Bloodborne is not only my favorite video game, but my favorite piece of media ever created. With today being its 10th anniversary, I figured it's as good a time as any to talk about what makes this game so special. The streets of Yharnam are oozing with dread and filth, Fromsofts most cohesive and captivating setting yet. Gothic architecture, blood soaked beasts, celestial slugs, crazed doctors, and the unrelenting pursuit of enlightenment by any means. It’s a Victorian Horror / Lovecraft mashup subverted through Eastern interpretations of Western symbols. Following in the footsteps of Dark Souls unique approach to transcending cultural barriers and remixing what feels well known into something utterly captivating and completely its own.

What really sets Bloodborne apart is its complete commitment to exploring its theme of motherhood. You see this everywhere you look, with the moon, the birthing rituals, scientists seeking logical answers to emotional questions, even the menstrual blood you use to heal. The lore is just so disturbing and intriguing. I can’t even guess the amount of hours I’ve spent over this last decade reading and re-reading item descriptions and piecing this city's history together. I think there's a way to interpret this story as more than just an homage to HP Lovecraft, but also a rebuttal of his ideology. To keep it brief; Lovecraft's bigotry is well known. Many would say that his horror works because it is rooted in this fear of the other - the unknown. You can see in Yharnam a deep xenophobia, the denizens consider outsiders to be the cause of the beast scourge. Of course this isn't true, their own church dug it up from beneath their feet. Their bigotry is just misplaced anger and frustration, something I’m sure the team saw in HP’s own worldview when using his work as partial inspiration. The sickness never came from the other, it came from within. On that note, there’s a lot of other sick references in here too. This game and its lore is what introduced me to Junji Ito, and god damn do I want them to collaborate on a horror title at some point.

I could ramble about the rich lore, the visceral action, the beautifully haunting soundtrack, or how much I love the Kirkhammer all day. I think it really is a shame that such an amazing game is locked away on the PS4, running at 30 FPS with frame pacing issues. I don’t really care if we ever see Yharnam revisited again in a sequel or whatever. To me, this is a perfectly self contained story. I do vehemently hope that one day it will be freed from its single-console status and able to be played with better performance on more modern hardware. A game this special deserves to be enjoyed by everyone. It changed my life, led me to new friendships, new hobbies, and new interests. I want others to have that experience also.

Visually this is absolutely gorgeous. I'm not much of a metroidvania fan, but was compelled to see this to the end.
I could totally be reaching here (allow me to be an insufferable weeb for a minute), but my interpretation of the story is that its rooted in "Kegare (穢れ)". Basically, impurity that forms from stagnation. Literally this can be thought of as sitting water, which is where flowers such as lilies and lotus bloom. However this is often used to explain a more spiritual concept, that I am 100% not an expert on but find fascinating. If this sounds kind of familiar its a theme in a lot of Fromsoft games, usually the reason we have to deal with another fucking poison swamp.
On that note, this game has a particularly frustrating poison swamp that for sure knocked my score down a bit lol.
I think if youre a fan of this genre its a total no-brainer. Its no SotN or Hollow Knight, but honestly its pretty close and has its own unique charm. I know I went on quite a bit about the themes earlier but the story itself never really connected with me. Telling your story through esoteric lore is fine but the tone just didn't land.
Didn't love it but I am for sure excited to check out the sequel and see how this team has grown!