Bloodborne on the Playstation 4. A scythe for sore eyes

One of my favourite clips from during the Bloodbourne trailer

So this week we heard that Bloodborne, FromSotwares Gothic RPG, is penned for a February 2015 release. It's safe to say that I am SO ready to pound the dark streets of the Yharman with my interchangeable melee weapons in one hand and a firearm in the other. Over the last few weeks I have been watching the game play and studying the environments to look for clues about how my own journey throughout Yharman will pan out.

Like Thief, Bloodborne is set against a Victorian backdrop of which I would describe as a plague fueled demonic labyrinth. During the early game play seconds I noticed how well the developers, FromSoftware, had manipulated the use of light by bouncing it off the musky water puddles that were lay along the cobbled streets. This gave me a sense of bleakness as the environment felt even more cold and damp. From the ground up, our main protagonist motioned along whilst often encountering enemies wielding weapons. THIS was another great point that I noticed. The enemies appeared to make great use of their weapons, particularly those that possessed a gun of some sort. I have played many games in which the NPC's have tooled up with weapons for more of an aesthetic purpose than an offensive one. Despite this, I noticed that the enemies appeared slow in their movement which made it easier to launch melee attacks. Conclusively, I thought the game play looked easier than in previous Souls games. I could be completely wrong of course.

A dual wielding perspective of our main protagonist

There has been a lot of talk about the combat systems in Bloodborne. If you watch the game play closely you may notice that the melee weapon can transform by increasing the reach which inevitably will increase the damage to a group of enemies. This occurs by pressing 'L1'  during close quarter combat. This element appeared to enhance the speed of a battle. I watched the game play numerous times and noted that point on every occasion. The game play didn't appear to showcase much use of the 'shotgun looking' weapon. I've always been a player that enjoys a weapon in both hands so this is a positive for me from the start. I am unsure if we will be able to change the gun to another melee weapon or if the gun will be a permanent feature. Either way, the combat looks incredibly smooth, gory and balanced. May I say that the sounds of 'steel on steel' in the CQC and the squelching of the blood as it projectile shot from an enemy after being torn apart by the saw clever were also very satisfying.

The left hand is where it's at!!!!

The Transformed/extended Saw Clever

Shapes, size and vigour. Yes, the game play spoke volumes to me about the enemy range. Well, it was actually my own perception of the range of enemies, albeit, a reasonable range. The one that caught my eye was the Cleric Beast of which I have since read is a boss in Bloodborne. During battle, the Cleric Beast squeezed out sounds that were reminiscent of a whaling banshee and flung its bustling revealed rib cage in to motion. The sheer size of the beast was intimidating but nonetheless, seemed reasonably easy to attack as slow movements and a slow recovery time were a flaw in its tactics.

The mighty Cleric Beast in Bloodborne

I am certain that there is much more to learn about Bloodborne and I will certainly be preordering the game for the February 2015 launch. If you want to preorder today then please click on the graphic below to get great deals on Bloodborne and MANY other awesome games.

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