E3 2014: PS4 Exclusive Bloodborne Will Force You to Think on Your Feet

If you’re not especially fond of the often plodding pace of Demon’s Souls, then you may be pleased to learn that upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne is plotting a much more active approach to combat. Speaking with Famitsu magazine, director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that you’ll need to think much faster in the forthcoming game, and you won’t merely be able to rely on your defensive skills in order to succeed.

“The enemies are strong and fierce, and if you wait passively to respond, you're going to be eaten and killed,” he told the popular Japanese publication. “So, in order to get out of a fix, you’ll need to actively advance. When I say 'active', you might think that it means that the player characters are stronger and the enemies are weaker than in Demon's Souls, but that's not the case.” Indeed, it seems that you’ll need to think on your feet if you hope to progress.

While guns will play a part in the combat, these will be most effective in close-quarters scenarios. You won’t, for example, be able to snipe your foes from faraway. Given the Victorian-esque setting, there’ll be no dragons this time around either. “Since just fighting humanoid enemies will get boring, there are other creatures,” the director explained. “There are some creatures that not only fit the game's atmosphere, but are very much something that our team would come up with.”

Sony released the first footage of the upcoming next-gen release overnight, which revealed the foreboding cobbles of Yharnam. The title’s certainly shaping up nicely, but it still looks like it’s got a little way to go before its ready for its first full public debut. “Development is... let's say it's 'going smoothly',” Miyazaki concluded. “As for release dates, we're aiming for Spring 2015, but at the present, I can't say anything more specific.” And so we wait...