Let's Regain Some Perspective On The Combat System Of Bloodborne

Not only was there a new trailer for Bloodborne out of Gamescom but some new information on the combat system and how it differs from other IPs

When I first saw Bloodborne at E3 I was under-impressed with what I saw. Visually Bloodborne looked spectacular but as far as gameplay and combat went it looked nothing like the announcement trailer or other bits of CGI that was being shown. What I was expecting was fast paced and not along the lines of Demon’s Souls‘ kind of combat for this PS4 title. Luckily there was a bit more of an explanation for Bloodborne at Gamescom here recently and it is starting to make more sense now.

One of my bigger gripes before was how sluggish the combat for Bloodborne was looking. Even the “faster” versions of the weapons were slow. This looks to be tied into the game’s difficulty and emphasis on risk/reward. Point proven more with the new Regain System mixed into Bloodborne‘s combat. This system will allow players to regain a bit of health as long as they strike back at enemies within a small amount of time. That time defined by a slowly decreasing yellow bar over the health bar which also indicates how much health you will regain if you land a successful bladed strike on a foe.

Another interesting addition to Bloodborne‘s combat, some of which we’ve already seen, is the weapon transformations. Yes, we know that there are two forms already for the “Saw Blade” but technically there is a third where you can transform the weapon mid-combo. It doesn’t stay in that form, nor will it for any of the other unannounced weapons, but it adds in another mechanic that could help you regain your lost health or just devastate the enemies around you. Not ground breaking but it is worth adding the note in for Bloodborne.

You can see a bit of these new features in the trailer for Bloodborne that was shown at Gamescom below. We also have a whole mess of new screen shots for Bloodborne to continue to show how beautiful the game is looking. While I am still not completely sold on the whole combat forms and mechanics, I do love fast paced in games like this, I am still keeping one eye on Bloodborne as we move forward. If what Sony stated during their press event at Gamescom we could be seeing it hit our PS4 in the next six months.