Bloodborne: Dark, Scary, and unforgiving

     Bloodborne is an Action Role-Playing game set in the fictional world of Yarnham. It is an over-the-shoulder 3rd person game that follows "The Hunter" as they traverse the dark and dingy landscape to achieve their goals, violently. The Hunter is fully customizable for the player. They can create a unique character that would live and battle the evils of Yarham.

       The world of Yarham is designed with heavy Gothic and Lovecraft elements. Meant to appear dark and decayed, it's often hard to tell the difference between architecture, human characters, and horrific creatures. The majority of the game is lit by weak lamplight and/or campfires making the ambiance of the game very creepy.

    One of the design traits of Bloodborne is its difficulty, it's an exercise in futility for most. While there is a main plot that the Hunter should progress through, the punishing nature of each enemy, let alone the 'bosses', is enough to make any player put the controller down. This is actually a badge of honor for most fans of From Software, the studio behind Bloodborne and Dark Souls, who have dubbed this difficulty "Soulsborne hard".

    After spending many hours just getting to the first boss, The Cleric Beast, I found myself dying almost instantly. Suffering from frustration I went online to discover many players have to face this boss a dozen-plus times, and they like it that way. It was at this point I realized the difficult nature of the game would only increase and felt my time would be better spent elsewhere. Bloodborne was not for me.

Pros: Bloodborne is a beautiful game with a design that is second to none. Its consistent world and characters, created by Kazuhiro Hamatani, are expertly crafted and make for a truly immersive experience.

Cons: The game is hard, Soulsborne hard! It may turn off a lot of players(like myself) that are not gluttons for punishment. I might suggest making an "easy" or "story" mode for players would would just like to experience the world without much challenge. But that might also defeat the purpose.