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Bloodborne, the upcoming role-playing game from From Software, is hard. How hard, exactly? Well, after confirming Bloodborne's new game plus mode (an extra challenging version of the game that unlocks once the regular title is finished), director Hidetaka Miyazaki laughed and admitted, "We’re having trouble beating it."

That Bloodborne is challenging doesn't come as much of a surprise. Miyazaki and From Software are the brains behind Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, two last-generation titles that both shocked and delighted gamers with their punishing difficulty. Bloodborne, while not a direct sequel to either of those games, looks to speed up its predecessors' deliberate, strategic combat by adding a greater emphasis on aggression. In Bloodborne, the best defense is a good offense.

But don't take Miyazaki's word for it; soon, gamers will be able to try Bloodborne for themselves. Just a few weeks ahead of the game's North American release, word leaked via Twitter that the game has gone gold. Even better, From Software released the game's so-called launch trailer a few weeks early. While gamers trying to avoid spoilers before the game is out should probably skip the video, everyone else will get an excellent look at Bloodborne's otherworldly menagerie, as well as a few more details regarding the game's gothic backstory.

Bloodborne continues to look great, with its nightmarish Victorian architecture and surreal creature designs, but Bloodborne's real draw here is its hardcore challenge, which continues From Software's brutal legacy. Dark Souls in particular helped usher in a new age of difficult-but-fair role-playing games, which reward careful planning, intense concentration, and lots and lots of practice.

The rise of ultra-difficult games like Dark Souls has gone hand-in-hand with the resurgence of so-called rogue-like titles i.e. role-playing games that feature procedurally generated dungeons that change with every playthrough, as well as permanent death. In a rogue-like, death means starting over from the beginning; even worse, the next time you play, levels will look entirely different.

As such, it's exciting but not all that surprising that Bloodborne will bring the two styles of game together with its Chalice Dungeon stages. As unveiled at last winter's PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas, the Chalice Dungeon is billed as a "multilayered underground room" riddled with enemies, traps, and other devious tricks. No two Chalice Dungeons will be the same; according to Miyazaki, players will even be able to share their favorite iterations of the dungeon with their friends, although the mechanics of that feature have yet to be revealed.

Bloodborne comes out on March 24, 2015 in North America. It is a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

Source: That Kid Chris