Halloween is one of my favourite times of year. For one thing, it’s the only occasion where it’s acceptable to send your children or younger siblings out begging for chocolate, essentially turning them into a team of creepily dressed deliveroo drivers who work for free and bring bags fun-sized Kit Kats straight back to you while you sit on the sofa and binge-watch Midnight Mass.
Beyond that, Halloween has a way of emboldening those of us who aren’t particularly into horror. As an incredibly squeamish, anxious individual who usually regards watching horror movies filled with blood and jump scares as tantamount to actual torture, it somehow becomes easier to engage with this content on and around October 31.
I have no idea why, and I obviously can’t speak for everyone who shares my affliction to horror, but Halloween always feels like a great time to try out scary media that you might otherwise have refused to touch. Worst case scenario, it’s not for you. Best case? You find something new that you absolutely love.
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Which is why I humbly suggest to you now, dear reader, that Bloodborne is the perfect game to play this Halloween. I believe it’s the best possible horror game for people who hate horror. And I say this as someone who hates horror. Like, hates it deep down in my soul.
I make no secret of the fact that Bloodborne is one of my favourite video games of all time. FromSoftware’s 2015 PlayStation 4 exclusive is a twisted masterpiece. Yharnam, with its blood-soaked cobbled streets and darkened back allies, is one of the greatest virtual worlds ever created. The enemies that inhabit it are frequently terrifying and constantly testing, and the many secrets waiting to be unravelled are deeply, deeply disturbing. It might take a couple of YouTube explainers to help make sense of it all, but Bloodborne’s lore and general backstory is seriously f***d up, y’all.
Bloodborne may present itself as an action-RPG in the style of Dark Souls, but it is a survival horror game in every sense. From its gothic setting and multitude of eldritch monsters, to its core gameplay systems. Horror is baked into the experience from the very beginning, and never lets up.
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So what makes it okay for people who hate horror? Crucially, Bloodborne doesn’t rely on gore or jump scares to frighten you - two things that I know can put a lot of horror haters off. There’s plenty of blood - the game kind of revolves around it - and there are moments when the occasional beast will emerge unexpectedly from the shadows and give you a minor heart attack, but the game doesn’t revolve around these elements.
Instead, Bloodborne delights in tearing your nerves to shreds with what isn’t there as much as what is. As you explore Yharnam and its surrounding areas with limited resources, you’ll catch yourself sweating at the sound of every shuffling footstep and rasping breath. Before long, you’ll start to wonder what’s really there and what your ear is imagining.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting for a second that Bloodborne is an easy game for people who hate horror to play. Leaving aside the Dark Souls-style enemies and bosses, which in themselves are absolutely brutal, the simple act of moving through the world from one safe area to the next (of which there are few) becomes a heart-stopping trial of bravery. You will be challenged in more ways than one, but overcoming those challenges - especially if you’re averse to horror - makes it all the more satisfying an experience.
TLDR: If you play just one game this Halloween, make it Bloodborne. You won't regret it. Probably.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: Bloodborne, PlayStation, Fromsoftware