On Bloodborne's difficulty

The internet loves arguing over whether Bloodborne is easy or hard. Why is this debate keeping us so captivated?

From Software games are now officially mainstream. Last night I saw an advert for Bloodborne during half-time in a Champions League match, and today I read that it has shipped 1m copies worldwide. Impressive numbers for a game that's garnered a reputation for innaccesiblility. Bloodborne was my first proper venture into From Software and their "Souls" franchise, and as I write I'm on the verge of completing it.

A ridiculous volume of talk, once all the review hype had dissipated, has been on the difficulty. Opinion pieces have been written by such luminaries as Susan Arendt fiercely calling out those arguing over the game's challenge, identifying two groups. There are those who believe the true hardcore gamer will find it easy, wearing it as a licence to their own self-defined "real gamer" club. Then there are those who bemoan the difficulty, calling it artificial and pointless. She concludes both to be as bad as one another.

On last week's Giantbomb podcast, Jeff Gerstmann (a skeptic of From's previous work) shared his opinions of the game, having played several hours of it. He almost scoffed at those who heralded it as difficult, and that he didn't really think a game that he boiled down to dodging and hitting enemies when they miss deserved such a reputation.

The more talk that gets about surrounding Bloodborne's difficulty, the less interesting the game appears to the outside world. I've played difficult games in the past, and difficulty can come in many fashions. It can be deliberately arbitrary, brutal and unforgiving, leaving you open to sudden, unforeseen deaths or failures. Call of Duty 4 on veteran difficulty springs to mind; a near-flawless game on regular and hardcore mode, but crank it up to eleven and there are a handful of missions that become near-unplayable without an hour of trial-and-error and a generous helping of luck. Then there are games where the difficulty provides the next goal for players: Guitar Hero, and many character action games. Games such as Devil May Cry give the player a reason to go back for more because of their difficulties. You face a boss on normal mode and it feels a challenge, but then by the time you come back around on hard you've improved. Your dodging reflexes have improved and you know which moves will cause the most efficient damage for the fight.

Bloodborne combines both of these approaches, and gets the balance just right,

It has the punishing, back-in-your-place difficulty spikes of Call of Duty. After finally mastering the early bonfire section of Bloodborne, and feeling like my skills were improving to a point where I could navigate this tricky opening with relative ease, the game then throws two giant lycanthrope enemies between you and progression. Manage to get through them, and you're almost immediately faced with the Cleric Beast, as intimidating a first boss as any game in the world is likely to contain. It keeps you guessing and playing the game on its terms.

There's also an element of the other style in there, where a surprisingly open world environment is kept gated through difficulty and player skill. Theoretically, you could fight your way from Ioesefka's Clinic to Father Gascgoine in a little over ten minutes. The path is right there, fairly linear and easy to navigate were it not for your own skill. In Bloodborne, your own real-life ability levels up over time as much as your in-game avatar levels up their health bar or stamina. Your adeptness with the game (which won't start at the same level for everyone, remember) determines your progress, and that's where Bloodborne really sets itself apart from modern games to me.

There are no level selects, no bridges to the next island barricaded by the army. You could beat the game with an unlevelled character in an hour if you were good enough. Some insane nerds already have. There's no checkpoints, map markers, or even a map. Your own muscle memory, sense of direction and accrued knowledge through your previous mistakes serve as your guide. It's a special experience, and I think that is why I feel so much personal triumph now, as I stand face to face with the final boss, ready to vanquish the nightmare.