Bloodborne: The Old Hunters (PS4) Review

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: online co-op (2-4 players), online multiplayer (2 players)

Bloodborne is an action hack-and-slash RPG that was released for PS4 earlier this year. I'm not much of a fan of FromSoftware's Souls games (Dark Souls and Demons Souls), but I had a lot of fun with Bloodborne, mainly for its overall atmosphere mixed with an overall faster Souls gameplay style. The game had a very rewarding difficulty that challenged players to get better by learning enemy patterns and dodge techniques and the overall look of the game had a very nice gothic feel to it. The Old Hunters is an expansion to the main game that adds a whole new area as well as items, bosses and enemies for us to enjoy.

Besides the new area and all its contents, The Old Hunters expansion adds in an offline co-op option. You can now use a new item (bell) along with one point of your insight to summon an NPC partner at certain points of the game. The NPC will fight beside you while fighting normal enemies and bosses. The NPC is limited in where it can go however. Clouds will spawn along some doors and limit your progression while the NPC is with you. Unlike online co-op, you can only summon the NPC when you run into a certain glowing light and you have no control over what the NPC does. Having no control does have its weak points when you want to simply run by an enemy and your NPC pal decides to engage. Thankfully you can dismiss your NPC partner with the same method used to dismiss online partners. There is also a new 'League' option where a man with an iron mask over his head gives you items as you hunt down monsters for him. Once you join the league, he will ask you to destroy vermin for the league. The vermin is actually an item collected from some enemies and you must use that item then go back to claim your reward from the masked man.

The new area can only be accessed after defeating the Vicar Amelia boss in the Grand Cathedral. After defeating the boss, you will be given an item back at the Hunter's Dream that will allow you to access the new area through the graveyard near the shelter cathedral. The new area is called 'The Hunter's Nightmare'. The design of it is a mixture of old areas of the game that you have already been to mixed with new backgrounds. You'll probably recognize some areas, but they are layered with many other background objects now. The new area has some very awesome environmental designs at times, such as piles of bodies that move and moan as your hunter steps by them. The new area has a mixture of old and new enemies. The old enemies sometimes act with different behaviors than before ' less aggressive ' which is interesting. New enemies can be highly aggressive however. Many of the first new enemies that appear look much like hunters. Along with the new enemies are enemy hunters. Just like in other areas, the enemy hunters can basically provide just as much of a challenge as a boss battle. The new area expands upon the lore learned from the game ' mainly the cutscene after you finish off Vicar Amelia.

While journeying through the new stage, you'll get new weapon drops from finding them in the environment or after defeating certain enemies. The new weapons in the game are quite awesome. They are far more than just variations of other weapons. One weapon has a circular saw blade at the end of it and there is another that is a sword that doubles as a bow, allowing you to shoot arrows using your ammo. The new weapons are a lot of fun to mess around with and probably my favorite feature about the new expansion. Besides a few new enemies, the expansion also adds four new bosses. The first of the bosses is a very difficult challenge that I had problems with even while having an NPC partner on my side. Along with weapons, you'll find new types of armor that will change the appearance of your character.

If you greatly enjoy Bloodborne then you're a shoe-in for liking the Old Hunters expansion. My only problems with the game were the inconsistent framerate that the original game had and the fact that I couldn't control my NPC partner in any way ' the NPC partner can get stuck in the environment and the NPC will automatically fight the closest enemy even if you're trying to sneak up on that enemy. Besides the few flaws, the expansion is fantastic and I'm sure hardcore fans will sit back and consume it like a delicious wine just like they did with the main game. More Bloodborne is always a good thing!

The Good:
+ 4 new bosses, 10 new weapons and a few new items
+ A whole new area to explore that has the same gothic atmosphere as the rest of the game.

The Bad:
- The framerate still doesn't stay consistent in many areas
- The new NPC partners get stuck at times

Final Rating: 90%