You haul around souls (the games’ version of cash), but drop them if you die, after which you have just one shot to bash your way back to the spot you croaked and reclaim your booty. The Souls games are basically risk-reward abattoirs wrapped around hack-and-slash chutes. Multiply by the barrage of new enemy types, each with unique attacks, and how you dispatch them - the crux of these games, requiring methodical thought - is easily the most nuanced of any of the prior Souls installments. Regain is thus another dare (in a game about daring), goading you to act recklessly, to make split-second tactical choices that, if you’re not thoroughly versed in an enemy’s attack patterns, often result in your taking even more damage. On paper, it’s as nuanced as a pugilism seminar.īut Bloodborne packs its Grand Guignol zoo with deft, spontaneous enemies who make it incredibly difficult to land reciprocal blows before the regain timer runs out and the damage to your health bar becomes permanent. It sounds trivial: after an enemy damages you, you have a few crucial seconds to strike back and, if you connect without taking further damage, replenish your flagging health bar. To wit, in Bloodborne the studio’s added what it calls a “regain” system to combat. The new “regain” system changes everythingįrom Software’s entire developmental oeuvre trades on simplistic sounding gameplay ideas that wind up having monumental depth. Here’s what I think of Bloodborne so far, absent the multiplayer angle, which I’m waiting to futz with until the game’s launch tomorrow, March 23. From Software’s great triumph as a studio - and Bloodborne epitomizes this - is in making that feel like something you want to do, not that you have to. Chalk my sluggishness up to being a slower, more methodical player.īut it’s also because Bloodborne carries forward the Souls’ series back-breaking pedigree: this is a game about pushing the proverbial ball up something more like a mountain, millimeter by grueling millimeter, looking for meaningful perspective on your progress. I’m still working through the first few areas. I’ve had the game since late last week and clocked at least 40 hours through Monday night - just shy of what some claim it takes to beat the game. That I’m nowhere near finished with Bloodborne says as much about From Software’s PlayStation 4 lycanthrope-mauler as anything.
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