Sony will reap ‘Bloodborne’ profits from new RPG

Sony now has a good exclusive game to throw its marketing weight behind.

From Software’s “Bloodborne” was released just a little under two weeks ago. It has already taken the gaming world by storm.

This is a difficult role-playing game made by a company that loves to create difficult role-playing games. The people behind the frustrating “Demon’s Souls” and punishing “Dark Souls” series decided to create a similar play style for “Bloodborne,” which is set in a different universe altogether.

Players must journey to a Victorian-looking city to find a miracle cure, only to discover the city’s inhabitants have turned into bloodthirsty monsters. Aside from copying the plot of every good campy vampire and zombie story in existence, “Bloodborne” is an eerily good game for a variety of reasons.

Combat is a little more fast-paced than in previous “Souls” games, which to me is a much-needed improvement. “Souls” players have been forced to adapt to a more aggressive combat style, as players can often heal part of their lost health points by attacking monsters. The bosses are still inventive, the landscapes look sufficiently realistic and dreary to make anyone take pause, and the ever-punishing design of an old-school style game still provides the framework behind “Bloodborne.”

You will die. A lot. And then some more. Over and over again.

At some point, you’ll learn how to overcome a deadly puzzle, or get past incredibly tough monsters or even beat an excruciating boss battle that stripped you of all your goods and money. That’s part of the “charm” behind From Software games.

“Bloodborne” won’t be for every player because of how tough it is. I know I hate dying so much, but the game is too addictive to put down.

But “Bloodborne” will likely sell a lot of copies for a variety of reasons.

Western RPGs are in style ever since “Skyrim” became a huge runaway hit, and people have anticipated “Bloodborne” for more than a year now, despite a limited advertising campaign.

Since this game is exclusive to the Playstation 4, Sony should be playing “Bloodborne” up as much as humanly possible. It’s scored great reviews with critics, it’s spawned thousands of online videos in a few short weeks, and it delivered on all the hype it had going for it.

Microsoft’s Xbox One is already drawing players in with exclusives like the “Halo” series, and Nintendo’s entire draw is Nintendo only makes games for Nintendo. Sony needs more good games like “Bloodborne” to market, and based on its reception thus far, the company looks to score big with this game.

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