Ever since video games entered the mainstream, players have been spreading rumors about secrets hidden in their favorite titles. Occasionally, these stories turn out to be true: yes, beat Metroid fast enough and Samus takes off her armor. However, more often than not, these amazing "secrets" end up false. No, there's no way to bring Aeris back to life; Lara Croft will not get naked, no matter how hard players try; and everyone's welcome to keep looking, but there's probably no jetpack hidden in San Andreas.

Bloodborne has been getting lots of attention lately, and for good reason - it's a great game - so it's not overly surprising that some players are starting to probe deeper and look for secrets that may not actually exist. After all, From Software is notoriously obtuse, and the studio has a habit of hiding hints and tips absolutely everywhere. If any title is going to have a major system hidden deep in game, it's Bloodborne.

So, when players argue that Bloodborne's hunters are werewolves, it makes sense. The game's lore supports it: Yharnam is a city where the citizens drank infected blood and turned into beasts, and the player's character used that same blood to fend off a mysterious illness. It makes sense that he'd change, too.

And he does, sort of: when performing a visceral attack, the Hunters' limbs turn into claws. Everyone refers to the Hunters as beasts. Equipping a Beast Claw and consuming a Beast Pellet even invokes a partial transformation, putting the player's character in a semi-berserker mode powered by the obscure "Beasthood" stat.

But some players expect more. As chronicled by Patricia Hernandez at Kotaku, a number of Bloodborne fans are convinced that a more complete transformation is hidden somewhere in the game and that, once found, this secret will allow Hunters to become full-fledged werewolves. The rumors started shortly after the game - known as "Project Beast" - was officially revealed, when various forums started detailing a system in which consuming too much "tainted blood" would turn characters into monsters, while consuming "pure blood" would return them to human form.

While the source of this information is unknown, it's incredibly specific and dovetails with the released game's backstory. The good-versus-bad blood element could be a gameplay element that was abandoned during development; it could also be something that players haven't discovered yet. Either way, people are still looking.

It sounds like an official answer could be coming soon. In a Let's Play video, Bloodborne strategy guide author EpicNameBro (not his real name) teased:

[Gascoine] has a really cool line of dialogue. He says something along the lines of, “what’s the matter, afraid to show your true self?” That, in combination with beast blood pellets, in combination with your character’s hands when performing a visceral attack, really starts to give some hints as to what’s really going on with your character here. The relationship between hunters and beasts is complicated indeed.

Here's the thing: that could mean almost anything. EpicGameBro could be referring to the partial transformations players have already discovered, he could be referring to a (strongly hinted at) story element, or this could be something entirely new. In any case, players will learn soon enough: the official Bloodborne strategy guide, which promises to have all the answers, hits in about a week.

Source: Kotaku