Bloodborne
Rahvan, the Hunter
Warning: Highly self-indulgent content coming up.
Gaming has been a large part of my life since early childhood. Little did I, or my parents, know that those blissful hours playing Sonic, Wonderboy and Altered Beast would leave such a major impact in the person I have turned out to be. However, at some point in my mid twenties gaming started to lose its charm - I still had the urge to play, but nothing really kept my interest for long, and gradually playing felt more like going through the motions instead of the exciting adventures I hoped to experience. Thanks to Reddit, I have learned that this is a common phenomenon as we grow older, and often caused by a combination of the stressors of adult life and a certain jadedness in our approach to any activity. Thus, it becomes much harder to fully engage in the imaginary worlds games try to create for us. This went on for years, despite trying a wide range of titles, many of which in theory should be perfect for me - and which I later have started enjoying.
It was not until I, while visiting my wife’s family, watched her play Bloodborne that my passion for games was rekindled. I knew of the game already, and had even briefly tried my hand at Dark Souls before, but quickly gave up, considering them too much of a time investment to get good at. I didn’t own a PS myself either, so Bloodborne had never been under consideration, and at the time I was too focused on “realistic” swordplay to appreciate the introduction of guns and trick weapons. Still, it was fascinating to watch her play, and without much else to do outside of the celebrations I decided to try it myself. I was awful at it, dying over and over again to the first basic mobs I encountered, and could not even get to grips with the targeting system. It kept my interest though. Finally, I was invested in a game again - joyously sharing every victory, cursing my enemies, marvelling at the intricate city of Yharnam and daydreaming about the mysteries only vaguely hinted at here and there. Gradually I got better and better at it, although I almost broke down trying to get past Father Gascoigne, and as you will see documented below, I completed my first Bloodborne playthrough. Unfortunately I did not think of taking screenshots until I was over halfway through the game, but I still enjoy looking back at the journey my character went through. Like me, he might not have had much faith starting out, but he discovered something precious on the way.
I started the playthrough “blind”, i.e. without looking for guidance elsewhere - actually blinder than most, since I was also playing in Polish, a language I at that point knew all of five words in. As I grew serious about completing the game, I did some research into boss strategies and the lore, and at some point started following a walkthrough for large parts of the game. The latter I do somewhat regret, but still the journey never lost its sense of mystery and challenge. Thanks to this experience, I am finally again able to appreciate other games too, and for this Bloodborne will always hold a special place in my heart. Rahvan was not the only character I led through this nightmarish dream, nor did this turn out to be the only FromSoftware game I completed, so more posts in this vein are coming.