Gaming

PS1-style ‘Bloodborne’ demake gets a release date

Start prepping your blood vials.

Sony

If you're a fan of From Software, you've probably seen interlaced footage of the PS1-style fan demake of Bloodborne that's been in the works for a while now. That project, which is titled Bloodborne PSX, now has a release date and a new trailer, and it looks just as impressively grimy as ever.

As usual with these sorts of ambitious fan projects, Bloodborne PSX isn't associated with From Software or Sony, and it will release for free on January 31, 2022. PSX looks to translate some of the more memorable moments of the first few hours of From Software's masterpiece into chunky polygons and lo-fi aesthetics of original PlayStation classics like Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

Ready for the hunt — As shown in previous trailers, Bloodborne PSX will include several of Yharnam's more fearsome foes, including carrion crows, angry villagers, and those big trolls that are really easy to Visceral Attack. It will also include versions of the Cleric Beast and Father Gascoigne, which are the first two bosses that most players encounter in the PS4 exclusive.

Bloodborne PSX was made mostly by two developers, Lilith Walther and Corwyn Prichard. The two developers stated in an interview with Kotaku that they were inspired to make the project after they saw some mockups of a hypothetical Bloodborne demake on social media in 2015. Walther also said that she thinks that From Software's games tend to be "retro in their feel," which makes a demake a natural fit.

Trapped in the dream — Unfortunately for Fromsoft fans, the actual Bloodborne continues to be trapped in stasis on the PS4, with no sign of either a PS5 upgrade or a PC port in sight. Such a move does seem inevitable, but Sony is apparently too focused on its God of War PC port to give Eileen the Crow aficionados the time of day. Meanwhile, Elden Ring was recently delayed to February 25, so don't go hollow quite yet.