Bloodborne Review

Bosses

Now this game has an interesting formula with bosses, in that there are 17 total bosses in game and only 7 of them are required to fight. 10 bosses are just there for you to fight if you feel like it, I guess. Anyways, I'm going to cover each boss you encounter in the normal world, not chalice dungeons, which have their own set of 15 unique bosses. The first boss you meet in the Cleric Beast, a simple cleric who got the disease turning people into beasts has arrived to fight you. And you hear that and really how intimidating could this creature really be (Cleric Beast Leaps into view and lands in front of player) JESUS! .The cleric beast is an optional boss so there is actually no obligation to fight him, heck the way you need to go is before him anyways so there is actually no reason to fight it whatsoever. Next boss we encounter is Father Gascoigne, a Hunter like yourself who has gone slightly insane...killing his wife and you can deliver this information to his daughter who kills herself and then tell that to his other daughter who also kills herself...happy family it would seem. He is the first required boss, so he must have something to inform the player of, something about the world or the Plague or perhaps something more subtle like the nature of hunters or (Gascoigne Transforms). This is the point in the fight where he seems slightly overpowered but he's essentially the same, just faster, stronger, can destroy the arena, has huge jumping ability and is overall more powerful. After you defeat him you can move on to the cathedral ward and old Yharnam. Old yharnam being home to the Blood Starved Beast, easily one of the bosses that causes players the most stress, as it dives around the arena and has AOE poison and insane grab and slash attacks. Though defeating him unlocks chalice dungeons, which we will talk more on later. The Second required boss, Vicar Amelia, she is another member of the clergy like the cleric beast, except here we get to see the transformation actually happen and it's quite disturbing. Once she is defeated though you interact with a skull on the altar and learn the password to enter the Forbidden woods by peeking into her memories and hearing it. After this the world changes slightly, it becomes night and some enemies become more powerful while others go asleep and don't interact with you unless you approach them.

Before entering the forbidden woods though we can cover hemwick charnel lane, and the Witch of Hemwick. Depending on the order you fight bosses this could be super easy or somewhat difficult, as the area changes slightly if you beat the Blood Starved beast before getting here there are more enemies, otherwise its a simple area and not very long before facing the witch of hemwick...well Witches is more accurate as there are 2 of them, they summon enemies and use basic stunning magic on you but overall they are easy and there isn't much to say about them. Now once we get through the forbidden woods we meet the third required boss, the Shadows of Yharnam, Three shadowy figures that serve the Queen of yharnam...we'll get to her later, these Shadows are insanely powerful, mutating twice during the fight, once to get stronger with...face snakes and flaming swords...and the second time to summon giant fucking snakes that can nearly instant kill you...oh joy. After killing them you get to byrgenwerth where you basically walk in, kill a hunter and then immediately reach the next required boss, yeah they didn't really give you much of an area here did they...Well this Boss is Arguably the most important in the game, Meet Rom, the vacuous Spider. Rom was a member of the Byrgenwerth school for scholars, and he decided he needed more knowledge, so he went to the Great One Amygdala, who we will talk more on later, and asked for "a million eyes on his brain" and Amygdala...well granted it to him. Now Rom serves a really big purpose, Acting as a barrier between the Yharnamites and the true horrors of the Hunt. By killing him you destroy that barrier, revealing not only the lesser amygdala's scattered around Yharnam but also showing the reason the hunt never truly ends, that those who are slain can be resurrected through the ringing of bells. Now thats taken care of we meet Yharnam pthumerian queen for the first time, as she holds a child and stares at the moon that is now huge and red...alright then. After Rom you can head back to hemwick charnel lane and head to cainhurst castle, where you can face off with martyr logarius, the leader of a group of people known as the executioners who is keeping something in the castle hidden. After him there is Darkbeast Parrl, a Giant Lightning wolf guarding the rear entrance to Old Yharnam and that's about all there is about that. Next is in my opinion the grossest required boss, The One Reborn, where the bell maidens combined their power in order to attempt to ascend humans into godhood...needless to say they failed. eugh...Moving on we get the Celestial Emissary a Giant...blue alien baby and Ebrietas, the Daughter of the Cosmos and she is a great one and the center of blood healing, the church keeps her here in...the altar of despair...kay where they study her and she teaches them to heal with blood. Next we have Amygdala, and boy oh boy is he big, this is the great one that turned Rom into the spider he is and is widely worshipped as there are statues of him all around the cathedral ward and hypogean Gaol. After him you get the next required boss, Micolash, the Host of the Nightmare, and as the name suggests he is the host of the nightmare the world is going through, the cage on his head is an instrument used to make contact with the great ones, and by doing this he likely went insane. Upon killing him he screams about waking up and forgetting everything, which could imply that the hunt is actually a second world that takes place within a dream, though that is speculation. Next is the final required boss, Mergo's Wet Nurse, now we get to see Yharnam again, and she is the mother of Mergo, a child who is the true source of the nightmare, and in turn the hunt. The wet nurse is a creature who's purpose is to defend the child from your player. After defeating this nightmare the game reads "Nightmare Slain" as opposed to Prey Slaughtered as if you have truly ended the nightmare...or so you think. The last two bosses are optional in hunter's dream, the first being Gherman, the First hunter who is like a friggin anime character with his insane attacks and movements but after slaying him if you have consumed 3 third of umbilical cords you fight the moon presence, the creator of Hunter's dream and the true source of the Dream. By defeating it you unlock the best ending, where you become an infant great one and it is implied you are the new overseer of Hunter's Dream.