“Even Elden Ring pales in comparison”: Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Biggest Game May Not Be His Best as Fans Fondly Look Back at a FromSoftware Classic
Bloodborne continues to be counted among Miyazaki's best titles with its combat and bosses continuing to dazzle newcomers to Yharnam.
- Bloodborne was a PlayStation 4 exclusive that remains among Hidetaka Miyazaki's greatest titles.
- The game's combat, perilous world and unique weapons helped it stand out from other FromSoftware games with ease.
- It continues to enthrall new players even ten years after its original release as an experience that no other game can imitate.
There is a reason that PlayStation fans constantly plead for a current-gen remaster of Bloodborne for Sony’s PlayStation 5. The 2014 smash-hit from FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki continues to draw a lot of praise from critics and players alike, its dark hallways continuing to draw in Souls players with their innumerable threats and well-hidden secrets.
While Miyazaki may be known for other franchises like Dark Souls or his more recent magnum opus Elden Ring, his work with Bloodborne was a departure from his usual gameplay mechanics that showed the world what he was truly capable of and was a feat that he was able to build on with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Take on Lovecraftian Horror
Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Bloodborne was a sublime blend of Miyazaki’s opaque storytelling and FromSoftware’s trademark difficulty that put its players in the shoes of the Hunter, a foreign visitor to the ravaged town of Yharnam. Seeking a cure for a debilitating disease, the Hunter soon finds that things in Yharnam are not as they seem, diving into an adventure that must be experienced before it is believed.
As an exclusive for the PlayStation 4, Bloodborne may have been limited by the console’s technical capabilities but managed to stand out from Miyazaki’s past works with a combat system that eschewed the usual rolling and stabbing from Souls games for one that let its players take enemies head-on with nothing but a melee weapon and a gun complementing the Hunter’s outstanding agility and cunning.
Bloodborne Continues to Enthrall Miyazaki Fans
While Elden Ring may have catapulted Miyazaki to global fame, Bloodborne remains among his finest titles to date with the base game and its DLC The Old Hunters managing to draw a lot of attention nearly ten years after its release.
The game’s influence on other PlayStation exclusives continues to be felt even as new players try their hand at its terrifying environments, enemies, and bosses. The Reddit post below showcases how one such newcomer to Yharnam has been enthralled by their journey.
While it is amusing to consider that the Shadows of Yharnam are among the game’s earlier enemies with many terrors for this player to find, a response to his post showcases the love that Bloodborne continues to accrue from long-term fans of the game and newbies alike.
Another response showed The Old Hunters some love, a reasonable sentiment considering that some of the game’s best bosses are from the Hunter’s Nightmare where the DLC is based.
Another response to the post sums up what many Bloodborne veterans believe to be true about the game – that there are no other titles like it despite a recent release attempting to imitate its unique gameplay loop.
Bloodborne’s unique place among Miyazaki’s best titles is well-deserved. It is among the finest PlayStation exclusives to grace the platform and an experience that even Miyazaki himself might find hard to duplicate despite his immense talents.
