Okay, I’m going to be brisk with this next look at Souls-like Games. I’m throwing you into the deep end, respecting that you’re probably busy and don’t feel like reading a lot of text. Bloodborne was one of the first Souls-like games I played to completion. Before playing it, I’d already watched a let’s play on it and several lore videos. I robbed myself of the opportunity to find these discoveries myself and piece the lore together on my own. With this in mind, I’ll be going over the 5 ways I spoiled myself in Bloodborne and what you can learn from this.
#5 General Combat
I’d say this is the least important of the 5. It’s helpful to see others play and fail before giving it a go. Combat a go. Or you see them win and steal their techniques from them. Either way, I get to laugh at and with the people I’m watching. Let’s take the Saw Spear – an offshoot of a standard weapon with a thrusting attack as opposed to a sweep. What I learned from watching was that the transforming attack (swiping it in and out of its two forms) was really effective, not to mention fun. I carve up beasts and bosses with the best of them!
#4 Bosses
Speaking of bosses. Their impact is lessened when I’ve seen what they look like, how they move, and their attack patterns. The horror of, say, the Cleric Beast – the first real boss – is lessened when I’ve seen other people fight her and seen the cutscene already. Less ‘Oh God, what am I looking at?!’ and more ‘oh hey, that’s creepy, anyway’. on the plus side, any annoyance from the bosses is lessened due to having seen a veritable guide on how to beat them (like with the Witches of Hemwick).
#3 Story
Next, we have the reason why you’re going out to fight the bosses. Y’know, apart from ‘it’s a video game’. A lot of Souls-Like Games are like this. The story can be ignored in favour of focussing on gameplay, but it’s still there, if sparsely. I spoiled myself but watching the cutscenes and seeing other people’s reactions to them. The reveal of Laurence and Willem (two central characters in the setting) is lessened on repeat.
#2 Secrets
Whether it’s an area or part of the story, the game has many secrets for you to find. Or, in my case, you get them explained to you, leaving you going ‘oh, that sounds cool’. Like I said before, it’s not the same thing. Second-hand is worse when it comes to an experience like this.
#1 Lore
Finally, the most important item on this list, especially given the kind of game this is. The background stories are where I’d get most of the context for the setting. Seeing these being discussed means I don’t get the opportunity to discover it for myself.
Wrap-up
So there are the 5 ways I spoiled myself in Bloodborne. To summarise, going in with some knowledge of the game is nice, but spoilers ruin the surprise. Having said this, the spoilers were still entertaining – lore theories are fun to listen to and imagine. I’d recommend Sinclair Lore, for example. Still, don’t do what I did. It’s easy to ruin something for yourself because you find the reactions and discussions of other people entertaining. If you liked this, be sure to check out my previous post on Souls-Like Games.