Bloodborne is the spiritual successor of FromSoftware's infamous Dark Souls Trilogy. The games in the series are known for being difficult with challenging level, enemies, and bosses. Bloodborne puts you in the shoes of a fledging Hunter, sent out to find an end to the eternal nightmare. Along the way, you will have to slay grotesque creatures and uncover the dark truths about the Hunt.
Bloodborne takes place in a fictional Victorian era world. Readers of H.P. Lovecraft will find the setting very familiar. Gameplay happens primarily in and around the city of Yharnam, where the town is stuck within the eternal Hunter's nightmare.
At its core, Bloodborne is an action game with elements of hack and slash, exploration, and platforming. The RPG elements of the game comes from the story and how the players choose to build their characters.
Player starts in center Yharnam and must traverse to the neighboring region. Each region have its own set of enemies and sidequests. New zones open up as the player progress through the story. Throughout the game, player must make world changing decisions that will ultimately decide what ending they see. They must also decide how to allocate points into their character to improve their chances of survival.
Bloodborne emphasize the need to dodge more than any other Dark Souls game. Unlike previous games, Bloodborne dodge mechanic includes dashes instead of just rolls. Dashes makes the player more elusive and combat much faster paced. The downside is enemies in Bloodborne are faster to make up for this. The player's attacks will vary depending on the weapon they have equipped. Each of Bloodborne's melee weapon have two forms. Aside from that, players are also given a range weapon. There are many options on how to approach a fight, but the general consensus will always be "dodge first, hit them later".
Ludwig's Holy Blade is the most versatile weapon in the game. It is a good weapon throughout all stages of the game. This trick weapon scales off both Strength and Skill. Additionally, it is normal form is fast and good for close range while its two-hand form hits harder and has longer range. You cannot go wrong with Ludwig's.
Chikage is a katana that scales off the hunter's Bloodtinge. It is a weapon that is extremely weak early on, but with enough investment, becomes the strongest weapon available. The empowered Chikage simply melts bosses in the later stages of the game.
The Blade of Mercy can take the form of a short sword or two short daggers. What it lacks in reach it makes up for in speed. Both forms of the weapon scales purely off of Skill. The Blade requires a bit more planning to use effectively, but it can produce the most damage per second when played correctly.