Bloody and Gorey with Replay Value
I bought this for my brother. He's been looking forward to it for 2 years. This is what he enjoys about it:
POSITIVES
1) The aesthetics. The victorian-esque style of clothing is a big plus for him. It's not bulky and chunky unlike the Dark Souls and Demon Souls series. He also likes the blood spraying.
2) Lore-hunting. All three series have this in common. They do not shove the story in your face. While I don't like this, my brother does. He enjoys having to hunt down the story.
3) The game is legitimately challenging. Even if you're fully leveled, you can still get killed by "random characters" who are not bosses. Even if you've been playing for a long time, you can still get surprised and killed.
4) Dying in this game is not as brutal on your progression. It does not punish you nearly much as the other series do, so it's more stress-free in that aspect.
5) Bloodborne is quite arguably the darkest in all the series so far. If you want happy, or even mildly happy, this is not it. This stuff is twisted but has a beautiful misery to it.
6) The bosses are so gross and wonderfully designed.
7) The trick weapons are creative and cool and he throughly enjoys them.
8) The DLC really does add more to the game and is completely worth it IF you'll be playing the game more than once.
Although I do not play the game, I did find the lore fascinating, and the concepts creative and different: [SPOILER?] I would have never thought of putting werewolves and aliens together! What a strange idea that completely worked. [END SPOILER].
He's given hundreds of hours to the other games in the series, but Bloodborne is his favorite. There are very few negatives he had to say about the game.
NEGATIVES
1) Aesthetics. Yes, also a negative. Nearly every setting in the game looks the same. I agree with this one. Everything is stone and dark muted colors unless you are in the Dream. There's also one area that has flowers, but that's about it, and even those flowers look depressed. Basically, the game has 2 skins. One for the Dream, one for the reality. The appearance for the reality part of the game gets old fast. Also, the chalices all looked the same.
2) The areas can feel like a maze. It was much easier for him to mind-map the other games in the series, but he's having more trouble with this one.
3) The chalices, again. He found the bosses ridiculous, especially the one who took up the entire screen.
4) The biggest negative of them all: The online community is essentially dead, because of the first-maneuver avoidance technique they implemented. If someone invades you, just kill the bell ringer, and it won't happen again until I believe, you log out and log back in. It can take hours upon hours for him to find someone to fight. He really enjoyed being able to PvP with the mechanics of Dark Souls and Demon Souls, and he would love it with this if only it was more common. In the days he's played it, and all of the hours he's already put into it, he's only come across 2 instances of other players. One ditched and killed the bell ringer right away, and the other invaded him, but the fight didn't last long.
Overall, he gives the game a hasty 5/5, and right after he finished it, he started a new character and replayed it. He enjoys the story and he looks forward to any sequels Bloodborne may be getting; he's waiting (im)patiently for an announcement.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New