Rumors of a PS5 remaster of Bloodborne have been joyfully received by the game’s fanbase. The reported involvement of Bluepoint Games, fresh from the studio’s successful remake of Demon’s Souls, and subsequent acquisition by Sony Interactive Entertainment, suggests that such a project would be in very safe hands.
There are obvious ways in which Bloodborne could be optimized for the new console generation, beyond increasing the PS4 horror action-RPG’s creaky 30 FPS frame rate. Bluepoint Games has an opportunity to go a step further, making further improvements upon the dark fantasy classic.
Bloodborne is Arguably FromSoftware’s Greatest Work
Bloodborne was released in 2015, and any Dark Souls fans who were worried that FromSoftware might have lost its touch after lukewarm reactions to Dark Souls 2 were immediately reassured. The game quickly became a revered classic, hailed for its wildly innovative and disturbing level and creature design, as well as for its harrowing and ambiguous storytelling. It also received praise for reinventing the defensive approach to combat that had been previously favored by Dark Souls, with new mechanics encouraging players to aggressively slaughter their way through its surreal, gothic setting.
As well as overhauling its combat mechanics, the game was also brave enough to keep a huge part of its content and theming completely hidden. The game’s pre-release information and even its trailer led fans to expect a gothic Victorian adventure teeming with werewolves and vampires, and they were not disappointed. That being said, only players who battled through to the game’s latter stages revealed the Lovecraftian cosmic horror lurking in Bloodborne’s twisted core.
The stellar release was followed up by the Old Hunters DLC, which is widely regarded as one of the best DLC releases of all time. As well as transporting players to ever more bizarre and memorable locations, the title’s already brutal difficulty was further ratcheted, presenting a new challenge to fans who had mastered the original. One of the base game’s main issues — a shortage of alternative weapons and costume sets — was also addressed, with Old Hunters providing a major upgrade to the player’s arsenal and wardrobe.
Not only was the game a critical success, but it also performed very well commercially, leaving most fans surprised that a remaster or a full-blown sequel hasn’t already been attempted. Yet with a new console generation, now is the perfect time for Bloodborne to be revitalized, and for some of its remaining flaws to be addressed at the same time.
Ways in Which Bloodborne Can Still be Improved
Bloodborne’s huge list of merits, and its status as a beloved action RPG classic, have perhaps served to mask some of the game’s flaws. If rumors of Bluepoint’s upcoming remaster are true, then the developer could choose to be more ambitious than just recreating the game with an enhanced frame rate.
The most obvious part of the game with room for improvement is the infamous Chalice Dungeons. Many players felt that this optional segment of the game was a half-finished, experimental bolt-on, and a number of fans consider these catacombs to be Bloodborne’s weakest component. A procedurally-generated, dungeon-crawling Bloodborne add-on, packed with secrets and bosses that cannot be encountered in the base game, sounds like unmissable content. However, many fans believe FromSoftware did not deliver on this vision in the final product on PS4. Bluepoint could revisit this part of the game to inject more variety, cohesion, and polish.
Other aspects of the game were also criticized by some players. The Forbidden Woods is Bloodborne’s largest area, but is considered one of its dullest, featuring a sprawling monochrome forest that fans found tiresome to navigate. Bluepoint could cram more interesting content into this area, or perhaps scale it back in order to expand a different, more popular or entirely new part of the game world.
The "frenzy" status effect has also received disparagement from some players, and would merit an overhaul. The ambiguous meaning of this affliction is thought to signify either an intolerable surge of horror at the game’s eldritch revelations, or perhaps even a manifestation of some arcane attack.
Either way, it causes the protagonist’s blood to burst out of them, significantly damaging the player if they cannot calm their character's nerves in the narrow window of time available once the effect has taken hold. Players felt this mechanic was poorly implemented and frustrating, causing unfair deaths as well as looking somewhat visually unimpressive. A sanity meter, perhaps with accompanying fourth-wall-breaking hallucinations if not appropriately managed, could fit better with the game’s themes.
Another source of inspiration for Bluepoint might be Bloodborne’s cut content, much of which has been explored in recent years by the enthusiastic fan community, and could be restored in a remastered edition. This would require some work by the developer, as much of this deleted material was only half-finished. For example, Provost Willem was once envisaged as a boss fight. The archaic scholar would apparently levitate in his chair, although fans have speculated that he was intended to be hoisted by some not-yet-implemented, monstrous creature.
More controversially, Bluepoint Games could even choose to implement the much-debated "easy mode" that some fans believe would improve the FromSoftware experience, as well as opening it up to a wider audience. While this would certainly erode the feeling of overcoming a monumental challenge, which creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has said is a critical ingredient of his iconic games, there is a strong argument for including such a setting. The infamous difficulty of Bloodborne has made the title unappealing or unfinishable to players, whose skills or physical accessibility are not suited to this sort of adventure.
Whether Bluepoint Games or another developer is handed the reins to the rumored Bloodborne remaster, it is clear that a faithful re-release of the original with an improved frame rate will be well received by the game’s legion of blood-drunk fans. However, if the chosen developer is more ambitious, the title could receive even more acclaim than FromSoftware’s original masterpiece.
Bloodborne is available now on PS4.