Bloodborne

Bloodborne is an action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 4. Announced at Sony's E3 2014 conference, the game was released worldwide in March 2015. Bloodborne follows the player character, the Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian era-inspired city of Yharnam, whose inhabitants have been afflicted with an abnormal blood-borne disease, with the player character unraveling the city's intriguing mysteries while fighting beasts, ultimately attempting to find the source of the plague and stop it. The game is played from a third-person perspective, players control a customizable protagonist, and gameplay is focused on weapons-based combat and exploration. Players battle varied enemies, including bosses, using items such as swords and firearms, and journey through the story, exploring the game's different locations, interacting with non-player characters, collecting key items involved in the story, and discovering and unraveling the world's many mysteries. Bloodborne began development in 2012 under the working title of Project Beast. Bearing many similarities to the Souls series of games by the same developer and director, Bloodborne was partially inspired by the literary works of authors H. P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker, and the architectural design of certain real world locations in places such as Romania and the Czech Republic. The decision by game director Hidetaka Miyazaki to create a new intellectual property (IP) and not another Souls game was made because he wanted to create something "different"; at the same time, Sony wanted a new IP to be made exclusively for the PlayStation 4. Bloodborne received critical acclaim, with praise being directed at its gameplay, particularly its high level of difficulty, sound design, atmospheric environments, interconnected world design, and plot. However, some criticism was directed at its technical performance at launch, which was improved with post-release updates. An expansion for the game, titled The Old Hunters, was released in November 2015. By the end of 2015, the game had sold over two million copies worldwide. It was nominated for multiple year-end accolades including Game of the Year by several gaming publications. The game also had a few spinoffs produced, such as a card game and comic book series.