Hey, it's that time in a 'Souls release cycle again - the part where fans get stuck into the most indescribably rewarding parts of seeking out treasures, learning enemy routines and felling bosses... and everyone else freaks out that a modern game asks more of them than to prod a few buttons and watch some cutscenes. Okay that's a bit harsh - Bloodborne is definitely quite the beast that needs taming - but, already there are quite the bevy of complaints being levied at FromSoftware's latest that really don't hold any ground objectively. Oh and mentioning 'Souls' in that first line? It's because this pretty much just is Dark Souls III. It plays nigh-on exactly the same, has the same HUD and menu layout, game mechanics in terms of bonfires (lanterns), souls (blood echoes) and huge prompts flashing up when you defeat stuff - 'You Defeated' ('Prey Slaughtered'). So, why draw attention to those people already trying to get as much as they can derailing a modern masterpiece in the making? Well, because if you consider yourself anything of a gamer at heart, you really owe it to yourself to play Bloodborne. For a number of reasons that'll be covered throughout this list of course, but also because of its status as the first essential title of 2015. After such a slew of disappointing titles and buggy, broken messes - there's FINALLY something on the market that actually reminds you what can feel so good about the medium overall. However, with gaming being such a widely-accessed artform now, there are already a litany of wide-reaching grievances that need to be addressed immediately.
