Bloodborne : A Hunter's Nightmare - Prepare to Bleed !

Completed : Bloodborne -
 A Hunter's Nightmare.

Prepare to Bleed!
And I equally mean both the ways , such is the balance in the game separating it from everything else.

My third 'Souls' game in spirit.
There isn't much left to say from what I have already said about the sheer uniqueness of souls games and the plethora of emotions they inflict just through pure gameplay.

And Bloodborne might not be a true 'souls' game and far away from the dark souls universe, but is almost every bit of what defines a souls game and more having its own charm.

I  was no longer a deprived undead who had to cower behind a shield to progress, I was a hunter who was ready to bleed.

Prior to starting Bloodborne, just the feeling of a souls themed game without a shield made me critical of my chances of survival.

As it turned out, after overcoming the initial difficulty spike and getting accustomed to parrying,never looked back to a shield or other defensive tactics.
The game does add another steep in difficulty at end game to an otherwise forgiving souls game.

The purely basic souls combat has been alloyed with an aggressive risk-reward mechanism where there's a small time window to regain the health/blood taken away by in turn taking away some from the beasts.
The left handed firearm's parry is not tricky to pull off as before but just as advantageous.

These make the combat just as reckless as it is skillful.

Both the parry and health regeneration mechanism being effective against most bosses as well is a huge perk to the somewhat surpassed standard of blood-pumping boss battles of the series.

Sometimes repetitive, less strategic and a matter of hit or miss but more fair and fast paced.

Things do get a lot more chaotic and intense during the last phase of every beastly battle, if not already.

The traditional light and dark environments have been replaced by an artistic and eternal gothic style atmosphere.

It very well maintains that dreadful aura without impairing visibility.

Yharnam encloses an intriguing and whole central world taking some inspiration from both demon's souls' central hub (Hunter's Dream) and dark souls' whole interconnectivity.

Yes,not at all varied as before and sometimes still confusing,it doesn't amount to the same frustration as its past games and unearthing it holds immense power.

Most routes are intricately inter woven and circle back to open another connecting one and so on, while many other hard to distinguish paths lead to an optional dead end with an optional but grand boss battle as well.

The moon phase adds another dimension to the beauty of yharnam.

The premise is the sharpest point of the game.

Sadly, as a double edged sword, it has its drawback too affecting continuous progression.

There seems to be a lack of purpose in the game as to what are we doing or where are we headed.
As I said most paths and bosses are optional and it's very difficult to make out their effect and distinguish them from the main game even when it's over.

However,the sword cuts deeper forward as the mazy routes come out naturally to you even if you don't know what are you doing.
Very soon,you would be able to 'Praise' for how long and far you have travelled to still be so close expanding a sense of souls awe.

There's less diversity in the RPG aspect which wasn't a bad thing for me at all, the choice was too much for me anyway when the base combat used to be more or less the same for a melee oriented approach.

Instead,there are more unique movesets of every weapon with varied effectiveness.

Non replenishing health consumables return in the form of blood vials,relievingly these are not tedious to farm for.
Bloodborne calls out for a strong foccused build and thankfully, there's no equip burden to take care of.

End game build

If there's something inferior ,it has to be the narrative along with the indifferent NPC's, more deep but too complex and secretive missing the purity of souls.

The multiple endings do add great meaning and context to the completely mysterious game, yet keeps it hazy and in the end all indeed is a Hunter's Nightmare.

Bloodborne is insanely balanced,just as skillful as it is reckless, fair yet bloodily brutal, mostly an upgrade if less relatable

and thus, a worthy souls experience for the hunters, be it old or new.