Eurogamer
Old habits are hard to break, especially when they’re ones that kept you safe through trying times. When you walked through the Valley in the shadow of Drakes, when you descended into the toxic depths of Blighttown, and when you paced the gleaming ramparts of Anor Londo, the old sword and shield combo was a reliable fallback in Dark Souls. Block, slash, back off, wait. It was a mantra you repeated to yourself over and over, a song whose comforting words saw you through the darkest nights. Block, slash, back off, wait. Dark Souls’ creator Hidetaka Miyazaki doesn’t want you to get comfortable, which is why his latest title, PS4 exclusive Bloodborne, is taking that fallback away. And as suspected, learning to get by in a From Software game without relying on a sword and shield doesn’t come easy – at least at first.
It’s at this point that the difference in combat between Bloodborne and From Software’s previous titles really becomes apparent. You move much faster, for starters, the dodge button enabling you to weave quickly, though sometimes clumsily, in and out and around several enemies at once. With a sword and shield combo in Souls, the instinct was to remain unmoved, allowing combatants to come to you while keeping your defences up and waiting patiently for the right time to attack. In Bloodborne, enemies come so thick and fast that this approach would be suicide, even before factoring in your lack of defensive equipment. Your foes are faster and smarter, too, and have a wide array of attacks. Some prod you with a pitchfork while their comrades call you an accursed beast and wave fire in your face to scare you off. Some drag their scythes along on the ground behind them as they patrol, filling the air with a horrible scraping sound as they screech across the cobblestones.
GameSpot
My usual reliance on brawn and bulk was the first Souls game inclination I had to unlearn. Flailing mutants and diseased rats needed to be vanquished, but there was no shield to hide behind. Instead, I wielded weapons in both hands, and could easily switch between two right-handed blades with the press of a button. In my left hand was a shotgun, which could do some damage from a moderate distance, but which (of course) provided more offensive power up close. I could also hold a torch aloft in place of my gun, which was a boon when the corridors darkened. (If you are worried that Bloodborne would make torches as pointless as they were in Dark Souls II’s original release, you can rest your mind in that regard.) However, it was the blades, in tandem with my firearm, that saw the most onscreen action.
It was a tense and eerie gameplay session, with each new enemy crushing my soul as I gripped the controller. One creature–a looming skeletal arthropod–looked like an ancient fossil come to life, and several of them lobbed balls of fire towards me. It was a phenomenal sight and a challenging area, given that I had to deal with bell-ringers and other adversaries in addition to the fireball-spewing freaks. But once I learned to close the distance and flail away on the skittering things’ tails, they weren’t long for this world. And so it will go in the full game, I imagine: moving through the darkness and fog, and discovering new ways to destroy whatever gross brute stands in your path. We’ll know soon enough–and I am already stocking up on anti-anxiety medicine in anticipation.
Kotaku UK
The rhythm and style of the combat is different, you see, even if it might look broadly similar. In Souls you’re usually on the defensive – you walk into a room with your shield up and can take a few hits before reacting. That just does not happen in Bloodborne. You don’t even have a shield. When something hits you, you have to hit back, and quickly, to regain health. My initial instinct was to dodge backwards and regroup after getting hit by some screaming madman with a cleaver, but after a while my mindset changed and I was lunging back aggressively with my own transforming cleaver after every blow I took. It’s exceptionally aggressive and exciting and on-edge. Every single encounter feels like life or death, and it usually is.
I’m not usually a fan of gore, or of horror, which made me nervous about Bloodborne – I’m still not convinced that I’ll be able to get through it mentally unscathed. This isn’t dark fantasy any more. It’s more gruesome than that. But it’s not gross-out – there’s no viscera gushing from wounds, no gore-porn, nothing that made my nose wrinkle in disgust. I’ve been scared and occasionally shocked by the things I’ve seen so far in Bloodborne, but not repulsed. This shouldn’t be surprising, really, as this is a Miyazaki game, and rarely has there been a game creator more devoted to aesthetic beauty – even if that beauty is also gruesome.
Vielleicht leihe ich es mir ja auch erstmal aus. Aber ich denke, dass das Spiel locker Wochenlang vergriffen ist. Und das wäre mir zu lange. Kann es ja immer noch verkaufen.
