For soulsborne fans, it's been a good generation of games. Even though Dark Souls 3 finished up the main trilogy, there's been several spinoff games that have seen similar success to the core franchise. Whether it was Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or Bloodborne, soulsborne games are seeing great success even outside of the main franchise that started it all. Now with a Demon's Souls remake on the way for the next generation, soulsborne games' popularity has never been higher.
Bloodborne in particular was special because it transcended the niche Dark Souls had created for itself to the mainstream PlayStation audience. While being a PlayStation exclusive was a big part of this, it was also completely separate from the Dark Souls lore (for the most part) as a standalone experience. Even though Elden Ring is the next project for FromSoftware for now, bringing a sequel to Bloodborne would be the perfect addition to the PS5's early years.
An Immersive World
For one thing, the PS5's high speed SSD would be a great boon for a potential Bloodborne 2. As Souls fans know, one of the most impressive aspects of games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne is the interweaving nature of the in-game world. Reminiscent of the classic Metroid games, Dark Souls and soulsborne games all feature an inter-connected world that loops and redirects within itself like a giant maze. It's hard for players not to have a labyrinthine feeling exploring a Souls game, following a non-linear path that can potentially loop around in a big obscure circle and also lead to something completely new.
This particular design benefits greatly from SSD storage technology for a few reasons. For one thing, improving read/write speeds in a storage drive means textures can be streamed/loaded in much faster, meaning less load times. For fans of Souls games who may have played the similar Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which had Dark Souls and Metroid inspired worlds, utilized a lot of crawl spaces and elevators to divide regions. This was largely due to hiding loading screens, something games of a particular size have been doing quite a bit this generation.
Optimizing a Bloodborne sequel for SSDs would mean less going back to the Hunter's Dream or opening large doors very slowly (or not, assuming that's part of the atmosphere) to hide any loading the game's doing in the background. Which is perfect for such a multi-faceted world that weaves in and out of itself in various ways.
Refining the Bloodborne Experience
Gameplay improvements have also come a long way since Bloodborne and Dark Souls 2, and there are several aspects the next Bloodborne could certainly borrow inspiration from. Sekiro in particular had a fantastic combat system that was far from traditional Souls gameplay, and fit extremely well with the narrative and theme of the game. Bloodborne, despite being a spinoff game with its own unique mechanics and Hunter abilities, still played very similarly to a Dark Souls game. Sekiro's combat was very movement-based, focused on an aggressive combat stance that emphasized parrying attacks and pressure rather than playing defensively and using calculated attacks.
While Bloodborne's sequel doesn't need to train its Hunters in shinobi, it would make sense to make borrow some movement attributes from Sekiro. Dark Souls being a bit more defensive and calculating makes sense for the tone and classes in the game. Knights or magic users typically would use blocking and dodging as defensive tactics, managing their stamina to optimize damage-per-second. Bloodborne on the other hand has a diverse selection of weapons with stance switches, which does fundamentally change how that particular weapon is used, but the characteristics of the player stays static. It'd be interesting to see stance switches directly influence how players move or dodge in Bloodborne, making the difference in stances feel purposeful and unique.
A Long Wait Ahead
Among other changes, taking the inspiration of similar Souls games and using the power of PS5 to deliver a refined gameplay experience would be perfect. Bloodborne was a great success, and even though director Hidetaka Miyazaki may not have the final say in a Bloodborne sequel, both Miyazaki and all of the fans want to see another game in the series. Pair that with the capabilities of a Souls world not restrained by slow texture streaming or loading, and the many soulsborne games that have come out since to draw inspiration from, and Bloodborne 2 on PS5 would seem like a shoe-in.
Of course, there's a lot of factors barring a sequel from coming anytime soon. For one thing, FromSoftware already has a high profile project in development called Elden Ring, the result of a collaboration between Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin. Elden Ring still has a lot of development time ahead of itself, and considering fans haven't heard much news about the game since its teaser reveal, it likely won't be out any time soon. As for Bloodborne's sequel, Miyazaki has repeatedly stated that Sony is a huge obstacle in that regard. Since Sony published the game, it has the final say in greenlighting a Bloodborne 2.
That's not to say a Bloodborne sequel won't happen, especially considering the critical and commercial success of the first game. But it does hint that it may be awhile before FromSoftware is able to develop a true sequel to the lovecraftian nightmare.
Bloodborne is available now on PS4.