Bloodborne TGS Preview: Van Helsing's Demon Soul

[Steven Bogos]

Bloodborne TGS Preview: Van Helsing's Demon Soul

Bloodborne takes familiar Demon's Souls-style combat to a warped vision of Van Helsing's world.

Bloodborne, From Software's latest action RPG, was revealed at E3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e32014/11682-Bloodborne-Dark-Souls-Goes-Gothic], but wasn't made playable. At this year's Tokyo Game Show, I was finally able to get my hands on a playable demo of the Gothic take on the Demon's Souls formula, and it may just be the first PS4 exclusive to truly impress me.

First things first, yes, this is a Demon's Souls/Dark Souls sequel in everything but name. The gameplay will instantly feel familiar to veterans of the series, though the setting, characters, and pretty much everything else have been given a complete makeover. An accurate description of the game's setting would be to imagine if Tim Burton made a Van Helsing movie. Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter, and the game's warped, gothic castles take a page from the likes of A Nightmare Before Christmas.

The demo build I played let me chose between four different characters, two with heavy, two handed weapons, one with a short range axe and spear, and one with a dagger and a gun. Naturally, aiming to complete the Helsing vibe, I picked the one with the sword and the gun.

Straight away, I could feel the Souls combat engine. Heavy attack. Light attack. Dodge. Thrown item. The only difference was, this time I had a gun. I had a badass Gothic monster hunting pistol, that can only be described as... underwhelming. Aiming was super hard, I had very limited ammo, and when I did manage to pop a monster, It had a very lackluster effect. Thankfully, I could pull out a second dagger, and either combine them into some kind of crazy double-bladed monstrosity, or use them separately. The game's combo system naturally let me switch between the two configurations, and it felt really satisfying to smack a monster, dodge his counter-attack, and then finish him up with a cool combo.

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But, when you mess up, and you will mess up, you should be very pleased to know that the game is still mercilessly punishing. One-hit-kills are still very much a thing, and the series' infamous "learning by dying" philosophy became quite apparent. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to discern what kind of penalties would accompany death in the full game, as the demo would simply boot me back to the main menu whenever I kicked the bucket.

Yharnam, the city you'll explore in Bloodborne is absolutely beautiful. The way the game builds atmosphere with its gorgeous graphics, atmospheric sound and silky smooth gameplay is like poetry. Unlike The Order 1886 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127947-Deep-Down-Hands-On-Preview-Clunky-And-Gray#ebOxUkRhoEStqP8F.99], that goes for a similar "fantastical Gothic" art style but ends up looking bland and gray, Bloodborne manages to nail both.

I could tell that the game was really trying it's best to take full advantage of the system, something that I have yet to see an PS4 exclusive do. It's definitely what Souls fans are looking for, and even those who aren't really that into the series like myself will be surprised at how much more fluid and natural it feels than you would expect from a game that tries its best to kill you over and over.

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[PunkRex]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

 

[Angelous Wang]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

Fortunately just like Dracula himself Hellsing may have first appeared in Dracula but there have been a great many versions of him in lots of different media since. So he doesn't have to be an old man.

But it does bring up the question as to a possible Dracula appearance in this game.

 

[Remus]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

The flick with Hugh Jackman. For comparison:

Spoiler

I've never been a fan of the very idea of Souls games - crippling difficulty combined with players-as-monsters actively trying to kill you, sounds too much like a company trolling their audience. This game, on the other hand, sounds like something I've been waiting for since videogames evolved past 2D platformers. I want this in my life!

 

[Fox12]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

I don't get the whole badass demon hunter thing. Van Helsing was an elderly doctor, not a badass monster slayer. Sure, he knew about vampires, but all the fighting was handled by the younger members of the group. Kind of like the sexual undertones present in the novel, vanhelsings importance has been blown out of proportion.

I do like the sound of this, though, I'm quite excited. Dark steam punk fantasy gothic seems like an unusually niche genre to suddenly become so popular, but boy will fans of the genre be satisfied this year.

 

[Grimh]

From (Soft) what I understand the gun is more for crowd control rather than sniping and damage dealing.

