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Synopsis

Bloodborne features action role-playing elements similar to those found in director Miyazaki's other games Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Combat is fast paced and requires an offensive approach in order for players to combat dense hordes of enemies. The player character is agile and is able to perform sweeping dashes around enemies while locked on. The new risk versus reward style of gameplay is emphasized through Bloodborne's health regain system, which allows the player to, within a small window of time, recover portions of lost health by striking back at the player's attacker.
Melee weapons can transform into two alternate states; each state encourages a different approach to combat. The cleaver, for example, in its initial state can be used to quickly dispatch enemies in cramped areas, but when transformed into its secondary state it becomes an extended blade more suited for crowd control. The player can also wield a firearm in their left hand that can be used to stun enemies, which can then be followed up with a critical attack from the player's melee weapon.

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Story

The setting of most of the game takes place in the ancient city of "Yharnam." Yharnam is rumored to house a magical cure-all medicine that many people come to the city searching for. Your main character, normally referred to as "the Hunter" is one of the travelers who pilgrimages to Yharnam. However, since the going-on's of the city are little more than fantastical myths, you arrive and find the city in a state of chaos, overrun by plague, disease and some sort of curse which is turning the denizens of the population into terrifying beasts. It is your goal to traverse the streets and buildings in order to defeat some of the more powerful "men-turned-beasts," all while solving a sort of nagging mystery that has kept a lot of answers from you. Meanwhile, you will be going in and out of a mystical "dream world" where you will meet NPC's who will aide you in selling items, leveling you up, and more.

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Gameplay

If you have played any of the "Souls" series of games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1/2) then this game will look very familiar to you. However, I advise you to throw every notion of the gameplay mechanics out the window now.
Bloodborne controls in a much more fluid manner than previous installations of the series. Combat is very clean and flows nicely, allowing for you to chain together combos, sometimes even during weapon transformations!
That is another topic, the weapons. At first glance, I was sad at the small number of weapons as compared to previous From Software games, but I quickly learned that when you count the upgrades you can do to them, the transformations/combonations of the weapons, and how much thought and love went into making every weapon feel unique and smooth, I was sold.
Another mechanic of the game is the introduction of firearms. What look like weapons at first glance are actualul a type of ranged shield. you can fire your gun as an enemy is attacking to "parry" it, leaving it open for a critical strike, or even shoot an enemy from afar to leave it stunned for a short period of time.
Finally, the most anticipated of the gameplay elements and one that I wasn't too keen on until I got my hands on the game, is the "healing" mechanic. After an enemy attacks you, your health bar retains itself for a brief period of time. If you are able to get some hits in on the enemy/ies that you are facing, it can heal you back up to that point without the use of healing items. However, if you fail to do so, your health is permenantly reduced until you do use a healing item. This provides the player more of an incentive to play more aggressively, something that many newer Souls-Games players were kind of nervous to do.

Videos (Spoilers)

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Graphics

I will keep this short and sweet because I come from the school of thought where graphics don't "make" the game. I was a little saddened that the graphics weren't as gorgeous as the tech-demo debut of the game made them out to be, but working with a CONSOLE's limitations in mind, I think that Bloodborne looks incredible and next-gen. The art design is incredible, enemy design is well thought out, and the entire look of the game is very "AAA" and polished. You can tell that the 3+ years spent working on this game were well worth it. Also, to sum it up, the previous Souls games were never the most graphically-appealing games either. Their saving grace was tight, challenging gameplay and memorable characters, and I feel that Bloodborne does this and even more.

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Controls

I have to complain about only one thing: THE LACK OF CONTROLLER CUSTOMIZATION.
For as many bugs, glitches and issues that From Software removed from their Souls engine's previous games in Bloodborne, they didn't give you the option to customize your controls? Especially since I'm a veteran of previous Souls games, it's very confusing when the button used for healing items is completely different than the one I've been using for almost 3 years.
Also, From's control scheme allows for a "queue" of commands, such as double-tapping dodges to be performed without you having to press the button instantly. I enjoy this feature, but I can see where some people would need to get used to it.

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Score