Bloodborne was the worst kept secret in gaming for a while- the new collaboration between Sony Japan and From Studios (their original collaboration brought us Demon’s Souls, you will remember, which, in turn gave us the game that is commonly called the greatest of last generation- Dark Souls). The new steampunk game, that nonetheless looks to bear all the hallmarks of From Software’s exemplary game design, looks really exciting, though we naturally don’t know much about it yet. Thankfully, the game’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, decided to clarify some of our questions for us when he talked to Dengeki.
“We are still conducting final reviews of the death penalty, though we don’t plan on making it quite so severe. While death will occur often in this game, it’s important that it both does not place too much stress on the players and still makes them want to take on the challenge again, so we are regulating the death penalty with these things in mind.
“This is a bit off-topic, but to make sure the player still wants to give it another go, it’s also vital to give them a wide breadth of options in battle. The intention with our design is to provide a rich system that includes weapons such as guns and traps, among others. And while I said you will die plenty in this game, we similarly want to give the player the rush of nearly dying or thinking they are about to die, so we are always considering the best ways to govern this balance.”
That sounds a little worrying, as it sounds as if the game will move away from the unforgiving nature of the Souls games that made them so infamous in the first place. Of course, From Software has repeatedly demonstrated that it is not to be doubted, but still, there is something to be said for not trying to fix what was not broken to begin with.
Miyazaki also promised a worldwide release for the title, though obviously, he wouldn’t give us a concrete release date yet.
[Translated by DualShockers]
