FromSoftware's content is as challenging as it is thrilling, so Sony's fortunate to have Bloodborne as an exclusive title. The original game received rave reviews from critics and fans alike and it has since been hailed as one of the studio's best games. There has yet to be an official announcement for a sequel, but such would be an amazing treat for fans of the 2015 hit. However, no game is perfect, so Bloodborne 2 would be an outstanding opportunity for FromSoftware to iron out the kinks of the first game.
Bloodborne seems to be extremely similar to Dark Souls at first. They both have dodges with invincibility frames, a stamina bar, and the same brutal difficulty. What sets them apart is their environments and the speed of their combat systems. Dark Souls takes place in a medieval fantasy world with slower combat, whereas Bloodborne has a Gothic Victorian setting with fast-paced combat. It removed the shields, encouraged aggressive play, and sped up the actions of both players and the enemies. Dark Souls fans loved how this shook up the formula, and new players were enthralled by the environment and intensity of each battle.
These new elements are the star of the show in Bloodborne, but there's also the unique trick weapon system. In the Dark Souls series, weapons had very similar move sets when they were one or two-handed, but hitting triangle completely transforms a weapon in Bloodborne. Because of this, there is an endless amount of creativity in move sets, since they can suddenly become something brand-new. However, even with all these cool new features, Bloodborne is lacking in a few categories that a Bloodborne 2 could improve on.
How Bloodborne 2 Can Fix Bloodborne's Problems
Fans of the Souls series have certainty praised Bloodborne for its plethora of strengths in the past, but there's still plenty of room for improvement in a Bloodborne 2. One of the main problems of the original game is a lack of variety. While the DLC helped to amend this issue, there are only 15 weapons in the base game, and some of them even have very similar attacks, such as the Saw Cleaver and Saw Spear. Armor sets change up players' looks, but statistically, they only provide advantages and disadvantages so slight that it hardly matters what armor is worn most of the time. Most of the enemies in Bloodborne are some variant of a twisted beast or psychotic villager, which ends up getting old by the end of the game. Bloodborne 2 needs more options.
Most of these are actually easy fixes, especially if FromSoftware has lots of time to develop Bloodborne 2 properly. Many of the weapons in the original game and its DLC should transition over to Bloodborne 2, alongside some new weapons to encourage more unique builds. However, one of the simplest things a sequel could improve on is the game's performance. Bloodborne ran at 30 FPS which is disappointing to many players, especially these days when many consider 60 FPS to be the norm. Fans have modded Bloodborne to run at 60 FPS, but they shouldn't have needed to do so in the first place. Bloodborne 2 should absolutely take advantage of the PS5's extra power to create an experience with better performance. The original title is already such a great game that a potential Bloodborne 2 wouldn't have much more work to do in order to create a masterpiece.
