Trailer teardown: Bloodborne through the eyes of a Dark Souls fanatic

News by Dave Cook Contributor

Published on June 17, 2014

Bloodborne is coming no later than March 2015 exclusively on PS4, and our resident Dark Souls fanatic Dave Cook is more than a little bit excited by that news. He's decided to analyse the game's leaked early footage back when it was known as Project Beast.

So, I'll be honest with you here: I freaking adore Demon's and Dark Souls. I like these games so much that I treated myself to a Dark Souls tattoo on my birthday last year.

Instead of doing a Dark Souls 2 review, I wrote up my entire playthrough in journal form, and much more.

Clearly, I am mental for Souls, so imagine my excitement when Bloodborne was announced during Sony's E3 conference. It's essentially the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls, headed up by the first Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki. This fact pleases me.

How much does it please me? This much:

So now that I've towelled myself off after that explosion of win, let's have a closer, more sober look at what just happened:

This is the world of Bloodborne. It's focused on a big city called Yharnam that is swarming with undead residents and unimaginable beasts. The era has advanced from the medieval lands seen in previous Souls titles to a more Victorian setting. You an't see it in the image above, but the city is full of smoking chimneys, grand clock towers and intricate architecture.

Here's our protagonist, seen here brandishing a shotgun and a special sword that has multiple combat states. It's been confirmed that weapons can evolve on the fly to suit different combat scenarios, and everyone we know who has seen the game running agrees that combat is much faster than battle in the Souls series. You can also dual-wield swords.

The very helpful back dash move will return, and should help our shield-less warrior evade danger when swarmed like this. We haven't seen him or her use a shield yet, and From Software has suggested that trying to overly-defensive will get you killed. They want you to get right into battles up close, which is why the point blank shotgun blast seen above should come in very handy.

Hooray for dodge rolls. It seems Bloodborne's enemies won't all be the same size as you, which should appears fans of previous Souls titles. Bigger is often better, but can also make you very dead rather fast. Part of the series' beauty lies in the accomplishment felt when toppling a beast ten times your own size. bring it on I say.

There's the light mechanic from Dark Souls 2. It's unclear if you'll need to stock-pile torches in Bloodborne, but it would be nice to see it enter into puzzles and other interesting mechanics, such as burning the Earthen Peak windmill, or setting fire to oil in Sinner's Rise.

It's funny I should mention oil, because this player totally just threw oil on that enemy and set him alight with their torch. Did you see that?

Two-handed combat is back. The hero blocks that giant bird's attack and then counters with their own swipe. The purple hue of the feathers suggests this is a spell, possibly dark magic or a Hex of some kind.

A bell tower. It wouldn't be the first time we've been asked to ring a bell in this series, and the text in the clip suggests that he player is cursed, just like in Dark Souls 2. Could we see players tasked with ringing bells and curing their own curse? I'd be down for that, certainly.

I'd place good money on those statues being the new bonfires and save points. Bloodborne most certainly has a soul mechanic, in which the player absorbs souls from fallen enemies, so these statues could be the place to spend them.

Fog gates! Though it's scary not knowing what's on the other side of these shrouds, that's fear is part of the incentive to progress. Is there a big boss on the other side, or just another part of the area? That's the mystery, and most certainly the fun of not knowing.