LONDON: Bloodborne is might seem like a crippling design choice, especially since you can’t use any of your accrued Blood Echoes to level up your character’s attributes until after you encounter the game’s first boss, but Bloodborne is deceptively forgiving in death.
It is a different sort of RPG to what you might be used to playing. There are no immediate or obvious objectives, the “story” is more of a contextual ambiance than an ongoing supporting narrative, and you can’t even save. Oh, and you’re also doing to die. Over and over and over.
- YOU DIED
And that’s okay, because it’s kind of the whole point. Now you’ve learned what not to do the next time around.
When you die, you’ll be respawned back at the nearest unlocked Lantern and all the enemies in the area will be resurrected. Adding insult to injury both past and (tragically inevitable) future, you’ll also lose all the Blood Echoes you were carrying at the time of your demise. You can get those back by returning to wherever you died and either scooping them up off the ground, or – if they’re not there anymore, gasp – killing the creepy weirdo who took them. Look for an enemy with glowing eyes and take him out before he sells them for bitcoin on Reddit or something.
If you die again before retrieving your Blood Echoes, they’re gone forever. Also, if you cry and nobody knows, it totally doesn’t count.
- But I don’t waaaaanna die
So level up your Vitality, Endurance, and Strength stats. You’re still going to die, though.
- I don’t have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain
There’s no pause button in this game. That’s super important because it means if your controller battery dies, you’ll probably die too. Yes, technically you’ll have learned what not to do the next time around, but I’d already told you that.
- Locked and loaded
Click the right analogue stick (R3) to lock onto enemies, because you don’t want to have to constantly adjust the camera while you’re also trying desperately not to die. Not locking onto enemies is also a 99% effective method of missing shots with a firearm and embarrassing everybody involved.
- They do move in herds
Just like in real life, it’s a good idea to avoid mobs. Hang back, lure enemies out using pebbles, and take them on one or two at a time. If you find yourself suddenly outnumbered by the bad guys – and you will find yourself suddenly outnumbered by the bad guys…
- Mom says you have to come home
Get out of there. Most enemies will chase you only a short distance before giving up and going back to where they were. In fact, you don’t even have to wait until you’re in trouble – if you don’t feel like picking a fight, you can always run past enemies. Especially when you’ve just been killed by them 10 million times already.
- They see me rollin’
You don’t have a shield and you can’t block, so you’ll just have to get out of the way instead. When you’re locked onto an enemy, the circle button executes a kind of dodge-step – you can use this to avoid an incoming attack, or simply to manoeuvre quickly around or even towards your target. If you’re not locked onto an enemy, the same button performs a dodge-roll in whatever direction you’re pushing on the left analogue stick.
If you’re not going to run away like I told you, dodging is the next best way to not die in Bloodborne.
- Take-backsies
The “Regain” system in Bloodborne lets you regenerate some hit points by counter-attacking just after you’ve taken damage. Look at the red health bar on your HUD when you take damage, and you’ll see a white marker somewhere on it, indicating how much you’re potentially going to lose. If you counter-attack fast enough, that white marker will shift towards the right, reducing the amount of damage you’re taking.
You can get your hit points back by counter-attacking any enemy – so, not just the one who attacked you first – and you can keep attacking an enemy who is already in the middle of a death animation to get back even more.
- For the hoard!
You can carry a maximum of 20 Blood Vials and 20 ammo in your pockets, but any additional items of those types picked up will magically warp through to your stash in the Hunter’s Dream hub area, and be automatically replenished as needed when you go back or when you die.
Also, don’t be in a rush to sell off gear you’re not using. You know, you might want to use it later. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.
- Leave no stone unturned, and no otherwise inconspicuous barrel unbroken
While Lanterns are somewhat few and far between, there are multiple shortcuts between them – but they’re sometimes quite deviously hidden. Finding these shortcuts should be a priority early on in every new area, as it precludes a whole lot of tedious slogging from one place to the next. From the first Lantern, for example, you can open a shortcut that will get you to the game’s first two bosses within a minute or so.
