The Souls games were somewhat of a home run for FROMSoftware. Demon's Souls was a cult classic that eventually had FROM develop the multi-platform Dark Souls and eventually Dark Souls 2. But then FROM went back to develop a Sony exclusive again, and man what a fantastic game that was.
Bloodborne, while not sharing the Souls name, was still very much a Souls game. Everything from the way Blood had to be collected to level up, to dying and losing it all, and then retrieving it on your next try, to fog gates separating the world from Boss rooms. It was certainly familiar to those who played any of the previously mentioned games.
But Bloodborne was also different in a lot of good ways. For one, combat was now much quicker, and forced players to be on the offensive, rather the defensive like in previous Souls games. There were no shields here (well except for that one whose description made fun of you if you thought about using it), and instead players had to press on, constantly attacking and dodging.
The weapon system was unique too in that each weapon had two modes that you could transform on the fly and even build into combos. For instance, a short axe was able to transform into a long halberd-style weapon, or even cooler yet, a blunt cane could extend and turn into a whip. The weapons were certainly inventive.
The setting for the game was also quite unique, and without spoiling too much for those that have yet to play it, it's about a lot more than a werewolf and beast problem in a Victorian setting.
The Old Hunters DLC also came out recently which not only ramps up the difficulty but also adds some amazing new trick weapons to the roster.
If you're all about the challenge, and don't mind dying a bunch of times in order to learn strategies and get better, then Bloodborne is certainly a PS4 exclusive that's worth checking out.
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