Bloodborne has sold over a million units in less than two weeks, Sony has announced (via PlayStation Blog).
Bloodborne had a staggered release, launching at different times in different regions. The PS4 exclusive, which came out towards the end of last month, was highly anticipated prior to release - and an avalanche of overwhelmingly positive reviews can’t have hurt its sales prospect.
“Bloodborne was a new challenge for us, and our goal was to create a title that took full advantage of the power of PS4,” stated Sony Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida.
“I am thrilled that so many users have been playing enjoying the extremely rich and detailed world, beautiful melancholic atmosphere and palpable tensions of Bloodborne. SEC WWS will continue to bring exciting software titles that offer entertainment experiences only possible on PS4,” neglecting to mention all those wonderful rage-inducing moments the game comes with.
In the same post, Sony provided further details of the game’s upcoming performance patch. Patch 1.03 will reduce load times, fix the boss difficulty bug, and make other improvements to performance. No firm date has been given as yet, though it’s expected to be launched before the end of the month. Online multiplayer will be disabled for a short time while the fix is being applied, but Sony has stated that it will roll out the update on a “non-Friday weeknight” from now on, in order to cause the least amount of disruption to players.
Bloodborne follows the same template as From Software president Hidetaka Miyazaki’s previous work as director of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. But instead of those games’ focus on defensive combat and careful combat pacing, Bloodborne places an emphasis on swift offensive action, and is set in a Victorian world with Lovecraftian overtones.
Brian Kale reviewed Bloodborne for Continue Play, awarding it an “essential” 10/10 and praising the atmosphere, combat mechanics and world design.
“Bloodborne is a humbling experience, one that can often relentlessly frustrating – but it is also fair. From Software wants you to beat their game, and none of your deaths feel as though the game has cheated you,” Brian wrote in his Bloodborne review. “From Software has made its distinctive brand of gaming more accessible to new players without sacrificing the integrity of their design philosophy.”
