There are some games that seem to outlast their expected shelf lives, and FromSoftware's Bloodborne is one of those games. A twist on the Souls series formula, Bloodborne quickly gained a dedicated fan base after its release in 2015 and fans have been eager for a sequel ever since. The most impassioned fans have created loads of art, maps, and even an unofficial 60fps patch for PS4 and PS5. One group of talented people is currently working on a "demake" of the game for the original PlayStation, and they've recently shown off the notorious Father Gascoigne boss fight.
The PS1 demake project is called Bloodborne PSX, and the goal is to recreate the Bloodborne experience through the first few boss fights. Project head Lilymeister has been steadily revealing the creation process on Twitter, uploading short clips of asset creation, game physics, and more. The boss music is done by freelance orchestrator Evelyn Lark, who uses a Roland SC-88 synthesizer to render the retro sound effects. The Father Gascoigne fight itself has apparently involved two weeks of work, and that work definitely shows in the not quite final product.
A slightly shorter version of the Bloodborne boss fight has been uploaded to Lilymeister's Twitter, but she released the full unedited fight on her YouTube channel under the name Lilith Walther. The video shows the opening cutscene of the boss fight piece by piece, complete with lots of pixellated blood. Then it launches into the fight, and the hard work on Gascoigne's voice and animations, as well as the player's movement, is clear to see.
The fight is a pretty close call, with Gascoigne's beast form showing how much of a force it is to be reckoned with if players don't use the tiny music box to calm it down. This battle is well-known for being the Bloodborne combat mechanics trial by fire, and players will have an easier time getting through it if they can properly stagger Gascoigne with timed gunshots. Lilymeister claims Gascoigne is still missing a few attack animations and there's currently no fog gate for the encounter, but these things will be added in due time.
Ultimately, this is another quality mark of progress for the Bloodborne PSX project. With its regular updates there's little doubt that the project will be completed and fans can experience the first few hours of Bloodborne as if it came out on the original PlayStation. Bloodborne fans can also get excited about a recent rumor that claims a Hunter's Edition of the game is coming sometime next year, and the leak has some promising specifics to back it up.
Bloodborne is available now on PS4 and is rumored to be released for PC/PS5.