From Hunter To Hunted As A Newcomer Takes On The Beginning Of Bloodborne

Having never invested time with From Software’s Souls series of games, Bloodborne is quite a new style of gaming for me. Yet there’s a diehard cadre of fans eager to get to grips with the ominously dark and brutally unforgiving action RPG. I entered the first hour or so of the game with a little more trepidation.

As I opened my eyes, I found myself strapped to a table in a particularly foreboding room. This is Iosefka’s Clinic, a room filled with a rather makeshift assortment of medical equipment and miscellaneous bottles and jars, befitting of the grimy gothic setting. I was more concerned with the man leaning over my prone body, as he stated that I needed to sign a contract in order to begin the transfusion of Yharnam blood he proclaimed I needed.

I’m not so sure I do, but it’s at this point that the character creation screen opens up, giving me the opportunity to pick things like gender, age, and the overall look of my character, as well as choosing the starting stats across seven categories by way of their background. A Lone Survivor has higher Vitality than the rest, for example, while a Noble Scion has higher Bloodtinge (whatever that might be) and the Cruel Fate has greater Arcane abilities. The Milquetoast seems to be the allrounder, while the Waste of Skin – “You are nothing. Talentless. You shouldn’t have been born,” the game tells me – is the runt of the litter, with the lowest assortment of stats that will make the game even more challenging.

As the transfusion takes hold, you’re wracked by what initially seem to be hallucinations, as a wolf beast rises out of a pool of blood next to you and the small emaciated and sickly white messengers crawl over your body. Slipping back into unconsciousness, these ghastly visages are dismissed from view, but their existence within the world becomes all too apparent as you awake once more, are freed from the table and able to venture into the world. Without a weapon – though still in a weapon-holding stance – the first of the hulking wolf beasts that you come across quickly offs you, but this is a minor setback as you are transported instead to the Hunter’s Dream, a dimly lit church yard that will come to act as your hub for the game.

It’s here that you get your first weapons, as messengers pop up out of the ground bearing a choice of the game’s signature trick weapons – I chose an axe that can switch between single and two handed use – and a gun – where the blunderbuss was really the only choice, to match my piratical look. Yet, as I wandered around, inspecting the grave stones that act as shops and the way back to Yharnam, I’m besieged by these messengers, giving me all the information to control my character, use weapons, items and more. In truth it’s all a little overwhelming, and I soon lost count and stopped paying attention to what they said.

Much to my peril, as it turned out, when I returned to Yharnam and Iosefka’s Clinic to defeat the beast that had killed me. Well, at my second attempt, anyway. It’s an early lesson in being able to reclaim your Blood Echoes, but having to defeat the enemy that killed you in order to do so and carry on from where you had previously reached is a powerful mechanic that adds an element of leniency to an otherwise punishing level of difficulty.

However, as I emerged into the crumbling gothic streets of central Yharnam, I found myself confronted with a familiar sight. The first hour or so of the game retreads the footsteps of the alpha that was released last year, polished and refined graphically – something which I have played before, albeit briefly. So I was forewarned as to some of what lay ahead of me, but also able to use this knowledge to explore the area in a different manner.

Rather than heading down a set of stairs, I found a shortcut that cut out a section of the level and let me avoid a roving band of torch wielding, ramshackle humans. Similarly, I was able skirt around the large group that stand and wander around near to a large bonfire in a square, drawing them away one or two at a time and dispatching them quickly and sliding past the rest, like the flighty yet dangerous hounds that were all disease and sinew and bone.

Yet, there was a huge amount of trial and error. Not everything was well remembered by me, especially as I started to explore a little off the beaten path by breaking through obstacles or finding little dead ends, and I was caught out by enemies that spotted me on more than one occasion. As I honed my actions and patch through to the next area though, I was far too often caught out by my overconfidence or sloppy play in general, like forgetting to lock onto enemies, performing time consuming heavy attacks rather than light ones, or simply miscueing a charged attack.

Picking your fights and absolutely nailing your timing are both key, as I found myself very easily overwhelmed. Without the ability to block an incoming attack, a lot also relies on dodging or staggering enemies with a blast from your gun before striking a series of powerful attacks of your own, with the ability to switch between the two forms of the weapons mid-combo a delight. It’s fast and fluid – faster, so the internet tells me, than Dark Souls – and a single mistake can quickly see you die. Striking those who deal damage to you can restore some of your health, as the Regain system encourages you to stay in the fight, but without being skilful enough, it’s not something I could rely on.

It always felt like my own fault as I died consistently, being sent back to the lamp that had sprouted out of the ground at the point where the alpha test had started and having to battle all the enemies once again, but I did gradually hone my method. Yet things constantly came unstuck the deeper I progressed. Carrion crows surprised me when I first encountered them, the larger wolf beasts attacked in pairs and even the deceptively slow troll were able to catch me out with the potential for a rapid flurry of attacks that I found inescapable. Though I could often return to reclaim my Blood Echoes, I would just as easily fall at the same hurdle or the next set of enemies.

I never did manage to reach the first boss though, and so the Cleric Beast will have to wait to kill me another time, but even as I effectively butted up against a brick wall of difficulty there’s something quite appealing about Bloodborne. That difficulty means that this will be a closed book to many players – and though I wish I could have progressed further, I fear that group may well include myself – but come release next week, fans of Dark Souls should find it easy to adapt and do battle with the disease ridden mobs on the oppressive yet strangely alluring streets of Yharnam.