#8
Change YoY: = My Rating: 9.6 / 10
If I'd be looking at all of the games objectively, Bloodborne would likely be the best Soulsborne game I've ever played. It's only due to more abstract elements like atmosphere and the feeling and emotions another soulsborne game gives me that makes it "only" the second highest ranked out of them all on my list. Bloodborne is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Everything in the game is near perfect, from its fast-paced gameplay to the gorgeous visual design. The bosses are almost universally excellent, and the soundtrack is amazing. I also love the game's story and lore. The eldritch horror theme of the game's world is perfectly realized, and the tragedy that befell it due to human error and hubris is quite disturbing the more you learn about it. I also love how the game slowly over time switches from a more traditional gothic horror setting into proper cosmic horror, gradually introducing new elements into the world, in a way that is almost imperceptible in its subtlety, until the player suddenly just finds themselves battling horrific eldritch creatures. Fear the old blood indeed.
However, in a lot of ways the true star of Bloodborne is its world. It features unquestionably one of the most memorable settings in video game history. Yharnam, the beautifully decrepit Victorian Gothic city is an awe-inspiring place to explore and get increasingly tense in, one very much unlike any other place I've ever seen in any other video game. In general, the look and style of the world of Bloodborne is impeccable. Whether its the towering spires of Yharnam, the snow-covered rooftops of Castle Cainhurst, or the abandoned Byrgenwerth school, every location you discover is incredible and often unnerving.
Bloodborne also received one of the all-time great DLC expansions in The Old Hunters. It gives the story and many of its characters more context, introduces quite a few new ones, and makes the events of the game even more tragic than they already were as you uncover the truth of the hunters' and the healing church's actions. It also features some of the best bosses in the entire FromSoftware catalog. There's pretty much nothing about this game that I don't love. Just give us a sequel, perhaps set in some other part of this world outside Yharnam.
