Bloodborne’s opening is one of the best introductions in gaming. You wake up on a hospital bed with nothing but some shoddy Victorian clothes – the next thing you know a werewolf claw-punches you in the throat and bang! You’re dead. After that, you awaken in a dream to grab your tools and meet a lifeless doll and her owner, a rambling old man named Gehrman.
Before you have the chance to take literally any of this in, you’re thrown into Central Yharnam, the pinnacle of video game level design. It’s Dark Souls’ best aspect – that 3D approach to the Metroidvania genre – condensed and honed into a singular zone. There’s nothing else like it.
RELATED: Dark Souls Challenge Runs Prove It Was Never About Difficulty
Shortcuts, hidden areas, and later levels are visible from the get-go: Central Yharnam’s brilliance is noticeable in mere moments. Past the second lamp, there are some boxes to the left. You can smash them and roll down to skip a bit of the area. Meanwhile, down the stairs and behind you is a gate that loops back into Iosfeka’s Clinic. That’s just the first few steps. Push on and you’ll find an open courtyard area with a little shortcut towards a pack of caged dogs. If you head back again there’s a shortcut to the lamp that you’d otherwise have to cross the bridge to find. The environment is fluid despite its ostensible linearity.
It took me several runs to discover everything in Central Yharnam. It is full of little details and thorough exploration is rewarded generously. For example, venturing deeper into Central Yharnam’s optional paths sees you meet a little girl. She reveals that her dad is the area’s boss, Father Gascoigne. She lends you a music box that stuns him in the fight, giving you a temporary opening to attack without the risk of him fighting back. Right next to the daughter is a tall Gothic metal gate that you can open, linking back to that courtyard I mentioned earlier. As an introductory area, Central Yharnam could have easily been a straightforward path from the lamp to Gascoigne, showing you the ropes in a basic and streamlined manner – but it’s so much more than that.
Even when you’re fighting late-game bosses, FromSoftware makes a point to tie everything back to Central Yharnam. When you first leave Iosefka’s Clinic, there’s a locked gate outside. This is opened later after venturing to the Forbidden Woods and it opens up to another part of Central Yharnam with an expanded version of the clinic. The door locks behind you when you initially leave but you can get back into that starting room now, which has yet another now-opened door. Central Yharnam isn’t just a box that you walk from one point to the other in. You can get from A to B in various different ways, with each different path rewarding you with items, lore, or methods to make bosses easier.
It feels like an actual town you’re exploring rather than a video game. What makes it so immersive is the lack of artificial barriers – it is an open area that interconnects with itself like any city in the real world. You can even visit the area the Cleric Beast jumps from – the Cathedral Ward. This interconnected approach is rooted in the Metroidvania inspirations touted by Soulsborne titles.
While it’s something that dominates the early game of the original Dark Souls with Firelink Shrine, Bloodborne manages to replicate that rewarding exploration across an entire landscape. It’s perfect and sets the scene immediately for one of the best games of all time.
Next: Lost In Random Is Too Loyal To Its Own Premise
