Bloodborne first impressions: is this something new, or a Dark Souls clone?

You know what’s going to be awesome? Bloodborne is going to be awesome!

At least it will be if my hands-on today was any suggestion of what to expect for the game’s final release. From looking at videos, you could be forgiven for thinking that Bloodborne is following From Software’s Dark Souls formula, but trust me, it isn’t. Let’s get the similarities out of the way: combat initially feels similar, and it is very tough, the hallmark of the Dark Souls franchise, but it is not the same. Bloodborne’s combat is more active than Dark Souls, which forced the player to be conservative and defensive.

[fve]http://youtu.be/-rU8HfemdFc[/fve]

Bloodborne achieves this in two ways. Firstly, the easiest way to regain health after being hit is to land a blow on the enemy that hit you. This is called “rallying” and is essential to surviving through longer combat because you’re going to get hit, and the only way to recover is to get stuck in and make your assailant pay. The second way is that From Software did the most wicked thing they could: they stole your shield! That’s right, no shield means no blocking, and nonblocking in Dark Souls meant doom to all but the most skilled players.

(See: The Dark Souls II review: may god have mercy on your soul

But Bloodborne is not an unkind game and gives something in return. A gun. I’ll be honest, when I first saw the guns in the Bloodborne’s trailer, I was worried. I couldn’t see how guns fit into the combat I’ve come to expect from From Software and was worried about Bloodborne falling into run-and-gun territory. Thankfully, the guns in Bloodborne are awesome, but they are awesome because they suck! Guns basically work as the shield, they are super fast and they make the enemy stumble mid-attack. They do very little damage, but they will save your ass if you use them well.

Another tweak to the game is the way items are used. Instead of having one slot, Bloodborne has two, one for general items and one for healing. The developer explained that one of the problems they noticed in Dark Souls was that players rarely used items other than healing items. As a Dark Souls player I can confirm that healing items must be kept selected at all times for immediate spamming when an unexpected pikeman unexpectedly rams a spear up your arse. By having two separate buttons for these items, they hope to push gamers into using different items for different attacks, and it certainly works. I felt way more confident using pebbles to attract enemies when I knew I could heal at a moments notice.

There’s a few other quirks that set Bloodborne apart from Dark Souls, one of my favorite being the weapons themselves. Every weapon has two functions which range from normal, like lengthening or shortening a sword, to freaking awesome, to a giant hammer whose handle can be removed revealing a smaller quicker blade. Badass, right?

The setting is fantastic as well, and those of us at the press conference got the special treat of seeing a previously unannounced area: Henwick. Henwick is a graveyard, but not the spooky Dracula kind, the visit grandma kind, and that makes it creepier. The bright sunlight and copious, bright green vegetation make a nice contrast to the grim victorian streets I played on the showfloor. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t creepy—the large groups of old-lady-like Grave Hags made sure of that. There is nothing creepier than an old lady with an axe. Nothing!

Overall Bloodborne looks like a refreshing change of pace from the Dark Souls franchise, and a nice break from From Software’s usual Medieval Gothic style. Admittedly Victorian Gothic isn’t the biggest jump imaginable, but it works, and I for one am insanely excited to get my hands on Bloodborne when it launches in Asia on February 5, 2015.

This story is part of our Tokyo Game Show 2014 coverage.