kills.

Its horror grows as you go. The setting draws on Dracula and gothic fiction, and Miyazaki has said he brought the themes of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos into the game: a stat called Insight, gained from meeting bosses, changes the world around you, and the hunt for beasts turns into something far stranger. Optional Chalice Dungeons add fixed and procedurally generated ruins to explore, and The Old Hunters expansion adds a separate nightmare realm.

Critics rated it highly (Metacritic 92) and it won several Game of the Year awards. It suits players who want horror they can fight, and who accept dying often while they learn; those who want to hide from what hunts them should look at survival horror instead.

How to play Bloodborne

1. Create your hunter and step out into the streets of Yharnam.
2. Explore Yharnam's streets, opening shortcuts and lighting lamps, which act as checkpoints.
3. Fight with your trick weapon, switch its form for reach or speed, and dodge rather than block.
4. Fire your gun just as an enemy attacks to stagger it, then press the attack button for a visceral strike.
5. Return to the Hunter's Dream through a lamp to spend Blood Echoes on levels and weapon upgrades.
6. Try the optional Chalice Dungeons, reached through ritual items, for extra ruins to explore alone or with others.

Tips

• Learn the gunshot parry early; it turns the hardest fights.
• Look for shortcuts that loop back to a lamp before pushing into new areas.
• Fight groups at a choke point and pick off stragglers one at a time.
• If a boss is too hard, explore elsewhere or summon help online.

Questions