The Most Anticipated Horror Games of 2015: Bloodborne

So far The Most Anticipated Horror Games of 2015 has featured zombie-favourites Dying Light and Dead Island II, the cinematic slasher Until Dawn, and the science-fiction mystery that is SOMA. You may ask about horror favourites Doom or Silent Hills but let's face it, 2016 is a more probable year for their release. Likewise, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (17th February), The Order: 1886 (20th February) and Friday the 13th (release date TBC) are all eagerly awaited games and utterly deserving of the final spot, as this Wise Words... feature comes to a close. However there is one game due for release this year that trumps them all - Hidetaka Miyazaki's Bloodborne.

Developed by From Software (makers of the Dark Souls series), Miyazaki's latest effort is a gothic action RPG, set in the ancient city of Yharnam. Thanks to an endemic illness plaguing the city, players must fend off deranged mobs and fight malformed citizens, as they navigate the streets and avoid the danger, death and chaos that lurks behind every corner.

You'd be right to point out certain similarities between Bloodborne and Miyazaki's former franchise. Indeed there are elements of its gamplay that look almost identical - the third-person perspective, character's movement, and inevitable demise at the press of a wrong button, strike startling resemblences to the much-loved masochism of Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. Yet the game also boasts stark differences, worthy of rife anticipation and quite frankly... the purchase of a PlayStation 4.

As you can see, Bloodborne's mechanics appear quicker in pace and this new-found agility compliments the dynamic, dual-weilding arsenal now available. Far more expressive in motion, the gameplay also generates a theatricality that extends beyond the characteristics of the players' un-named traveller to his surrounding environment. 

Rather than armour, non-bestial characters are leather-clad creations, whose muskets, blunderbusses and cleavers take evident inspiration from the Steampunk sub-genre. Violent creatures, once unsuspecting citizens of Yharnam, now represent wonderful imaginings clearly inspired by H.P Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythology.  

The city itself epitomises Gothic expressionism and boasts aesthetics borne for this next-generational platform. The angular fencing and stratospheric architecture pair beautifully with the game's moon-lit cobbled streets, flickering oil lamps and misty veneer.The environment is dramatic, emphatic and all the more effective when occasionally splattered with dark red blood. 

With the hope that From Software provides a steady framerate for optimum performance, Bloodborne promises to be a dark and twisted game, that will immerse players into a wonderfully unique, bleak and macabre world. Just be prepared to die a few times...

 Bloodborne is due for release 24th March, 2015, exclusively for PlayStation 4.