Table of Contents
amazon Bloodborne The Old Hunters reviews
Expansion Overview
“The Old Hunters” is set in new locations seamlessly integrated into “Bloodborne’s” world. These spots, known as the Hunter’s Nightmare, act as distorted reflections of already existing areas in the game, populated by creatures more grotesque than its enemies and atmosphere. The expansion dives into the unfortunate history of the hunters defending Yharnam, the founders of the culture of hunting in Bloodborne, and provides a wealth of lore including the backstory for a number of significant characters and events only touched upon in the base game.
The expansion is crafted for characters advanced in the main game, and so the scaling of difficulty is suitable for higher-level characters. However, the expansion can be accessed relatively early in the game;these would be immense challenges for ill-prepared players. The DLC features a generous helping of new content in the form of weapons, armor sets, runes, and spells (dubbed Hunter Tools), giving players new strategies and playstyles to conduct their hunts. Highlighted among the new bosses in this DLC, each ranging in uniqueness and higher in difficulty than any in the base game, is probably one of the most memorable encounters in the entire Soulsborne series.
World and Atmosphere
Design and atmosphere are truly impressive in Bloodborne: The Old Hunters. The expansion maintains the same artistry in environment design as the base game, keeping the world cohesive and increasingly disturbing. The DLC’s primary area, termed the Hunter’s Nightmare, is a perverted reflection of Yharnam, where familiar areas are warped into vile parodies of their original forms. This setting serves to depict the descent into madness of the hunters trapped in this dreadful world.
Its architecture and layout are hauntedly beautiful, hosting gothic spires, crumbling cathedrals, and secrets that go from awe to terror. The palette becomes darker than in the base game, and more desaturated; the muted tones of gray, black, and crimson dominate every corner of the landscape. Blood streaked with hallucinogenic chaos that provoke madness and psychic disturbance through a grotesque and grinning grin, all attributes that contribute to the overall suffocating ambiance of the expansion.
Level design in The Old Hunters, on the other hand, is intricate and interwoven, full of shortcuts, hidden paths, and secret regions that promote exploration. The world is woven with environmental storytelling that allows every location, object, and enemy to tell a story. Legends concerning the expansion have been fitted into the environment: to cryptic messages, scattered notes, and visual cues giving hints about the sad history of those hunters who became part of the horrendous exploits that led to the conception of this nightmare.
With an epilogue, it has hauntingly beautiful orchestral compositions that are mellifluous, pierced with real pieces of dead-breathed fairy exoticism, drawn from dismay and dread, to further enhance the atmosphere. Each area and BS featured unique themes for every boss fight in the ambiance of the music, perfectly matched to the tone of the game, making it more endearing. The combination of ambient noises, enemy growls, and the sound of weapons colliding adds to the immersive experience that stands above the par of sound design.
Mechanics of Gameplay
“The Old Hunters” goes ahead to incorporate new gameplay features as well as improvements from base mechanics that created Bloodborne’s core title. In truth, its addition is fast, inline, aggressive combat just as the original game, but it manages, for this fast-paced experience, to develop certain layers of depth and complexity even for veteran players.
New Weapons and Combat Styles
Among the highlights for “The Old Hunters” is the vast number of newly introduced weapons, including all called trick weapons. All these weapons are not just seen wielded but introduce completely new types of combat styles and mechanics inviting experimentation. They have two forms, where upon the switching in between, some of these Trick Weapons present different types of gaps for attacks and tactics in battle.
For example, the Whirligig is a heavy two-handed weapon that turns into a spinning buzzsaw that wreaks havoc on enemies near it. The Beast Cutter is another new addition; first, it is a heavy, long blade, but it can transform that into a flexible weapon that behaves like a whip for crowd control and long-range offensive strikes. The Church Pick is a flexible weapon with a fast thrust attack with a sword and a powerful wide swing with a scythe format; it truly exemplifies the creative weapon design that defines the DLC.
Most obviously these weapons are not hand decorations. They certainly come with new battle strategies, meant to change the way a player fights. For some weapons, better enemies exist compared to others. Some weapons work wonders in situations like crowd control against bosses and stuff like that. A broad representation of weapons in the Old Hunters leads players into trying out different load-outs and methods of playing.
