10 Best New Video Game Franchises Of The Decade (So Far)

5. Bloodborne

bloodborne yharnam
Sony/FromSoftware

Though the Souls franchise misses out on getting a spot as it came out in '09, Bloodborne still serves as a great representation of FromSoftware's expertise.

It's still got that same, hyper-difficult blend of gameplay from Dark Souls the studio have found fame with, and its gothic aesthetic takes huge inspiration from Lovecraftian sources. It makes for a wonderfully unique look - one that borrows heavily from the supernatural elements of gothic and fantasy novella.

The title takes place in the grey and grimy town of Yharnam - home to a hodgepodge of gothic architecture, complete with Eastern European design - where the nameless protagonist must save the local populace from the ghouls and demons that have caused a rather nasty infection in the area. What follows is a lengthy campaign, complete with nightmarish distortions of monstrous archetypes you'll never be able to erase from your memory - they're that messed up. Seriously.

It can only be described as a crushing experience, but at least you can take a friend along for the ride.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.