Bloodborne PSX Review

Played on PC

Developed by Lilith Walther

Released January 31st 2022

On May 3rd 2017, Lilith Walker announced that they were working on a PS1-styled demake of Bloodborne, logging their progress on the shaders. Not much information was shared after that and fans awaiting this project would have to wait 4 years before another announcement. From dev streams, trailers and gameplay previews, many Bloodborne and FromSoftware fans have been awaiting this fan-made project and when it arrived with a faithful adaptation of the beginning area, combined with an originally made section, many, myself included, received an extraordinary game.

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Story

The story of this demake does as solid of a job as it can with what it limits itself to. With the beginning area, Central Yharnam, being available to play, it manages to retain all the notes and hidden details the original offered, while making them accessible in PS1 standards. It does bother me a bit that it leaves out the disturbing enigma and beautiful mystery that concludes the beginning's hints and secrets in the latter half of the original, but not much could've been done about that. It also includes a small area that serves as original content, but with how crunched the story becomes to allow this and the gigantic leap in narrative quality between the sections, I couldn't unsee how disjointed the game was. These sound like unbearable flaws, but I should mention how well it transfers the starting point of the 2015 title without making it lose its charm, and how the original content that it offers, fits appropriately into the world, despite it not being the greatest experience ever.

Gameplay

The gameplay is evidence of this game being a successful demake. Every slash and dodge still are as fast-paced and tense as in the original game. Not only does it brim with similar excellence, but it uses its 2015 counterpart as a template to offer many authentic additions. To use an item or transform your weapon, you have to pause the game and traverse the well-displayed HUD. To go through locked gates, you have to equip a specific key instead of just having it in your inventory. To unlock insight, you no longer have to uncover the secrets of the world, but instead, have to unlock these specific tokens as if they honed a collectable-esque essence. There is so much creativity in this archaic interpretation, so if you can easily get accustomed to old-fashioned games, you should check this game out. There is one nostalgic detail that I severely disliked: the loading screens. I understand that it's a great callback to how games would have to load small areas back to back, but it got annoying way too quickly as runbacks to areas or bosses were bombarded with loading screens and slow ladder climbing.

The game does do many things really well without relying on the original game's framework or the vintage details of the long-missed era. For example, it's new areas. In total, I came across two sections that were originally made, an expansion and a new level. The expansion came across as the Yharnam Sewers which not only paid tribute to FromSoftware's nefarious addiction to poison areas but also functioned as well as every other area, to the point I didn't even realise it was new until I had explored its depths. The area just felt organic enough and at home with the rest of the game. The same goes for the new level which takes place in an abandoned mansion. This new level not only featured its own story but also the newly made boss. Both areas were great as they were so incredibly interconnected, that I could see the spirit of FromSoftware's level design wandering about within them. The mansion area is superb as it takes the horror aesthetic that Bloodborne subtly excels in and amplifies it by re-introducing the Winter Lanterns. The Winter Lanterns are these spooky, lullaby-humming, eye-bulging freaks of nature that wandered around Nightmare of Mensis in the original game. The sudden entry of these enemies was fantastic enough but also making them act as unkillable predators like Resident Evil did Mr. X or Nemesis is beyond wonderful.

The last nitpicks I had with this game were that A) you can't sell items at the messenger bath making Blood Echo grinding slightly more painful and B) it felt too easy at many points in the game, however, that could be blamed at how I'm a Bloodborne fanatic who memorises all the enemy spawns.

Bossfights

The bossfights are great reinterpretations of what made the original duels teeth gritting. The awesome, badass PS1-ified music and visuals work so incredibly well with the horror-gothic atmosphere of the game and that is, even more, the case with the bossfights as Cleric Beast is a horrifying, monstrous brute while Father Gascoigne channels the unsettling vibe more in this fan-project than he did in the original. These bosses aren't as effective in delivering an enjoyable fight or being as challenging as I hoped they would be, feeling relatively easy, but they still deliver an amazing soundtrack and design.

The final boss of the game is not only new but nearly perfect in the FromSoftware sense. The arena, music and challenge were excellent making the fight quite epic, if it weren't for its semi-lacklustre lore and boring design, acting as an anchor to the fight. Gilbert The Outsider is nothing short of a glorified, basic werewolf whose narrative position is bleak and shallow. Despite this, every boss fight got stuck in my head, making me wonder what other bosses deserve this PS1 treatment: Orphan of Kos, Gehrman, Martyr Logarius, Amygdala, Vicar Amelia, Ludwig, Lady Maria, Darkbeast Paarl, One Reborn and possibly more.

Characters

The characters didn't establish enough of a presence to be noteworthy or worth scoring as their appearances were as minimal as the beginning area allowed them to be.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is oddly nostalgic for someone like me who didn't experience the PS1 era. The design has this rich, nicely crisp, pixelated beauty to it but if you mess about with the settings, you can turn it into a refined, pixelated wonder. The colour palette is eerie as if it's deeply rooted in what made Silent Hill so terrifying. If Bloodborne was released like this back in the 90s, not only would it of revolutionised gaming but it would've definitely been placed in the horror category. The music is fantastic and its perfect modification is what made me fall in love with it. Every soundtrack contains that essence that was in the original music but it's been compressed and reinvented to be possibly even better than what FromSoftware gave us. On a technical spectrum, it doesn't falter except for the goofy ladder-climbing animation, however, it does nothing but add more of the 'old age' charm.

Story - 8/10

Gameplay - 9/10

Bossfights - 7/10

Atmosphere - 9/10

Great

This is a successful demake; it brings in new twists and turns for fans of the original but also keeps the same essence to make sure new fans don't feel left out.