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – Owning many very successful game lines in the past, such as Tenchu, Armored Core, Another Century’s Episode but today, when it comes to FromSoftware, most gamers only mention the Souls series (including Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II), because of its insanely difficult but indescribable difficulty level!
2016 may be another successful year for FromSoftware when Dark Souls III launches in April. Still, when 2015 isn’t over, this Japanese developer makes everyone remember: they have another equally interesting game, with the release of the Bloodborne: The Old Hunters expansion for Bloodborne.
Talking about Bloodborne, this PS4 exclusive game is not in the Souls series, but thanks to its inheritance of many important factors, it is still considered a worthy “successor.”
Therefore, the release of the Bloodborne: The Old Hunters expansion pack could help fans forget about the release date of Dark Souls III, to remember that another unfinished journey awaits them.
So, whether Bloodborne: The Old Hunters is attractive enough for the “hunters” to return to their “dream”?
Having made DLCs whose content is sometimes even better than the original game, such as the three parts “Lost Crowns” for Dark Souls II or “Artorias of the Abyss” for Dark Souls, should go to Bloodborne: The Old Hunters. It seems that FromSoftware has gathered a lot of previous experience to create a “worthwhile” expansion as expected by fans.
The first thing that players can feel as soon as they “encounter” the new content is the difficulty.
Yes, Bloodborne is inherently difficult, but with Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, the level of challenge for players goes up a notch, and that’s the biggest fan attraction in this expansion.
Besides some old enemies, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters brings many new monsters and bosses with extremely disgusting shapes.
It can be said, through the hideous looks of the bosses’ players’ faces, we can see that FromSoftware’s design level has increased by one notch.
Of course, they not only have “appearance,” but their fear is also evident in the fighting phase, especially when the player confronts five new bosses.
In addition to dealing with serious damage and complex combo attacks, the bosses in the game will sometimes make you wonder, “How difficult will this journey be?” when possessing many wide-area damage attacks.
Because of that, most boss fights are tough.
Even many normal monsters are enough to annoy you when they go together or have their advantages that cause inhibition to the player, such as the ability to use Arcane spell skills.
Overall, with more challenges than before, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters deserves an experience not to be missed for real hunters.
Inherently an expansion, so of course, The Old Hunters will add more new content for players.
In addition to the new types of enemies or bosses, hunters will have the opportunity to find ten more weapons and new costumes or dig deeper into the storyline.
Like the original, the plot in Bloodborne: The Old Hunters is still attractive only to those interested and learn the pieces to create a complete picture.
This expansion will give the player’s character a kick start at Hunter’s Nightmare, a fantasy version of Cathedral Ward.
Here, players will be faced with Old Hunters, the first hunters to fail due to being put into this “nightmare” place, causing them to lose their mind and become madmen.
Of course, the new areas in this expansion will run the risk of being similar to the Chalice dungeons, which only challenge players but don’t have much plot value.
Fortunately, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, though not much, still brings important details for players to understand more about the dark world in Bloodborne.
Here, you will have a better view of the madness of the metamorphic hunters or face Ludwig, the first hunter of the Healing Church and the owner of the legendary Holy Blade sword.
These are all extremely valuable experiences for those who have spent a lot of effort understanding the Bloodborne plot.
Although providing new content and practical challenges for the experienced “hunters,” unfortunately, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters has some objective limitations to make this expansion perfect.
The first point that annoys players is the approach to Bloodborne: The Old Hunters.
Although this expansion does not affect the plot or Bloodborne endings, this new content is located in the main content.
That means that if you “miss” the end of the game, you must play in the next New Game + levels (with increasing difficulty) and have to go through many tough battles to get to Hunter’s Nightmare.
Next is the artificial intelligence (AI) of NPC teammates. Although this expansion changed the design, making it easier for players to summon hunters right before boss fights (similar to decent players), they could barely help. Much useful for you in battles because you don’t get stuck by objects; you will also head into the fight without any strategy.
And finally, the rest of the player’s discomfort is still the angle, when they often switch to close-ups if the player enters a dead end and is stuck there, causing inhibition, especially in confrontations with big bosses.
where can you get a Bloodborne The Old Hunters online
PS4 Bloodborne The Old Hunters Edition [Japanese]: Buy it now
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – PS4 [Digital Code]: Buy it now
Bloodborne The Old Hunters Collector’s Edition Guide: Buy it now