Bloodborne is a fast paced, high stakes, and challenging action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware, and it is currently my favorite video game. Bloodborne takes place in a gothic Victorian town called Yharnam, which has been overcome by a horrendous plague that turns the Yharnamite citizens into hideous and ravenous beasts. A player takes on the role of a hunter, a highly trained and skilled warrior, whose mission is to travel the winding and cramped streets of the city to exterminate the monsters of the night and save the town of Yharnam from the plague before it is too late. There are four elements I will be addressing and reviewing in relation to Bloodborne: first, the price of the game; second, the accessibility of the game; third, the gameplay value; and finally, the barrier to entry, a term referring to how easy or challenging it is to become immersed in the story of a game through player victories.
Bloodborne was released in late March of 2015. By technological timelines, it is already considered an “old” game. As a result, it can be purchased now for a significantly less amount than when it was first launched. Bloodborne can be found to purchase for fifteen to twenty dollars, depending on where you are buying it. Considering that its launch-day price was sixty dollars for the most basic version of the game, and that the quality has stayed the same, now is the perfect time to buy Bloodborne. You can enjoy the entire game for a fraction of its original cost. Considering that it is such an enjoyable game to play, as I will soon explain, the price is excellent.
It doesn't matter how much you are saving on a product is if it is impossible to find, however. Luckily, with Bloodborne, that isn’t an issue. It is a hugely popular game that can be bought both from retail stores and online. Even more convenient, if you can’t find a disk copy for some reason, you can always buy the game digitally from the online PlayStation store. One glaring drawback for Bloodborne is that it is an exclusive game. This means that it is only available on the Playstation 4 game system. This excludes anyone with a different console to be able to enjoy the game and makes it less accessible than it otherwise would be. While it is easy for anyone with a PlayStation 4 to access its intense gameplay and incredible features, it is, unfortunately, completely inaccessible to anyone without the PS4. This is one of the game’s biggest detriments, in my opinion.
With the game being exclusive to the PlayStation 4, it should certainly be a very high quality game in order to validate its exclusiveness. So the question stands: does Bloodborne offer gamers a valuable experience that needs to be had instead of just a way to burn time? As someone who has played many different video games in this same genre, I can confidently state that Bloodborne is an excellent game, and it should be experienced by everybody. It is a challenging game that will test your skills through combat scenarios, environmental hazards, enemy placement, and resource management. Speaking on the statistical side, Bloodborne has literally an infinite amount of gameplay hours that can enjoyed by a player. Even after every boss has been beaten, every item has been found, and every area has been unlocked, a player can continue to progress and evolve, adding hours of gameplay to any character. This is done by leveling up your character until you become so powerful that nothing can hurt you. Alternately, you can reset your character and begin the game again with all the items you had previously, but with newer and stronger enemies that will bring you a greater challenge. This is what makes Bloodborne an infinitely engaging experience: it provides a game that is both physically challenging and mentally stimulating, but still absolutely enjoyable for as long as you care to play.
The “challenging” aspect that is signature to Bloodborne does present issues, though. The entrance barrier to the game is gigantic. This is an important aspect wherein Bloodborne falls short, in terms of widespread appeal. Bloodborne is an outstanding and demanding game, but that challenge is brutally difficult the moment you start the game. The very first combat encounter is one to which you are purposefully meant to lose. This very high entry barrier makes it so that a lot of people do not continue to play Bloodborne all the way through because it is so difficult for them to make progress at the beginning, and so they get discouraged and leave the game where it stands. This is even more frustrating due to the apparent easing of the level of difficulty later in the game. For the game to be so hard at the beginning and to then, comparatively, be easier toward the end, seems very counterintuitive and hurts the game overall. But this aspect has a silver lining: because of the massive difficulty that is woven into the game, every sliver of progress the player can make is enhanced greatly in their mind. For example, in one of the starting areas of the game, the player is forced into a situation where there is a heavily concentrated group of enemies in a town square. There are swordsmen scattered around the lower area, and two snipers placed on higher ground. In the middle of the square is a burning pillar that limits the player's ability to maneuver around the square. Worst of all, the player must overcome this section of the game in order to continue progressing. I remember when I was first playing, this area was extremely difficult. In fact, it felt almost impossible. And yet I remember even more distinctly the moment when I successfully defeated all of the enemies in the area and could continue to progress. I was elated! Yes, the entrance barrier to the game is very high, but because of the extreme circumstances, it causes the gameplay to be enhanced in a wonderful way. Ultimately, the high entrance barrier makes every victory that much sweeter.
Bloodborne is a highly challenging and highly rewarding game that allows for its players to enjoy themselves in their victories, and to think critically in order to adjust to situations in their defeats. Bloodborne’s exclusivity to the PlayStation 4 console, as well as the high skill level requirement at the very beginning of the game are roadblocks to allowing more people to enjoy it completely, but its easy accessibility and infinite possibility for rich and varied gameplay more than make up for those adverse qualities. Bloodborne is a high-quality game that offers much to any gamer who is looking for a diverse and stimulating video game experience.