Bloodborne
Bloodborne was an interesting surprise from From Software earlier this year. It was the first PlayStation exclusive from the developer since Demon’s Souls, but it didn’t stray too far from what had been working for the dev team over the past few years. Set in a dark, twisted, gothic world, players were thrown into a nightmare that only they could figure out and escape from. A world with old gods and hideous beasts just begging to be slain, and powerful blood that was at the center of all.
Playing out as more of an Action RPG, experience worked very differently than it does in most games. Players must collect Echoes (which are pretty much just like Souls from the Dark Souls series) and exchange them to increase their level and certain stats. In turn, growing more powerful becomes this sort of risk-reward dance where you may just spend your Echoes on equipment or decided to save up enough to increase your level (which you will need to do quite often). That constant fear of losing all your progress and hoping that you can make it back to the spot where you died to reclaim your experience keeps the pressure on and adds to the engaging intrigue of Bloodborne.
Combat is one of the reasons you’ll want this one, though, especially if the Dark Souls series isn’t your cup of tea. With the almost complete removal of blocking (there are a couple of shields, but you’ll be better off without them), combat is fast and relies on dodging and perfectly timed parries with your firearm. It’s a challenging but very rewarding experience that you definitely need to try if you have a PlayStation 4.
