Bloodborne - Alpha Review/Impressions

I didn't see anyone else here mentioning their time spent with Bloodborne so i thought i would write up a little mini review. As a notice, i am a massive Souls fan, i have finished all three multiple times with about 400 hours across all three of them.

So bearing in mind that this was an alpha, the game seemed really polished, did not have any FPS stutter or any bugs occur during my 2-3 hours spent with the game. In regards to the gameplay, while very similar to the souls games in general, you now have a short period after being damaged to attack and gain some of that health back. If like me, you are used to playing souls game quite passively, this will take a while to get used too. Shields also do not exist in the game, so you will be very reliant on getting that health back as many enemies attack in quite large groups. The combat itself is fantastic, i can't say enough good about how good it feels, it's smoother than ever and it feels very satisfying to strike your weapon. It was also very interesting how the weapons had two forms, for example an axe could be extended into a poleaxe, whether all weapons can do this though i am not sure.

I personally found the game quite hard, which i am very happy about as i was worried about there being a step down in difficulty, I'm not sure how much of this was down to me having to drastically alter my playing style, regardless as an experienced souls fan i expected it to be a cake walk, it was anything but. It took me a good 10-15 deaths to complete the demo, and at first wondered whether it was even possible to kill the first boss with the character i was given, however once i worked out the tactic it wasn't too difficult (even if he can kill you in literally two hits).

Things that i am currently unsure about (sorry if these have been discovered via previews/interviews), there were no checkpoints of note in the demo, the game automatically applied a checkpoint so I'm not sure how these will work in the full game. You could not gain experience/souls in the demo, nor could you access the equipment screen, but i would hope and assume this will work similar to the souls series.

Overall, the game surpassed my expectations and i am very excited for the full release. I hope this was of interest to people who may not know much about the game. If you are not a fan of Souls games, it is unlikely Bloodborne will do much to convert you, while it is a little more action-oriented, you still won't be running into enemies unprepared without getting your ass kicked. Feel free to ask me any questions, or discuss your time spent with the game.

Thanks. I love the Souls games too and am really looking forward to it. However, I always try to avoid alpha/beta of games I'm interested in, because I don't want to spoil anything. To hear that you had a very good first impression from an alpha is very promising though.

Also exciting to hear you say it felt polished for an alpha. That tells me the game has a good chance of making the release date, when few games do these days.

was there any Role Playing in the Alpha ?

And what about Traps.... Does one have to pixel hunt the enviroment for suspicious objects ?

Interesting video of a player SANADSK, showing the secret content of alpha version of the game Bloodborne.

This record gameplay secret content of alpha Bloodborn was made by the user SANADSK. At the end of the boss called "Priest Gascoigne", says the magic word Umbasa, which is well known to all who played Demon's Souls. Most likely it is a direct reference to this game. Really in Bloodborne we will show, Boletariyu after many centuries?

In the video uses music author Alex Roe, who recorded the album fan on Bloodborne. Composition called "Beckon a Foul Beast".

All Umbasa!

@Lulu_Lulu:

Not sure what you mean exactly by 'role-playing', but there were the same leave a message on the ground, There were also the 'emotions' from the souls series, like wave, etc. I did not come across any traps i don't think, though i would be surprised if there weren't any in the final release.

@Kusimeka

I mean things like Cusomization and Levelling.

The menu was not accessible in the Alpha. So i wasn't able to level or do any of that.

@Kusimeka

In time... All will be revealed.... Until then. Theres DmC. :)