The Old Hunters
Bloodborne is one brutal game, there is no denying that. It takes the violent, methodical nature of the Souls series and ramps up the speed without adding any mercy. It will take you in, chew you up, then spit you out as it waits for you to try your hand against its dark threats yet again.
The huge, gothic city of Yharnam, the dense forests that house unspeakable monstrosities, and the Great Ones that hide just on the edge of sanity aren’t just what make the game. There’s also the hunters, the ones that were once like you, eager to help those in need as they rid the world of whatever was causing all of these events. It’s those very hunters that you will have to deal with once again, only now there are more, and they are better.
The Old Hunters expansion to Bloodborne takes players to a new world, the Hunter’s Nightmare. This is a familiar place, albeit a twisted imagining of the same Yharnam you’ve come to know and loathe. Beasts and Hunters roam the land, and new monstrosities wait for you to enter their dark hallways, rooms, and corner.
The familiar sense of urgency as you engage in each fight returns, as does the crushing feeling of going up against a foe knowing full well that you are not ready. Bloodborne’s DLC managed to take the already sinister difficult gameplay of the base game and make it even worse (in a good way). The Old Hunters is more challenging than anything you’ve faced before it, and that’s how it shines
New ways to be torn to sheds, and new weapons to do some shedding of your own. The Old Hunters, unlike other entries on this list, may just give you more of what you already know without messing with the formula too much, but it does it so well that you just don’t mind. It reminds you what made the game that came out earlier in the year so great and gives more than enough reason to jump back in as we move towards the new year.
