Bloodborne PSX: why you absolutely must try the demake of the masterpiece FromSoftware on PC
Bloodborne PSX
One of the fundamental characteristics of the videogame market, from the very beginning, was the tension towards evolution, artistic but also and above all hardware. Closely linked to the technology that supports it, the video game is basically created within the technical limits of its era and - if the authors are good - exploits them to create works that after many years are still incredible.Those works they never die, they remain etched in the minds of players who, while appreciating the innovations that the developers offer every year, continue to look back with nostalgia. When nostalgia blends with creative passion, however, it manages to take a journey through time and bring to the present day works that seem truly created in the past. This is the case with Bloodborne PSX, which we tested in its public version.
Bloodborne, but in the 90s
The hunter's dream from Bloodborne PSX What exactly is Bloodborne PSX? It's a work of art, first of all, but let's not get into that now. In practice, it is a remake or, if you prefer another term, it is a demake, a remake that, instead of improving the graphics, looks to the past and "lowers" the visual quality of the game.Obviously , is a demake of Bloodborne, FromSoftware's PS4 game. Even more precisely, it is only a piece of the work created by Hidetaka Miyaki, it is the Central Yharnam that immediately put many fans (and especially non-fans) of souls-like in difficulty. It is a fan-made project, made only for passion, completely free and available on itch.io. The author is Lilith Walther, who worked on it for 13 months, drawing the attention of the audience and fans of the Night of the Hunt with each presentation.
It is a dip in the nineties, those experienced in front of the cathode ray tube, with the reflection of the window that did not want to disappear, the position in which we placed ourselves matters little. This is a journey that reminds us of how a handful of poorly defined polygons were still able to strike and excite us.
Bloodborne PSX then pushes the accelerator to the demake side, proposing a true old-school aesthetic. This little adventure therefore offers us everything we would expect: limited polygonal mass, textures of the past, shorter horizon line than Eileen's blades of piety, old-fashioned menu (which however offer polygonal weapons, visible at 360 ° ... why don't they do that nowadays?) and small play areas, with regular uploads.
This could be one of the features that will amaze anyone who has no real memories of games from that era. Every few corridors and rooms you have to look at the "Now loading" screen, which you can deliberately slow down in the settings, to truly experience the PS1 era with its certainly not instant loads. Then there is a performance limit, also customizable, which places the frame rate at a maximum of 20 FPS.
We can eliminate these limits, mind you, but why do it? Bloorborne PSX stands first of all as a journey into the past and from our point of view you should accept every "technical problem" that the automatic settings propose.
Digital> analog
The sewers by Bloodborne PSX The graphics, however, are not the only difference, far from it. A simple lowering of the technical quality would not have had much value, if not as a pure display of Lilith's skills. It would have been appreciable, but we admit that in this case we would have branded it as a journey into memories to be tried on the fly and put aside after a couple of deaths.This is not the case and, let's say it immediately, if Bloodborne PSX went beyond the fight of Father Gascoigne, we would continue to play. The author created this new game by imagining the design rules of the nineties. First of all, analog sticks do not exist, so say goodbye to a free camera (which even on PS2 was not exactly obvious, it must be said). To look around you will have to use L2 and R2. Various other commands are moved: no need to make the complete list, as you will find out for yourself when you try the game (why will you try it, it's not a question; did you ask Bloodborne on PC? Technically you were satisfied).
But you must know that fighting in Bloorborne PSX is like fighting in Bloodborne, but in a slightly different way. It's like playing basketball and then starting to throw a ball that weighs twice as much. Initially it is strange and the shots fail, but then the hands and the mind adapt to the differences and it is as if nothing had changed. Precisely for this reason, Bloodborne is also interesting (and perhaps above all) for veterans, who know what to expect but who will be constantly blown away.
Originality
The Cleric Beast of Bloodborne PSX They don't just change the commands also. While it is true that the map is always Central Yharnam, the playing areas are a little different, both for reasons of "technical consistency" and for content requirements. We explain.The various sections of the first Bloodborne map have been expanded in its PSX version. In some cases, certain areas are virtually identical to the original ones, but have simply been made larger. The proportions and the consequent travel times are different, but the blood-intoxicated hunters for many years will recognize every corner, knowing full well where to find the next enemy and where to collect a useful object.
In other cases, however, yes will turn a corner you will no longer have an idea of what is happening. The creator has well thought out to create Bloodborne PSX while respecting her own limits. Not having the resources to create multiple areas, she simply opted to expand the original ones. The central street of the city, instead of taking us to the bridge in a few seconds, is divided into various areas, with also a series of original side alleys, with multiple shortcuts to block. The sewers include a whole new poisonous area and there are various doors locked by keys, which you can recover by carefully exploring.
Father Gascoigne of Bloodborne PSX The lanterns have also increased, so as to have more checkpoints. Given the brevity of the game, the system of upgrading the weapons that now go up to level five has also been rethought. What else? Intuition points unlock various areas in the Hunter's Dream, as if they were collectible stars to be collected to open numbered doors.
The beauty of Bloodborne PSX lies in these original ideas, in the redesing of the game, which also push those who have played the original work over and over to launch themselves into exploration, looking into every nook and cranny, because it is well known that there could be a surprise.
All this, however, without renouncing fidelity. There aren't literally all of Central Yharnam's enemies (lack of bipedal wolves and sewer crawling humanoids), but those present, including the Beast Cleric and Father Gascoigne, attack in exactly the same way. The sound effects and dialogue have clearly been taken directly from the PS4 game and are actually the only element that could be out of tune, as they are too many and too "clean" to be those of a PS1 game. Their presence, however, enhances immersion and almost creates a nostalgia effect in reverse, with a "PS1 game" that reminds us of our past adventures on PS4.
