Is Bloodborne 2 an inevitablity?

 Ah, you ignorant Slaves. Finally taken notice, have you? Of the PC platform-

It's an exciting age for Souls fans in the here and now, because we're on the verge of a whole new depressingly frustrating venture that feels so close we can almost taste the bitten-lips and crushed dreams from here. But what if I said there was another something on the Souls horizon to get people excited, and I'm not talking about the Salt and Sanctuary sequel around the corner, no this is a little something something from the series' progenitors. Would you be excited, or would you just point towards the title of this blog and say "Why are you pretending to be coy, you already gave the whole thing away" Well I'm nothing if not performative and full of hot air, you know that Mason. But stay tuned because if you've not heard the rumours yet then there's a special little something about this potential upcoming release that will definitely take some by surprise.

Bloodborne is beloved, many call it the greatest Soulsborne game ever made, and that's not just because it's a Playstation exclusive so loyalists stick to it. Indeed, the fact that Bloodborne was, and as of yet remains, a Sony exclusive is the sole reason that I haven't played the thing. Yes, that is indeed a part of the reason I call them 'Souls' games and not 'Soulsborne' like everyone else; I haven't touched the Borne part of the franchise. And though that makes me a godless heathen worthy of nothing more but the sternest of rebuttals, I still recognise this game as a source of high praise for many and can only assume it's for good reason. Also, I know that it's a game with many cool Lovecraftian leanings weaved into it's world and that's just worth excitement all on it's own. The more games that go towards recreating Victorian horror the absolute better. 

But in all this time we have heard absolutely jack whenever questions have raised about a potential sequel. FromSoftware games by-and-large don't generally lend themselves to naturally continuing sequels purely through merit of what they are and how they tell their narratives. They start, progress and finish, oftentime without the majority of folk having any clue what is going on, at least not for the very first playthrough. As such, no one really assumed Bloodborne 2 was going to be an inevitability, more often those folk just wanted a PC version of Bloodborne so that it might actually run at 60fps someday. And that's actually something folk are still worked up on because Sony have proven to be finally getting around to PC ports of their damned exclusives, but even now they insist on drip feeding them like kibble in a pen of wild dogs. They won't dump the whole bucket lest we rip each other to pieces in the mad scramble. (Which might be a fair excuse, to be honest. We've been waiting for these damn ports for way too long.)

The silence has broken however, although maybe that's a little too declarative, isn't it? The silence may have, possibly, broken if we're to believe some, allegedly, leaked material. In fact, we don't only just know the existence of this (alleged) game, but we may also know how it can even exist when the entirety of FromSoftware are supposed to busy trying to reinvent the wheel for Elden Ring. (And borrowing quite a lot of their old animations and assets in the mad scramble to do so) The answer might just shock you. Possibly. Not likely. Because Bluepoint are said to be attached to the project and if that's true then this might be one of the greatest, and well earned, promotions-in-operation ever demonstrated in the industry. Going from remastering several classics to creating a straight sequel to another? That's the sort of thing cheesy inspirational Lifetime sports movies are designed about.

Bluepoint have made a real name for themselves over the past few years as they've zipped around Playstation studios and snatched up some of the most impressive remaster jobs across the industry. They compiled the Metal Gear Solid HD collection, (thank you personally for that job, guys.) helped put together Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, gave a glorious glow-up paint job to Shadow of the Colossus, and most famously, and recently, of all completely rejuvenated Demon Souls into being a title fully worthy of the next gen. One of the only titles capable of claiming such a glorious bounty in many people's eyes, mind included. Theirs is a company that have worked with giants and performed great job after great job, leading up to a damn near miracle, and to think that after all this talent on display their only developed-from-scratch game is 2006's 'Blast Factor' (No, I've never heard of it either) is a crime.

Or rather, it was a crime. Sure, even with this news it seems like Bluepoint aren't yet at the point of mounting their own fresh IP, but if the alternative is heading a sequel to a genuinely legendary studio's apparent greatest game, I'd call that a pretty decent consolation prize. At the very least, it demonstrates an extreme trust in this team's talents that I'm sure the everyone there are just buzzing and bubbling to justify as soon as possible. And just to be clear with everyone; when I call their works 'remasters', I'm using a very reductive label if we're talking about their last two projects. Demon Souls in particular was a full blown remake that attempted, and succeeded, to replicate the levels and feel of the original game whilst adapting and translating them into a visually sumptuous modern day title, right there they essentially designed a new game adapted from a classic. I understand how From could look at that and go "Yeah, these are the guys to give the keys to the kingdom to."

In fact, a lot of us were hoping that Bluepoint would be leading the Knights of the Old Republic Remake back when that was just rumour and heresay. Alas there was no dice there... however we may have ourselves something of a sweet consolation in the fact that Bloodborne 2 is going to be accompanied by a PS5 remaster of Bloodborne 1, and if we're very good for Christmas, who knows, maybe that remaster might make it's way onto the PC markets after all of this time so that the rest of the world can play this stupid game. That would be nice, Sony, you tight-fisted shrews! But right now that last part if mere speculation fuelled by an entirely separate leak related to the remaster, but considering that this sequel is supposed to be linked to that remaster, one might wonder of the validity of a leak that somehow missed as big of news as a full-blown sequel next to PC news.

Unfortunately this is all still speculation, unless Sony want to come and throw all of this down in their very next State of Play. I think that might be the biggest raised eyebrow I give to all of this, because I can't understand why Sony aren't pimping out a game which can't be more than a year away, unless they've recognised how crappy their supply lines are and aren't leaning as heavily into upcoming inventory as they used to... Nah, Sony doesn't think that far ahead- so why are they being silent? My best, and most optimistic, guess (because I do want to believe all of this is legitimate) is that FromSoftware are asking for the project to be hushed up in order to not take steam out of Elden Ring's release; which, if Bloodborne 2 boosts the amount of sheer graphical fidelity that Demon Souls did, would most certainly happen. As far as speculation and supposed leaks go- I like this one. Hope it holds actual water!