‘Fear the Old Blood’ - 10 Years of Bloodborne
By Alfie Stubbs, Third Year History
10 years ago, FromSoftware were already beloved by the gaming community, having developed the Dark Souls series which, by July 2015, had already amassed sales of 8.5 million units. Yet, their newest game would completely depart from the medieval fantasy setting of Dark Souls, instead adapting and creating a Victorian Gothic setting for their new cult classic: Bloodborne.
A screenshot of the streets of Yharnam in Bloodborne, with the player-character, The Hunter, visible on the left.
Director Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to create a game that would make use of 8th-generation console hardware, such as the PS4, and it was from here that Bloodborne’s concept developed. Whilst it was developed side-by-side with Dark Souls II, Miyazaki stated that it would be the DNA from his first game, Demon’s Souls, that would inspire Bloodborne. But this was far from his only inspiration.
Inspiration from architecture was nothing new in FromSoftware’s games, as locations in Romania and the Czech Republic had already inspired areas of Dark Souls and would continue to do so with the development of Bloodborne’s main city, Yharnam. Additionally, Miyazaki was heavily inspired by the setting of popular novels like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which led him to make Bloodborne feel as entrenched in the same era as those novels as possible. Alongside this Gothic setting, Miyazaki wanted to apply specific horror themes to the game, inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. The cosmic horror seen within Lovecraft’s novels can be felt throughout Bloodborne’s story, with the presence of otherworldly beings named The Great Ones constantly lurking throughout the fictional world.
On 24 March 2015, Bloodborne was released in the United States, with worldwide releases happening from the 25th to the 27th of the same month. A familiar love for FromSoftware titles was instantly felt. In only one month, the game had sold over 1 million units, increasing to 2 million by September 2015. It was awarded various Game of the Year awards in 2015 by companies like IGN and Edge, who rated it the fourth greatest video game of all time. Furthermore, in November of that same year, a DLC (downloadable content) titled The Old Hunters was released, including some of the most beloved and critically acclaimed boss fights of video game history.
The Hunter stands before an example of a Great One, the Moon Presence.
This sentiment is still felt today. Similarly to Edge in 2015, a 2023 survey by GQ asked 239 developers, streamers, journalists and directors to submit their favourite game, and Bloodborne was ranked fourth out of a hundred games. Additionally, Bloodborne has developed a huge fan following in its 10-year lifespan and is still regularly played and hugely popular. In 2024, when DLC for FromSoftware’s latest title Elden Ring (2022) was just around the corner, Bloodborne’s player count rocketed by 57% in anticipation.
Bloodborne has gone on to become a major inspiration, especially for other game developers. For example, the development team for Naughty Dog’s hugely successful The Last of Us Part 2, revealed in their 2024 documentary Grounded II that Bloodborne was a key inspiration for the game’s combat and constantly expanding world.
Yet with the huge amount of popularity that surrounds Bloodborne, the game has been limited to the now outdated hardware of the PS4, rendering the game inaccessible for many on current-generation consoles, or those who game on PC. There has been no mention of a remake, PC port or sequel, which has become a popular meme within the Bloodborne community. But with 2025 being its 10th anniversary, we can only hope that FromSoftware might have something waiting in store to celebrate.
Edited by Ben Bryant