From Software, the developer of the Souls series, has another dark adventure game. Bloodborne drops the fantasy setting for a gothic 19th century aesthetic, and we got to take a look at the game at E3.
Another change is that the combat looks faster. In the demo, the player character, who is has to town in searching for a cure to the plague, was duel wielding an axe-like Saw Cleaver and a shotgun. The basic melee weapon has a quick attack and a slower heavy attack. Also, instead of guarding with a shield, the best defense is offense in Bloodborne. During the hands-off demo the importance of dodging and counterattacking was emphasized. The shotgun is a medium range weapon that fires a short bullet spread.
Most of the enemies, infected humans that haven’t fully tuned into monsters, went down with one or two hits. The Infected attack with whatever weapons lying around like pitchforks, wooden planks for shields, and cleavers. Reminiscent of the Souls games, one enemy wearing a top hat jumped out of a pile of barrels and lunged at the player. When enemies die, they emit some kind of essence that the player absorbs.
During the demo, the story was mentioned as a highlight. People are coming to the town for a treatment to the plague. Some are still partially human and haven’t turned while other enemies are full on monsters.
The first monster we saw was being burned at the stake. A crowd gathered around the stake while the player snuck around them by taking a different route.
A giant enemy wrapped in bandages and carrying a stone was waiting ahead. Loud booming sounds and a pulsing metal door foreshadowed the fight. The giant tried to slam the stone on the player who dodged and retaliated with a few Saw Cleaver slices. The Bloodborne demo also had a fast wolf-like enemy that chased the player and if it got close enough it would jump forward with a lunging bite.
Up ahead, the player had a choice. There was another human under attack from the wolf-like beasts. You choose to save him and have a partner help you or you can let him die and fight the boss on your own.
The boss in the demo, one of the first bosses in the game, was about 3x taller than the player with an elongated left arm. The boss would punch the ground in an attempt to damage the player. Even if you dodge the attack, smoke appears and occluded your vision.
Bloodborne is slated for release in early 2015 for PlayStation 4.
