Can Bloodborne Save the PS4?

“Greatness Awaits.”

That’s the slogan for the PlayStation 4. Well, gamers have been kept waiting and waiting for a while now expecting “greatness” in 2015. I personally thought that 2015 will be the year the next-gen, PS4 in particular, would really rise up to the occasion and deliver on many promises they’ve made to consumers. 

Unfortunately, the majority of the exclusives that would give PS4 the edge on Xbox One have either been delayed or have not panned out the way PlayStation would’ve liked. Of course, I’m talking about The Order: 1886 not living up to the hype and Uncharted 4 being delayed to Spring next year. But amongst the debris of disappointment that is PS4’s March to June games lineup (in terms of exclusive games, at least) is Bloodborne.

There is one lone bright spot that could potentially compensate for the sloppy exclusives roster. That game my friends, is Bloodborne.  

For those of you who may not know, Bloodborne is the latest creation from the makers of the infamously difficult and punishing Dark Souls series. From Software rose to the challenge yet again of making a better Dark Souls experience for players. Now, the combat is faster and encourages aggressive play with some smart mechanics. And for some reason, the developers decided to make it a PS4 exclusive. I’m not complaining. 

From Software is famous for their brutal but fair difficulty level in their games. You feel as though each death was your fault and not the game trying to cheat you of your victory. Needless to say, there is a niche market for these kinds of games that might not translate well to a bigger audience. 

But, at this point, PlayStation owners doesn’t really have a choice do they? It’s bad enough that they won’t have any exclusives coming out this June as compared to the Xbox One with major blockbusters, Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Yes, I know that the new Tomb Raider game is only a timed exclusive but, nevertheless, the June lineup is still not looking good for the PS4. 

Regardless of the odds against PS4 to “win” this year, I’m quite confident that Bloodborne will be more successful than people expect. I feel that the game will just bring more variety and much-needed challenge to compensate for the easy, hand-holding nature of today’s AAA games. It’s about damn time that we play a game where we once again need GameFAQs (or GameSkinny) to help us. Those were the good ol’ days. 

Bloodborne releases March 24th, 2015 exclusively for the PS4.