Bloodborne is now on PC, if you can stomach its PS1-era graphics
A fan-made project makes Bloodborne blocky
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FromSoftware’s gothic horror RPGBloodbornehas come to PC as a fan-made PS1 demake.
BloodbornePSX recreates a portion of the Soulslike in the style of classic PlayStation games, deliberately downgrading its graphics to include all the low-res textures, sparse polygons, and blocky environments you would expect from a game that released in the late ‘90s.
Lilith Walther, the demake’s creator and lead programmer at indie studio Heartstrings, announced the game’s release on Twitter (thanks,Polygon), alongside a trailer demonstrating its pixelated, pared-down visuals.
They’ve been working on the game for 13 months and released it forfree online. The length of the demake is unclear, although its trailer shows off the Cleric Beast and Father Gascoigne boss fights, and its description says you’ll be able to find “10 unique hunter weapons”.
It even comes with a selection of in-gamecheatsto use if you’re struggling and has its owncover artillustrated in the style of a PS1 game. You could play with a mouse and keyboard, or plug in a gamepad, just like the original PS1, though, there’s no analog stick support.
Analysis: in the absence of Bloodborne 2, this fits
Walther’s demake is mightily impressive. Not only does it recreate the original movesets of the two bosses and the tactical hit-and-roll combat of the game, but it even manages to retain Bloodborne’s twisted gothic atmosphere through a handful of polygons. In fact, its inferior graphics might accentuate that horror, in the same way early Resident Evil games played off their primitive visuals to maximize their twisted designs.
But the demake is especially welcome in the absence of any sight of a proper sequel. FromSoftware has moved onto several projects since Bloodborne released back in 2015, including two original IPs inSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceandElden Ring. With no official mention of a sequel, or rumors circulating that one is in the works behind the scene, this might be as close as we ever get.
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Here’s hoping neitherSonynor FromSoftware shut down the project for copyright infringement. There’s little to suggest they will. The demake has been public for several months, and both companies have allowedYarntown, a Zelda reimagining of Bloodborne, to stay up.
Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.
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