 

[Ferisar]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

I don't get the whole badass demon hunter thing. Van Helsing was an elderly doctor, not a badass monster slayer. Sure, he knew about vampires, but all the fighting was handled by the younger members of the group. Kind of like the sexual undertones present in the novel, vanhelsings importance has been blown out of proportion.

I do like the sound of this, though, I'm quite excited. Dark steam punk fantasy gothic seems like an unusually niche genre to suddenly become so popular, but boy will fans of the genre be satisfied this year.

I don't know, having read it somewhat (2 years?) recently... Van Helsing was presented as a very prominent figure despite his age. He's even described as fairly imposing, as far as I remember. You can't deny some of the appeal he was given in the text. Despite the rest of the group bearing the brunt of the problems, him being there gives some semblance of center to the whole group. Also, he's this shuper shemrt (liek, smert es fk) guy who knows about vampires, acts like a cat (for some reason) and remains MYSHTERIOUSH the whole time. He might not have been a badass monster hunter as of when the story was written, but his background always felt a bit more important than the book ever told. I imagine thinking about his past experiences is what spawns a lot of the "omg so cool hat-wearing monster hunter I bet he used crossbows that shot crosses 'cause ehmegerrrd."

Also, to be entirely fair, the majority of the group cannot be described as very headstrong/badass in any sort of way. All I remember from my most recent reading is everyone crying a lot (more indicative of the period it was written in, of course).

OT:
Oh, right, I wasn't here to discuss Dracula.

Uh...

I'm looking forward to it and like the setting a lot a lot?

 

[Setch Dreskar]

As mentioned a little before in this thread, and stated repeatedly by the devs, the guns aren't meant to be really powerful. They are for crowd control, comboing and interrupting to get counter attacks in and shouldn't be used on their own.

 

[Erttheking]

As much as I love Dark Souls, I do appreciate that From Software is taking Dark Souls combat to new settings and concepts. And while it's a pity that guns aren't that powerful, really it makes sense. Still...if I can combo them with a sword just right...still might be fun.

REALLY looking forward to this. It's probably gonna combine with Persona 5 to be what gets me to buy a PS4

 

[JagermanXcell]

Ok everyone, go watch watch the gameplay trailer and you'll see why this game will be great, i'll wait...
........
........
........
DID YOU SEE THE SIDE STEP?! THAT'S SOME 60FPS BS IN A 30FPS GAME IF I'VE EVER SEEN IT. Game of the year.

As for the game itself, I love everything about the direction being taken. The complete over haul on defensive play for strict offense, the setting, the atmosphere gone from Dks2 making a swooping return here, the weapons A LONGSWORD. IN A HAMMER., the fact that guns are made for crowd control and work as the new parry riposte instead of damage, and the original director coming back with this new IP... sold.

I guess the only thing we should be cautiously optimistic about is the drops in frame rate that happen when you're fighting hordes. I'm hearing reports that it is even faster than Demons Souls!... but that the new dodge mechanic drops a very smooth 30fps down to 15. Now while that sounds great that they're pushing new boundaries when it comes to Soul's combat pace, that's a technical issue I reeeeeally hope gets resolved with before release. Other than that... sold.

 

[Aggieknight]

OMG, I'm so excited about this. A game that looks good to play on my PS4, which is currently collecting dust and serving as a Blu-Ray player.

 

[PunkRex]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

The flick with Hugh Jackman. For comparison:

Spoiler

I've never been a fan of the very idea of Souls games - crippling difficulty combined with players-as-monsters actively trying to kill you, sounds too much like a company trolling their audience. This game, on the other hand, sounds like something I've been waiting for since videogames evolved past 2D platformers. I want this in my life!

I know all about that film considering I kind of love it to bits, I like a bit of camp.

 

[Pheo1386]

OMG, I'm so excited about this. A game that looks good to play on my PS4, which is currently collecting dust and serving as a Blu-Ray player.

Aarrgghh! You beat me to it!

Big souls game fan, so very excited to see this info (and VERY relieved that I went with PS4 - no way I could afford both). Got the Alpha demo email so very much crossing fingers

 

[Fox12]

Your player character bears a striking resemblance to the legendary demon hunter

Wasn't Hellsing around 60 in Dracula? It would make for a harder game if I popped a hip while dodge rolling.

