It may sound like a cliche, but if you're playing Bloodborne for the first time, prepare to die. A lot. This is a game filled with traps designed to trick the unwary, punishing level design, and enemies that can whittle your health bar down to nothing in just a few hits. On the surface, Bloodborne may look like just another Souls game, but the mechanics underpinning it are very, very different. So much so, even series veterans may find themselves struggling at first. This may be the same old song and dance, but it’s faster, meaner, and if you can't keep up, Bloodborne will leave you behind, broken, bleeding, and begging for more.
If you’re a new player, about to join the hunt for the first time, keep yourself alive with our handy beginner's guide to Bloodborne. These indispensable tips will turn you from mewling milquetoast to lord of the hunt in no time:
Death is its own reward
Death has always been an important part of the Souls series, and Bloodborne is no exception. You will die. Over and over, in a variety of nasty, horrible ways. In most games, this would be cause for an extended bout of teeth gnashing, but in Bloodborne it’s par for the course. Instead of viewing death as a failure, it should be viewed as a learning experience. That pitchfork wielding boogeyman that burst out of a stack of crates may have killed you the first time, but now you know where he is, you can take him out with ease. So, go forth, die, and learn from your mistakes. In Bloodborne, knowledge is power, and that knowledge almost always comes at the expense of your life.
Pick your fights
The early areas of Bloodborne throw a lot of enemies at you, and if you don’t pick your fights carefully, you’ll soon find yourself staring at a game over screen. Instead of wading into large groups of baddies, try to lure out one or two at a time. If you do find yourself hounded by a large group of enemies, take the fight to an area that gives you an advantage, such as a staircase or doorway. This forces them to come at you one at a time, and (as any good Spartan knows) makes them easier to deal with.
The reverse is true for larger enemies; most of these have far-reaching, crippling attacks that are hard to avoid in cramped areas. When facing off against one of these, try to do it in an area with plenty of room to manoeuvre. This will make it easier to strafe, dodge, and, if need be, turn tail and run.
Later on, you’ll find yourself in possession of some pebbles. Lobbing one of these at an enemy will draw its attention and bring it scampering your way. This makes them ideal for whittling down packs of powerful enemies --the werewolves on the bridge at the beginning of the game, for example-- as you can draw them away and take them down one at a time.
Lastly, if you find yourself facing overwhelming odds, don’t be afraid to run away; most enemies will only pursue you so far, before drifting back to their original positions. This is handy if you find yourself needing to heal, or get caught unawares by a horde of enemies.
Lust for Blood
If you ever need a quick pick-me-up during Bloodborne, hitting the triangle button will cause your hunter to crush a blood vial in their fist and recover a chunk of health. If you’re anything like us, your initial instinct will be to hoard these vials away, using them only in the direst situations. The truth is, blood vials are so plentiful you can pop them like Pringles and still have plenty to spare. Your Hunter can tote around a maximum of twenty vials at a time (more if you equip certain runes), and keep an extra ninety-nine in storage. This means you will very rarely find yourself up the creek without a vial, so don’t be stingy, especially against bosses.
If you ever do run out --a very real possibility should you run up against a troublesome boss-- here’s a route that will net you ten-plus vials in just a few minutes: from the first Central Yarnham lantern, hang a left and head down the stairs. There will be a black coated enemy at the bottom who will sometimes leave behind a vial upon death. From here, head through the door in front of you; take care of the two enemies on the bottom floor, hoovering up the bullets and any vials in the process, and then head back outside. Descend the staircase on the left, and vanquish the two ogre-like enemies patrolling the courtyard. These lumbering brutes normally drop two vials apiece. With them out of the way, head back upstairs, and find the staircase leading up to the bridge. The two wolves here will drop three vials each when killed, and the ogre surrounded by crows at the other end will drop another two. Run back to the lantern on the bridge where you fought Cleric Beast, rinse and repeat. Stronger characters will be able to complete this loop 2-3 times in roughly ten minutes. We found that doing a few reps every few play sessions was enough to keep our blood supply in the pink right up until the end of the game, preventing the need for any heavy-duty vial farming.
Shortcut to success
Nearly every area in Bloodborne has a shortcut or two to waiting to be discovered. These handy ‘cuts make getting to and from boss fights significantly easier, so be sure to poke your Hunter’s nose into every nook and cranny to find them. Normally, they will be close to boss areas, and usually take the form of elevators, doorways and ladders. If you find yourself having to struggle through massive amounts of enemies on the way to a boss over and over again, chances are there’s a shortcut you've missed.
Like a boss
Unlike Dark Souls, boss areas in Bloodborne aren't obscured by swirling gates of fog. This means it can be all too easy to blunder into a boss area, get stomped and lose all your precious blood echoes. Luckily, boss areas are easy to identify thanks to their large, open, arena-like structures, so keep your eyes peeled and don’t go traipsing in unprepared.
Before you face a boss for the first time, we recommend hightailing it to the nearest lantern --which shouldn't be too far away provided you’ve opened up some shortcuts-- and banking all your blood echoes. This way, you won’t have the added stress of losing all your echoes, and can focus all your attention on cutting the boss down to size.
Keep calm and parry on
In Bloodborne your character lugs around a gun instead of a shield. This frivolous firearm isn't much when it comes to dealing out damage, but it does have one indispensable use: parrying. Pulling off a parry is as simple as squeezing R2 when an enemy is just about to swing a piece of steel into your face. If you time it right, you’ll hear a special sound effect and your enemy will slump forward, leaving themselves open to a devastating counterattack. These counters deal huge amounts of damage, and can make short work of even the most difficult boss encounters. The timing can be tricky, and varies from enemy to enemy, but learning how to parry correctly is crucial to beating the game. It’ll seem hard at first, but with a little bit of practice you’ll be parrying like a pro in no time.
Born to run
There will come a time in Bloodborne when you find yourself facing insurmountable odds, particularly towards the end of your adventure when the environment becomes just as much of an obstacle as your enemies. To avoid a lot of cheap deaths (here’s looking at you, Nightmare of Mensis), and unnecessary frustration, simply take to your virtual heels and run to the next Lantern. That’s right, many of Bloodborne’s trickiest areas can be conquered by a spot of gentle jogging. Of course, unless you fancy running out of puff in the middle of a mob of angry monsters, you’ll need to keep a careful eye on your stamina. Otherwise, this cowardly strategy is surprisingly effective.
Community service
Your greatest ally in the fight to retake Yharnam is the community itself. Like the Souls series before it, Bloodborne has already spawned hundreds of wiki entries, tips, guides, and tutorials to help players. So, if you find yourself lost, or are struggling to take down a stubborn boss, don't be afraid to head online in search of a helping hand. There’s the in-game community, too, which allows you to summon another hunter to your aid. Two hunters are better than one, especially if you’re in an area, or facing a boss, that’s giving you a lot of grief.
A little light reading
There’s one obstacle in Bloodborne that no player, no matter how skilled, will be able to overcome: the load times. A few days before its release, the internet was rife with angry web warriors threatening to cancel preorders because of it, and while it’s definitely not as bad as all that, there’s no denying that load times in Bloodborne are long and, given the difficult nature of the game, something you will see very often. With that in mind, we recommend sitting down to play Bloodborne with something to distract yourself with during these lengthy loads. Why not flick through your favourite magazine? Annoy your favourite celebrity on Twitter? Put the kettle on? Post a message on the internet about how annoying the load times are? The possibilities are endless.
Got any of your own tips to share with us? If you can tear yourself away from the game for a few minutes, let us know in the comments section below!
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