Thursday, May 14, 2015

Fighting FOMO in 'Bloodborne'

Someone is really into the whole straight razor shaving thing.
Attention!  You’re missing out on so much stuff in Bloodborne.  That’s probably OK though.

Bloodborne’s not really what most people think of when the term “open world game” is used.  There’s no quest log or mini-map icons.  There’s no mini-map at all.  The environments are more labyrinthian than sprawling and there aren’t any mini-games. 

Instead, Bloodborne has a approach to “open.”  It’s liberal in the classical sense: the game is almost absurdly hands off when it comes to guiding you.  Entire stages stages full of unique enemies are entirely optional.  If you’re not paying attention (as I wasn’t) you can walk by sections that hold the keys to major game mechanics.  It’s hard to improve more and also obtain proficiency with more than a handful of weapons.  You will almost certainly miss out on significant chunks of what the game has to offer.

Accepting that fact is freeing.  Your average mortal won’t see everything, which means that you have to turn to the community.  Maybe it’s the in-game notes left by phantom players in other games or perhaps it’s verbally swapping stories with friends.  However you get it, the full picture of Bloodborne basically requires that you share notes with others.

I almost played through the game without Caryll runes and only learned about the gesture that lets you shout like a maniac from Jorge.  Then again, I learned that the doll will sometimes mimic your actions and that there’s more to the spider NPC than is first apparent.  Everyone’s Bloodborne experience will have gaps.  This gives it a sense of mystery and discovery most other games don’t have.


  1. This very much echoes my first Dark Souls experience which was a year after initial release with the Prepare to Die addition. I missed The Painted World of Ariamis, Dark Sun Gwyndolin, as well as the entire Knight Artorias section! But that's part of the fun of playing these games - the discovery!

  2. For sure. It's pretty wild how many different stories these games supply despite not being traditional "open worlds."