Bloodborne Update Adds New Covenant Ahead of The Old Hunters Release

Sony has released a rather large update for Bloodborne, From Software's macabre PS4 exclusive RPG. The update comes ahead of the release of its expansion, The Old Hunters, which will be available from November 24.

Although official patch notes have not yet been released in English, fans on the Bloodborne sub-Reddit have translated a post on the Japanese PlayStation Blog breaking down its contents. According to this post the update weighs in at 9.37GB and introduces a new Covenant called The Federation. It is likely this group will be known as The League in the English version, as previously indicated.

On November 5, Sony Japan's Masaaki Yamagiwa explained that The League is headed up by "a mysterious figure in a constable's garb and bucket helmet." Those who join can help other players online and compete on a new online leaderboard. This Covenant is not tied to the upcoming expansion and will be available for all Bloodborne players.

Other additions introduced in the patch include new NPC co-op partners and an ancient summoning bell, which lets you bring some of these new NPCs into Chalice Dungeons.

Chalice Dungeons have also been changed so that non-root dungeons have a glyph that creates opportunity for more co-op and player versus player gameplay. Finally, ghosts and phantoms of other players searching for co-op or multiplayer will be visible when using a summoning bell. Take a look at the full post for more details on the patch.

The Old Hunters tells the story of the "legendary hunters" referenced in the main game and is set in a "nightmare world where hunters from the past are trapped forever." Sony's Shuhei Yoshida described Bloodborne: The Old Hunters as a "full-scale download" that will be available on November 24. It will cost $19.99 / €14.99 / £11.99.

An Old Hunter Edition featuring the original game and the new expansion will also be released on December 5.

A Bloodborne expansion was confirmed in May 2015, In an interview with GameSpot, Bloodborne director Hidetaka Miyazaki provided assurances that the quality of the game's expansion will not be impacted by his second project, Dark Souls 3, which he is serving as director on.

"The bottom line is, I think I can do it. I believe I can do both the Bloodborne DLC and Dark Souls 3," he said. "This isn’t the first time I’ve had to work on two projects at the same time."

Bloodborne was released on March 24 exclusively for the PlayStation 4. The game is developed by From Software, the makers of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. It was very positively received in GameSpot's review, scored a nine out of ten. The game's sales exceeded expectations for Sony, selling more than one million copies worldwide as of early April.

Take a look at screenshots from Bloodborne: The Old Hunters below.

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