The fantastic-looking Bloodborne demake is launching on PC in January
No more yearning for Yharnam when this PS1-style Bloodborne remake launches.
We still don't know if we'll ever see Bloodborne on PC, but at least part of Yharnam is bleeding onto our platform in a fan remake in January. The Bloodborne PS1 Demake developer has posted a fresh new trailer, complete with frightfully low-poly enemies, a fantastic soundtrack, and some simulated CRT screen effects (which can be turned down if you aren't into them).
It looks like a fabulous recreation. And until we hear otherwise, it's probably the closest we'll get to a Bloodborne PC launch for a while.
This summer, the demake's developer Lilith Walther showed off Bloodborne's first boss fight and the recreated cutscene leading up to it, both of which were already looking (and sounding) fantastic. The demake will let you play up until that encounter with Father Gascoigne "with extended areas and some bonus post-game content," says Walther.
Here is a comparison of the BloodbornePSX Gascoigne cutscene I animated and the original, enjoy! pic.twitter.com/GKcyyK9EmLJuly 13, 2021
The Bloodborne PS1 Demake has all sorts of fantastic affectations of the era: the CRT screen filter, a giant interface, and those bright lines at the corners of architecture as if the seams of its 3D world are just slightly imperfect. More than that, Bloodborne just suits itself so well to the demake style. FromSoftware's giant enemies and those big, sweeping attack animations fit right into the decades-old action games aesthetic.
In between its chunky visuals and fuzzy sound effects though, the demake looks like it isn't overburdened by the pace of an older game. You can catch The Hunter dodging and slashing through enemies as fast as you please. I'm genuinely excited to see how its combat feels compared to its inspiration.
As a fan project, Walther says that the demake will be released for free and that she'll also make the source code available a few months after it launches.
Today's new trailer announced a January 31, 2022 release date for The Bloodborne PS1 Demake. If you plan to listen to that trailer song over and over until then, you can find the version without sound effects over here on YouTube by The Noble Demon.
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Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.
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