One of the important things about Bloodborne that differentiates it from the previous Souls games is how fast paced it is, generally favoring an offensive style of play. A lot of this has to do with the de-emphasizing of shields in this game- they are harder to find, and according to From Software, generally weaker.
Weaker might be putting it nicely, though- according to the producer of the game, the shields outright suck.
“I think some of the more experienced players will figure out straight away that the gun is like a weapon you can parry with. The fire of the gun is like a parry,” he said, adding that the shields ‘might be crap.’
Bloodborne, of course, is out in less than two weeks exclusively on the PlayStation 4. It is the newest game in the same line of games that got us Demon’s Souls and the original Dark Souls. Stay tuned for more coverage.