Bloodborne is a fantastic game, one that's majorly responsible for helping the so-called soulslike genre enter the mainstream. Speaking personally, I count the 2015 PS4 exclusive among my absolute favorites: I've beaten Bloodborne at least four times, including the DLC, and know it like the back of my hand. Because of this, I feel somewhat entitled to criticize it.

Like a lot of other Bloodborne fans, I've found myself frequently getting frustrated with the Blood Vials mechanic. Replacing the more-beloved, and consequently more utilized, Estus Flask healing formula, Blood Vials that replenish a fixed amount of health, but rather than replenishing at checkpoints, they must be collected like any other item. The impact that this has on the gameplay loop is quite significant, but it can be summed up like this: in Dark Souls, the Estus Flask makes every death feel like a fresh start, but in Bloodborne, the Blood Vial system can make death feel like a punishment with occasional cascading effects. For newcomers, this often manifests in at least one instance of running out of Blood Vials, dying, and then focusing on replenishing the depleted stash rather than on the main task at hand.

Bloodborne has no shortage of horrible monsters and intimidating bosses, but the following are unparalleled in terms of fear factor.

Although I'm more likely to refer to it as an action-RPG in the vein of FromSoftware's other modern works, Bloodborne can also be safely classified as a horror game. While Elden Ring and the Dark Souls games certainly have unnerving elements, Bloodborne is on a different level, its oppressively dark and dour atmosphere making the player feel especially vulnerable and small.

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