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Bloodborne

Bloodborne Hands-on

We visited From Software in Tokyo to find out how their new game stacks up against the Souls that made them.

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I arrive at G-Building, the current home of From Software, and I am almost surprised that I was not met with an immediate axe to my back and a huge billboard that says "YOU DIED". Their trademark has become games that are not afraid to challenge the gamer, and to brutally punish him or her for every tiny slip or mistake. But when games feel near impossible to beat, our feeling of accomplishment becomes almost overwhelming when we finally succeed.

During my first encounter with Dark Souls II I died a total of 25 times. During the tutorial. This is an awful lot of dying while learning basic ways to jump and hit stuff with a sword. For the average thrill-seeking player this can feel overwhelming at first. But those that choose to stick around soon learn that death is just another lesson, and they use every frustrating setback to learn how to be better the next time they dive into danger.

For those of us that were lucky enough to witness the beginnings of computer games as a mass medium, dying was just a part of how we learned to play. We learned how to manoeuvre Mario by sending the poor plumber to his death a thousand times, and we learned how to speed trough levels with Sonic by crashing him into a thousand spears. There were no long narratives that taught us how to play, no over-flowing health bars to keep us alive, and there was certainly no auto-aim to help us survive onslaughts of monsters. Just us, the game, and a whole lot of dying.

But for a modern game to challenge us in that way, and thereby alienating a whole lot of squeamish gamers in the process - that is something truly special. And now I'm standing here. In their offices. Alive.

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From Software has been around since 1986. However, it is the game Demon's Souls that in 2009 truly put them on the map. According to the studio their games used to sell approximately a hundred thousand copies. But when Demon's Souls hit one million copies sold it ignited a period of explosive growth for the company. Today they are about 240 employees, and over 200 of them are developers.

A good illustration of this growth is the plaque outside of the thirteen storey G-Building where From Software currently have their lair. Two floors have "From Software" written in a light colour, indicating the text that was originally printed on the pillar. Another seven lines has the company name written in a darker colour, giving away a subtle hint that it has been added later. Only four floors now stand in the way of them engulfing the whole complex, and the inevitable renaming of the building to "From Software HQ". Alternatively "The Plaza of Death" would sound way cooler.

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Their offices are as chaotic and cramped as you would expect from any game developer. Huge desks form a maze on the development floors, with hundreds of computer monitors spread about. And toys of course. Loads of robots, monsters and anime girls are littered around almost every work station, probably serving both as inspiration and as release during stressful work days. I cannot imagine the chaos that we would see if the visit took place during business hours.

Luckily I stay mostly in the conference room, where there is a PlayStation 4 that is connected to a huge TV, with Bloodborne flickering on the screen. I pick up the controller, and I'm immediately struck by how good the controls feel compared to earlier From Software games. It took me at least an hour to learn the basic controls in Dark Souls II, and I still have nightmares about how bad the PC control scheme was set up. But here the character does what I want instantly, and the movement feels more fluent than before.

Another thing is that the attack animations of my enemies don't imprison me via a flurry of slashes, so I have time to dodge out of danger even if I'm hit. Combined with the responsive combat controls and an arsenal of deadly weapons, I'm able to hold my own against most enemies. The combat is of course still challenging, where even the wimpiest of my enemies are still more than capable of killing me. But I have a lot more fun here than I ever had during the combat in Dark Souls.

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I get to play as the same Van Helsing lookalike from all of the videos we have seen so far. At this point, it really seems like the game has a set character, with a set background and a wardrobe consisting exclusively of black robes. This works well in story-driven games, but it could hurt immersion in action-oriented titles like this. It's lucky then that the game will have a wide array of character customisation both in terms of combat statistics and aesthetically.

My gaming session is set exclusively in the Chalice Dungeons from the end of the game. They are randomly generated dungeons that players can enter if they gather the right materials during their campaign. A dungeon has three levels, each offering increased challenges and rewards. They are of course a way to obtain unique gear, and to continuously offer fans a new challenge.

The dungeon I'm testing is kind of short, with a huge hallway that has three tunnels branching off of it. One door leads to a mini boss that guards the lever I need to activate to get to the main boss, and another door leads to a bridge that takes me to the final fight. Another tunnel leads down a long shaft where gruesome monsters and some loot is waiting for me. It does not feel as unplanned as the randomly generated areas of the Diablo series, but more like something someone would actually build. As if a crazy architect with a moderate amount of resources was tasked with making a suitable habitat for a bloodthirsty gang of undead monsters.

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My last encounter in the game is the huge boss in the first level of the Chalice Dungeon; a towering undead monstrosity with huge claws instead of arms stands before me. I run up to him, and his sweeping slashes kills me instantly. "YOU DIED" is followed by the Bloodborne logo.

On my second try, I do a little better. I stay away from him, try to learn his attack-moves, and from time to time I jump in and hand him a few slashes. But my attacks barely make a dent on him, and before long the inevitable happens and one of his massive jump attacks makes me into a pancake-piñata. This is impossible.

I try again, just for the hell of it. I stay out of reach, jump in for some slashes, and jump out again. Suddenly he loses a third of his health bar in one of my flurries. What did I do right this time? I notice he is missing a big tumour on his left leg. Did I do that? I become much more effective when I'm armed with this knowledge, and in each attempt I manage to slash away more of his health bar.

Was I successful in the end? Of course not, this is a From Software game. I died a dozen times, and would need a dozen more to finally master this undead butcher. But I had fun, and I learned a lot with each passing death. And that is what we have come to expect, and love, from these games.

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At the same event we sat down with producer Masaaki Yamagiwa and found out more about the game. We also talked to series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki about the Chalice Dungeons at the end of last year, and you can read more about that right here. Bloodborne is heading exclusively to PS4 on March 25.

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