I don't get the whole badass demon hunter thing. Van Helsing was an elderly doctor, not a badass monster slayer. Sure, he knew about vampires, but all the fighting was handled by the younger members of the group. Kind of like the sexual undertones present in the novel, vanhelsings importance has been blown out of proportion.

I do like the sound of this, though, I'm quite excited. Dark steam punk fantasy gothic seems like an unusually niche genre to suddenly become so popular, but boy will fans of the genre be satisfied this year.

I don't know, having read it somewhat (2 years?) recently... Van Helsing was presented as a very prominent figure despite his age. He's even described as fairly imposing, as far as I remember. You can't deny some of the appeal he was given in the text. Despite the rest of the group bearing the brunt of the problems, him being there gives some semblance of center to the whole group. Also, he's this shuper shemrt (liek, smert es fk) guy who knows about vampires, acts like a cat (for some reason) and remains MYSHTERIOUSH the whole time. He might not have been a badass monster hunter as of when the story was written, but his background always felt a bit more important than the book ever told. I imagine thinking about his past experiences is what spawns a lot of the "omg so cool hat-wearing monster hunter I bet he used crossbows that shot crosses 'cause ehmegerrrd."

Also, to be entirely fair, the majority of the group cannot be described as very headstrong/badass in any sort of way. All I remember from my most recent reading is everyone crying a lot (more indicative of the period it was written in, of course).

OT:
Oh, right, I wasn't here to discuss Dracula.

Uh...

I'm looking forward to it and like the setting a lot a lot?

Van Helsing was a sort of unofficial leader, but a lot of the fighting was handled by the protagonists husband and that Yankee cowboy guy. Van Helsing was mostly a big deal because he understood the situation, and because he was using state of the art technology, like blood transfusion, to fight supernatural forces. We're used to that now, but at the time blood transfusions were cutting edge. In that sense he's using technology, not force, to fight Dracula. He's definitely an interesting character, but I don't think he was ever meant to be an action hero. It sort of misses the point of the character, in my opinion. He may have been hardier in his younger years though, who knows.

Also, I don't get the gun hate. The writer used a pistol from the start game, of course it sucked. I'm sure there are more powerful guns with trade offs to keep it balanced.

 

[Ferisar]

Van Helsing was a sort of unofficial leader, but a lot of the fighting was handled by the protagonists husband and that Yankee cowboy guy. Van Helsing was mostly a big deal because he understood the situation, and because he was using state of the art technology, like blood transfusion, to fight supernatural forces. We're used to that now, but at the time blood transfusions were cutting edge. In that sense he's using technology, not force, to fight Dracula. He's definitely an interesting character, but I don't think he was ever meant to be an action hero. It sort of misses the point of the character, in my opinion. He may have been hardier in his younger years though, who knows.

Also, I don't get the gun hate. The writer used a pistol from the start game, of course it sucked. I'm sure there are more powerful guns with trade offs to keep it balanced.

Oh, I understand the physicality of their situation, as in, I know that Helsing himself was using the "I'm the science guy" card, but he was always in control and has more presence to his own character just by how he was described that it made him seem more... there? I don't know if that makes sense, I'm sleep deprived right now.

But yeah, younger Van Helsing probably was a vampire ass-kicker, let's be real here. LET'S BE REAL HERE.

BUT: I do agree that portraying him as an exclusively physical character who kills things with coolness is missing a lot of homage potential given the original's strength of mind.

 

[StriderShinryu]

The more I see of BloodBorne, the more excited I am.. which is totally the opposite of The Order. The Order still sounds cool in concept but the gameplay just sounds and looks at best extremely derivative and at worst just plain bad. BloodBorne, on the other hand, looks like both a completely natural extension of where the Souls games have been going and a throwback to some of it's more memorable past moments (like Boletaria). Super cool stuff.

 

[Shodan1980]

As long as they ditch the eroding health on death I don't care what the penalty is. Stupid frigging mechanic. I get that it goes with the underlying meta-narrative and all but it just made you feel like even more of an ass for dying, and your subsequent attempts progressively harder. No penalty for those geniuses that can speed-run naked, constant slaps to the face of anybody that struggles (or made the mistake of picking a dex build)