Bloodborne is for me the Souls-game that got away. I played it when it first released but never managed to get very far into it before getting addicted to Destiny. For some reason I never got back into it even if I've been wanting to for many years now. Most likely because the game is exclusive to PlayStation and I didn't really use my PlayStation 4 for a few years. Now that I have a PlayStation 5 and noticed it's included in the online subscription I decided to go for it. Even if it hurts my eyes.
My eyes bleed
Why do my eyes bleed so much? Bloodborne is a game that is locked to 30 frames per second at 1080p resolution. Why is this a problem? I'm playing it on a 42" 4K OLED monitor that's sitting roughly a meter from my eyes. The low frame rate is extremely noticeable especially on top of the low resolution. The first 30 minutes of playing made me feel dizzy and I noticed I was squinting my eyes a lot. Now, roughly two hours in it seems like my eyes have adjusted a bit.
It's interesting this because Bloodborne is viewed as one of the best souls-games out there, even if it technically isn't a souls-game. It's what put the borne in soulsborne. The community has been screaming for a remaster, remake, sequel or just about anything for years now. Anything to upgrade it to 60FPS and have it be a more technically enjoyable experience. It doesn't work that way though seeing as every animation is tied directly to the frame rate. They would have to go for a remake if they want to fix that.
A worthy experience
Technicalities aside, the game feels like a proper masterpiece even barely past the starting point. The gothic world design is amazing, combat flows great and the level design appears to be peak From Software with well hidden items, connecting levels and mind boggling shortcuts.
So far I've taken down two bosses. The Cleric Beast, which is basically an optional tutorial boss, and Father Gascoigne who is blocking actual progress. The amazing this is I haven't even died once yet, outside of the semi-scripted death in the very beginning that lets you unlock your first weapon. This is in contrast to the 200 deaths I probably had to get to this point in 2015. My soulsborne skills have grown a lot in that time. 400+ hours in different souls-games since then have surely helped.
The most enjoyable thing so far has been the twist on the combat system from other souls-games. There's still iframe dodging like in other games but this game focuses a lot more on parrying and weapon swapping. Instead of blocking I can change my weapon to go from long-range to short-range, also changing the attack speed. I also have a gun that I can shoot at enemies as they attack to stagger them and get in a critical hit. The combat is based more on timing that in other souls-games and that's something to get used to. Still, I have yet to experience my first real death.
One more boss and I'll be stepping into unknown territory. Let's see how long I can continue this deathless run...
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.