Summary
I’m right there with all youBloodbornefans who are thirstier than Iosefka’s imposter for some more of that sweet, sweet Yharnam ichor, but I can’t wrap my head aroundthe calls for a remaster, let alone a remake.
The game will be a decade old next year, and while a lot of people argue that it’s showing its age (including my colleagues), it’s not so weathered that it’s unplayable. The striking gothic art style interspersed with Lovecraftian, eldritch horrors populating nightmare planes and gloomy woods snuff out whatever blemishes of last-gen might stain this modern classic. The only major gripe I have is the sluggish 30fps, which we’ve seen plenty of games fix with updates alone, rather than throwing resources at needless remasters.
Calls for a Bloodborne PC port on the other hand make total sense. Bringing this incredible FromSoftware work of art to even more people is something to celebrate, but there’s no need tochangeanything.
There’s a growing trend in which the big triple-A developers and publishers drag contemporary games into current-gen, as we’ve seen withThe Last of UsandUntil Dawn, to turn another profit on our recent and often still-forming nostalgia. These games are already playable on modern consoles andstilllook good today, so there’s no point.
Improvements in graphical fidelity have plateaued over the past three generations, so much so that you can dive into a PS3 game ported to the PS4 and it won’t be that stark a contrast—it’s hardly comparable to the equivalent of diving back into a SNES game at the height of the PS2 generation. If going back two generations hardly makes a difference, why remake a game from just one generation ago?
The answer is, of course, that Bloodborne fans want to feel the same rush as when they first played the game, something that you’re able to’t recapture with a simple replay. New and improved graphics, added quality-of-life features, enhanced RTX lighting, would all breathe new life into Bloodborne and maybe, just maybe, make us feel like we did back in 2015, right?
That’s completely bogus. You’ll still know the game in and out and the novelty of shiny bells and whistles will wear off when you realise it’s not that big of a leap given how little graphics have actually evolved in the last ten years.
History will bear me out on this.Dark SoulsRemastered is often regarded as the worse version of the game. It felt unnecessary then, it feels unnecessary now.
I’ve never understood the call for a remake/remaster for that exact reason, especially since it would mean finding a team—likely other than FromSoftware, and definitely not Japan Studio asthey were unceremoniously shut down—to ‘restore’ this critical darling. It would mean handing the keys to the kingdom to a stranger, who in turn could be doing something new… something unique. And if itdoesmean involving the original developer a la The Last of Us Part 1, what a waste of time.
FromSoftware has just releasedElden Ring,Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, andShadow of the Erdtree, and I can’t wait to see what it has cooking up next. I’m itching fora return to something like Tenchu or Ninja Blade, but an evolution of the soulslike genre in the vein ofSekiro: Shadows Die Twicewould be thrilling all the same. That’s a much more exciting prospect than beating a dead horse for no real tangible reason.
As uninterested as I am in sequels,even Bloodborne 2 would be more exciting than a remake.
Bloodborne would feel reinvigorated with a 60fps patch alone. That’s more than enough to spark new life in the game. Anything more than that is a complete waste of resources for diminishing results, and would only help foster this growing trend of unoriginality as we continue to churn the same games in and out mere years after their release. Bloodborne is still amazing, it still feels good to play, and it’s still one of From’s best works.
Bloodborne
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Bloodborne is a PlayStation 4-exclusive title developed by Dark Souls and Elden Ring creator FromSoftware, and launched in 2015. A critically acclaimed action role-playing game, you must traverse the city of Yharnam seeking a cure for a mysterious illness.
