The way I feel about Bloodborne continues to shift and evolve over time. I'm still not done with the game, but I'm much further in than last time, thanks to dedicating the better part of two days off to the game. Is the amount of time I dedicated to it reflected in the amount of progress I've made? Maybe not. It is, as ever, a very difficult game that requires multiple attempts on every challenge--at least for the most part.
I discussed in my previous Bloodborne entry most of the events leading up to the gatling gun hunter, Djura, in Old Yharnam. As it happens, I just recently revisited that area, climbed the tower, and effortlessly dispatched said hunter, having gained many hours of experience and resources from tackling much tougher foes in other areas of the game. It was almost comical how quickly and easily that fight progressed, and how that hunter helplessly fell to his death from his gatling gun vantage point.
Part of the joy of Bloodborne is how the game's structure is very circular. You'll progress further and further into the game only to find that eventually, you end up where you started again. Maybe this time you'll find that you can more easily defeat the enemies in that area. In typical RPG fashion, your stats and weaponry have progressed to a point where the enemies there no longer pose a challenge. It's not just about that, though. It's about pattern and behavior as well. Some enemies attack in very unpredictable ways and are very aggressive about doing so. Once you discover how to exploit these random attack patterns, it becomes more trivial to defeat enemies that take a more predictable approach.
It might feel like very lantern checkpoint in the game is spaced very far apart or that it's unfair they're not typically positioned right before boss encounters. Fortunately, the way the game's levels are designed remedies this problem by creating pathways and shortcuts that allow you to reach the area's boss quickly, regardless of lantern location. This structure rewards exploration in a great way. If you don't take the time to explore every pathway, you might end up facing a tough boss and have no way to reach it again quickly should you fall. This is a core element of Bloodborne that at first I found very frustrating, particularly when dying over and over to Father Gascoigne. As I've progressed further, I've come to realize that I appreciate the organic way in which these shortcuts provide multiple pathways from a level's checkpoint.
I find the level designs satisfying in much the same way as I would in a good Metroidvania. Everything is interconnected, sometimes in surprising ways. I can't count the number of times I've been delighted at where I ended up after opening a certain door or exploring a certain path. Often I'll reach a new area and think it seems familiar, until I jump down onto a ledge or cross a corner and realize, "wow, I'm back here again." The best example of this I can think of is when I found a ladder in a cave in the Forbidden Woods. I climbed up the ladder and all of a sudden I'd emerged from a tomb in the graveyard from the very beginning of the game, right next to Iosefka's Clinic.
Bloodborne is full of moments like that, not just in its level design, but with the way it surprises you with its obstacles and monsters. For example, early on in the game, there's a sewer in Central Yharnam where you'll find an enormous pig that doesn't hesitate to charge you when you get in its sight. When I first encountered it, I was quickly defeated. The second time, I avoided it entirely and quickly scrambled up the ladder next to it. It wasn't until after I'd died many times to Father Gascoigne that I managed to find a ladder that led down to the sewers behind the pig. Suddenly, I found that I could sneak up behind him and defeat him with a visceral attack without him ever even seeing me.
A little while later, when you're wading through filthy water in the Forbidden Woods, fending off ghastly swamp zombies, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the familiar sound of grunts in the distance. I had to stop for a moment and listen. I wondered if I'd actually just heard that. I wouldn't have thought anything of it had I not had such a hard time with the pig in the sewers, but now I waded through those waters with trepidation.
There's another moment in the game where a gangly figure with a bag slung over its shoulder will attack you in the Cathedral Ward. When I encountered him, I couldn't help but notice he was significantly stronger than other enemies in the area and I fell to him quickly. I expected to respawn back at the lantern as usual, but instead woke up in a prison--on the other side of the locked gate I'd seen earlier. After a harrowing escape from the prison in which I was tasked with defeating several of those spooky bagmen, I managed to reach the Hypogean Gaol lamp and warp out of there. After significant trial and error, I was able to venture a little bit further into the streets, where I was assailed by a number of diseased dogs.
Much later in the game, I arrived at Yahar'gul, the Unseen Village, a hellish area where slain enemies are resurrected quickly afterward by ghostly women carrying bells. After pressing deeper into that area and dying many times, I eventually reached the Yahar'gul Chapel lamp, which led me to what I was surprised to find was the Hypogean Gaol lamp from much earlier in the game when I'd escaped from prison. That lamp was now inactive and I realized that if I'd never been captured in the first place, this would have been my first time seeing the area.
These moments of revelation are what I find endlessly satisfying about Bloodborne, even as it simultaneously makes me want to scream from frustration. I haven't even taken the time to talk about the spellbinding art direction and fascinating cosmic horror aesthetic of some of the game's later enemies. But I've written enough about Bloodborne for today.
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