It'll likely be a long time before Bloodborne 2 every happens, and that's if it does. FromSoftware currently has a lot on its plate, considering that Elden Ring is its most ambitious, largest-scale project to date. Many fans noted the marked absence of any Bloodborne announcement from the recent PS5 games reveal event, but in its place was another big piece of FromSoftware news: a Demon's Souls Remake for the next gen console is in development by remake master, Bluepoint Games.
For many fans who play primarily on PlayStation, Bloodborne may have been its first introduction to Souls-like games and FromSoftware's unique take on storytelling, difficulty, and level design. It's easy to get hooked on that formula after just one game, but plenty of Bloodborne fans would much prefer a brand new Bloodborne game to a remake of a relatively unrelated title from over a decade ago. However, there are several reasons that anyone who enjoyed Bloodborne should at least consider Demon's Souls, and hardcore Bloodborne fans should definitely find it hype-worthy.
Demon's Souls Might Be All We Get
The first issue to consider is that if Bloodborne 2 happens at all, it will be a very long time before it is released. Bloodborne was an exceptionally popular game even by FromSoftware's standards, and putting a Bloodborne sequel on the PS5 would be a perfect move in the eyes of many fans. However, Dark Souls was also a wildly popular franchise, but it was cut short after three games even though fans clamored for a fourth installment.
FromSoftware is also not the type of developer to crank out yearly titles. Elden Ring is a huge project, and it is still completely unknown how long it will take to release. Until then, no one should expect to hear any Bloodborne 2 news. Of course, console generations last a long time, so the possibility of getting a Bloodborne followup on PS5 is not nil. At the same time, FromSoftware has recently pushed to release its games on a multitude of platforms in an attempt to reach a wider audience than just Playstation users. From a purely business standpoint, it makes more sense for FromSoftware to make non-exclusive games, while Sony would likely push for exclusivity on any future Bloodborne games.
Bloodborne Owes A Lot to Demon's Souls
Demon's Souls Remake will be a PS5 exclusive, at least at launch. That's in part because it's being made by Bluepoint, the studio behind other great remasters like Shadow of the Colossus, rather than FromSoftware itself. Demon's Souls will be squarely situated on the platform where Bloodborne found its success, but there is a lot more to their relationship than that. If Demon's Souls gets the quality of life changes it so deserves, it would be a worthy spiritual successor to Bloodborne in many ways, even if its original version did come out years prior.
Demon's Souls' atmosphere is considered to be perhaps the best out of any FromSoftware game, and Bloodborne in particular benefited from shared themes with Demon's Souls. FromSoftware loves to repeat themes in its games, and the dark fantasy of Dark Souls was the immediate follow up to Demon's Souls. However, Demon's Souls had a unique kind of creepiness that was somewhat absent in Dark Souls, and manifested far more clearly in the Lovecraftian horror of Bloodborne. Bloodborne fans who never played Demon's Souls will almost certainly find an eerie resemblance between the two.
Areas like the Tower of Latria in Demon's Souls could have easily been Bloodborne levels, and there are a multitude of design features and innovative ideas in Demon's Souls that have never been matched since. If the remake is done right, which is to be expected of Bluepoint, then a game as ahead of its time as Demon's Souls should feel right at home in the modern gaming landscape. The shared lineage of Demon's Souls, the progenitor of many of the design concepts that made Bloodborne great, is reason enough for fans to give the original Souls-like a fair chance.
Demon's Souls' Success Boosts Bloodborne 2's Chances
FromSoftware has a massive fanbase dedicated to so many different titles, which is something of a double-edged sword. While the creation of an entire sub-genre of RPG and a massive, loyal community built around them is something that any developer would dream of, it also means that satisfying those fans is becoming more difficult. There are countless calls for Dark Souls 4, Sekiro DLC, Bloodborne 2, and even remasters of games older than Demon's Souls, not to mention the internal drive to create compelling new settings like Elden Ring. The Demon's Souls remake is just one of the many things that fans have been pining after for ages.
If it does well, it will demonstrate the passion that fans have for FromSoftware's games regardless of IP, and pave the way for more FromSoftware games on the PS5. Some even predict that a PC port for Bloodborne will precede Bloodborne 2, which would be good not just for the development of the series but for the fanbase as a whole, making the original more accessible. One of the main reasons that Demon's Souls needs a remaster at all is that is was a PS3 exclusive, making it nearly unplayable once the console was obsolete. All anyone can hope for is that FromSoftware can keep fans happy both with new titles and by looking into its own past.
Demon's Souls is in development for the PS5.