Bloodborne: modders restore a surprise deleted feature

Bloodborne

Not everyone will know that initially in Bloodborne there was also a very particular move. It can be seen if you carefully observe the leak of the FromSoftware project, which emerged in 2014: at that time the game was still called Project Beast and featured the steampunk game world of the exclusive PlayStation 4 before it was made official. But now, thanks to a group of modders, that special move has finally been brought back to life.

The move we are talking about is a kick that allows the protagonist to remove shields from enemies and break their guards . The combat mechanic was present in the trailer that emerged a few days before the official announcement but was then removed from the game. Called “Kick Attack”, it could be performed by pushing the DualShock 4's analog stick forward and pressing R1 at the same time. But how did the modders bring it back to life on Bloodborne and why was it canceled?

In fact, as specified on Twitter, the move by Bloodborne has never gone away. It has always remained in the source code and can be activated when comments are removed from the code, as explained by the modders on Twitter, who also provided a video of the Kick Attack in action and which you can view yourself a little further down. The reasons for the cancellation, however, remain obscure: according to some it could be due to the presence of very few enemies with the shield but we will probably never know the real reasons.

In the very first gameplay trailer for Bloodborne, we saw a "kick" attack that was removed from the game long before we got to play it. It can be restored by uncommenting 2 lines of code. Here it is working again. pic.twitter.com/osK3AMdthk

- Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) October 23, 2021



Unlike other PlayStation 4 games, Bloodborne doesn't seem to want to make it to PC. And this obviously triggered a bit of discontent in the community: In fact, FromSoftware games are seen by those who use the PC as a gaming platform as real pearls. However, it is difficult to understand if it is done voluntarily by Sony or if commercial agreements with FromSoftware and the old JAPAN Studio are not in fact real limitations to a possible conversion that will therefore prevent the title from leaving the PlayStation ecosystem.

FromSoftware's next game will be Elden Ring: you can pre-order your copy on Amazon.

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Here is the first ten minutes of the ‘Bloodborne’ PS1 demake

The developer of the Bloodborne PS1 demake has shared a look of the first ten minutes of the game.

Lilith Walther, creator of Bloodborne PSX, uploaded a video that shows the game from the very beginning, including a replication of the iconic PS1 boot-up screen and the game’s title screen.

While less gory and action-packed than footage previously shared, including a fight with Father Gascoigne, the clip shows how the demake has faithfully replicated the original PS4 exclusive.

Starting with the player character being given blood ministration shown from the first-person perspective, the clip also shows the demake’s character creator, featuring many of the same stats.

Bloodborne PSX however does deviate slightly, as the footage only shows the player inside the Iosefka’s Clinic, and they’re seen traversing a ladder and beams not in the original game. Nonetheless, it reproduces the moment when the player is attacked and killed by a beast and awakens in the Hunter’s Dream hub, where the doll is located.

Walther also tweeted a thread breaking down some of the different elements seen in the video, including adding an ‘adventure game’ style camera for investigating the abandoned doll, explaining, “this is the players first impression of her and she’s too low resolution when viewed from the default camera,” adding they might reuse the camera for other investigative moments in the game.

Bloodborne PSX has been a project of the solo developer since 2017 when they first starting posted videos. After sharing more progress videos earlier this year, Walther said that experienced Bloodborne hunters will find that the overall playtime for the final game “will be double that on a casual play through”.

Elsewhere, Xbox and Finnish studio Mainframe are reportedly developing a cloud-first MMO codenamed Pax Dei.