Bloodborne, like all of Fromsoft’s Soulslike games, has been highly praised for its unique approach to storytelling. Most of the story is collected through little snippets of information found in item descriptions or talking to specific characters, and this leads to many different interpretations of what is actually happening in the world.
“Humanity” inDark Souls,for example, is just such an item. In terms of gameplay the item restores you to full health and gives bonus resistances, but the reason it can do this is actually because humanity is a piece of the titular ‘Dark Soul’ found within all humans, and absorbing the humanity of others fights off the undead curse afflicting your character. Bloodborne, however, goes a step further by having its entire combat system display a major plot point: the plague of the beasts in the city of Yharnam.
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The beasts of Yharnam were all human once, and the threat of you becoming one is reiterated time and again. Early in the game you encounter Father Gascoigne, a veteran hunter who can be an ally in your fight against the early game boss Cleric Beast. However, the result of Gascoigne’s excessive dedication to the hunt results in the next boss you face being Gascoigne himself. He transitions from a crazed hunter to a ferocious werewolf over the course of his boss fight, and the introductory cutscene to this fight emphasizes the fine line between the hunter and the hunted that will become a staple of the entire game:
“Beasts all over the shop… you’ll be one of them, sooner or later”
Father Gascoigne
At first, it may seem like Bloodborne’s explanation of hunters losing themselves isn’t really applicable to the player through actual gameplay. No matter how many beasts you hunt, or how brutally you do so, you never lose control of yourself or gain any sort of penalty. There’s not even any sort of cosmetic indication of losing your humanity like the fangs and fur seen on residents in Yharnam, or going Hollow in Dark Souls.
In fact, it seems the game is actively rewarding you for the ruthless style of combat it consistently warns you about through the story. You gain more blood echoes, the game’s currency, from dealing damage in excess of your target’s max health, which encourages you to inflict much more damage than necessary. After taking damage, attacking will recover a portion of your lost health, which encourages you to go on the offensive at a time when other games would want you to take time to recover.
Parrying, a mechanic brought over from Dark Souls, was changed from a timed deflection with a shield to a timed attack with a firearm. In fact, unlike Dark Souls, attacks in Bloodborne almost always stagger you when hit because of the lack of “poise” in Bloodborne, removing the option of tanking small hits, and there aren’t any effective shields to use either. The game takes every opportunity to make aggression the best option, which is an amazing demonstration of why so many hunters are susceptible to becoming beasts.
Bloodborne doesn’t punish you for falling victim to the thrill of the hunt, because the danger of the hunt is that it feels rewarding. Blood-drunk is a term used in Bloodborne to describe the hunters who lose themselves, making the plague of beasts feel more like the consequence of addiction or overindulgence rather than traditional disease. There are many moments in every playthrough of Bloodborne where you’re only able to survive by attacking nonstop, healing just enough from the damage you deal to hang in there.
Moments like these show how much video games can use player interactivity to reinforce the story. If an NPC talks about the danger of a violent hunter becoming like the beasts they fight, this can feel like an issue because of exposition dumps or scripted moments that took away your control, but become much impactful when you have likely chosen to hunt violently of your own volition.
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