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The Paleblood Hunt
"The Paleblood Hunt" is an in-depth exploration behind the lore of the popular FromSoftware video game Bloodborne. Redgrave first introduced this document on Reddit and it has since been revised, and finalized. He closely examines the information available to the player in order to build up the hidden story of the game. Both facts and Redgrave's own speculations are provided and a clear distinction is made between the two in order to allow the reader room to disagree with his conclusions and make up their own minds based on the evidence presented.
107 pages, ebook
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
August 7, 2019
I didn't realise this was on goodreads. But yeah, a 107 pages kind of qualifies.
This is a fan-based exploration of the lore in Bloodborne (a video game for PlayStation 4). Even more than Dark Souls, Bloodborne is almost never explicit about anything and understanding what's going on in the game world is a matter of meticulous reading of item descriptions, paying attention to the architecture, enemy placement and chatting to the occasional NPCs.
As such, it is easy to miss things and even if you don't, turning all that into a cohesive picture takes a lot of time and effort.
I have loved the game but missed pretty much everything about its history, characters, connections and the deeper lore (BB starts as a gothic horror game, but eventually turns into a fully-fledged cosmic horror).
I saw The Paleblood Hunt being recommended to people who finished the game and wanted to understand it more and I was not disappointed. It is a combination of an encyclopedia and speculative world-building. Each chapter presents the readers with "solid facts" -- pieces of dialogue or other knowledge that's explicitly in the game. And follows up with the author's interpretation of said facts, building a picture of what happened, who these beings were and why they did what they did.
Each chapter is mostly independent. The final one is pure speculation building on everything from the previous chapters.
And it fucking blew my mind. The conclusions The Paleblood Hunt makes are absolutely mindbogglingly fantastic. I'm still trying to process it and put it into a context. But with cosmic horror, you can't, can you? This is not something the human mind is equipped to handle. I've never read any Lovecraft, but if this is the kind of stuff his stories get to, I've got to start.
Unfortunately, this document is only aimed at people who have finished (all three endings of) the game.
It expects you know the world, character and overall story and spends no time on it. Which means it will be incomprehensible to the people who never played Bloodborne (and don't want to / can't because of it's difficulty, length, PS4, or whatever). If you're that person and want to know what Bloodborne is about, this won't help in the slightest :-(.
And for people who did play it, but didn't finish, it's chock-full of massive spoilers. Nothing is sacred.
But if you've finished Bloodborne and want a guide to put it all together, The Paleblood Hunt is a fantastic resource. I could not put it down and it drastically changed the way I look at the game. For the better.
This is a fan-based exploration of the lore in Bloodborne (a video game for PlayStation 4). Even more than Dark Souls, Bloodborne is almost never explicit about anything and understanding what's going on in the game world is a matter of meticulous reading of item descriptions, paying attention to the architecture, enemy placement and chatting to the occasional NPCs.
As such, it is easy to miss things and even if you don't, turning all that into a cohesive picture takes a lot of time and effort.
I have loved the game but missed pretty much everything about its history, characters, connections and the deeper lore (BB starts as a gothic horror game, but eventually turns into a fully-fledged cosmic horror).
I saw The Paleblood Hunt being recommended to people who finished the game and wanted to understand it more and I was not disappointed. It is a combination of an encyclopedia and speculative world-building. Each chapter presents the readers with "solid facts" -- pieces of dialogue or other knowledge that's explicitly in the game. And follows up with the author's interpretation of said facts, building a picture of what happened, who these beings were and why they did what they did.
Each chapter is mostly independent. The final one is pure speculation building on everything from the previous chapters.
And it fucking blew my mind. The conclusions The Paleblood Hunt makes are absolutely mindbogglingly fantastic. I'm still trying to process it and put it into a context. But with cosmic horror, you can't, can you? This is not something the human mind is equipped to handle. I've never read any Lovecraft, but if this is the kind of stuff his stories get to, I've got to start.
Unfortunately, this document is only aimed at people who have finished (all three endings of) the game.
It expects you know the world, character and overall story and spends no time on it. Which means it will be incomprehensible to the people who never played Bloodborne (and don't want to / can't because of it's difficulty, length, PS4, or whatever). If you're that person and want to know what Bloodborne is about, this won't help in the slightest :-(.
And for people who did play it, but didn't finish, it's chock-full of massive spoilers. Nothing is sacred.
But if you've finished Bloodborne and want a guide to put it all together, The Paleblood Hunt is a fantastic resource. I could not put it down and it drastically changed the way I look at the game. For the better.
November 29, 2023
"The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all". Pierwszy raz zdarza mi się czytać jakąkolwiek analize loreu jakiejś gry ,która jest bardzo ciekawa. Nie z powodu sposobu w jaki został napisany bo to 100 stronnicowy esej ale samego świata wzorowanego na twórczości H.P Lovecrafta .(+bardzo lubię gry fromsoftware) , chociaż forma podawania samej historii świata przez opisy przedmiotów jest niekonwencjonalne to chyba bym wolał ją normalnie podaną z kotletem i frytkami.Ale do samego świata nie mam nic do zarzucenia świetny klimat , postaci i styl. Jedyne co ma do zarzucenia to to , że sam twórca uniwersum stworzył historie w której są luki i brak odpowiedzi na ważne pytania, które trzeba wypełnić własnymi spekulacjami , co mnie trochę sfrustrowało pod koniec.Ale to chyba nawet i lepiej, nie chciałbym skończyć jak Micolash .Ale z drugiej strony... "Grant us eyes,grant us eyes.Plant eyes on our brains , to clense our beastly idiocy".
August 16, 2022
“Fear the Old Blood”
The Paleblood Hunt was an amazing well put together book that examines the lore of the popular video game Bloodborne. This was not what I was expecting, but I was thoroughly surprised about how much I enjoyed it. I greatly enjoyed the game Bloodborne, and thought I had a pretty good grasp on the lore. This book just shows how much detail there is in the game. I was expecting a novel based in the Bloodborne universe that is separate from the games story. That’s not what this is. Once I realized that I wasn’t getting a different story I almost stopped. I am very glad I didn’t. If you are someone who has played the game, but feel you didn’t quite grasp everything going on, I would highly suggest checking this book out.
The Paleblood Hunt was an amazing well put together book that examines the lore of the popular video game Bloodborne. This was not what I was expecting, but I was thoroughly surprised about how much I enjoyed it. I greatly enjoyed the game Bloodborne, and thought I had a pretty good grasp on the lore. This book just shows how much detail there is in the game. I was expecting a novel based in the Bloodborne universe that is separate from the games story. That’s not what this is. Once I realized that I wasn’t getting a different story I almost stopped. I am very glad I didn’t. If you are someone who has played the game, but feel you didn’t quite grasp everything going on, I would highly suggest checking this book out.
March 8, 2018
Only for those who are real fans of Bloodborne and the rest of the Soul series.
This book is a very good compilation of the themes and lore of the games, which remains the richest and most complex of FromSoftware works to date.
If you have the game, play it! It is an experience unlike any other.
This book is a very good compilation of the themes and lore of the games, which remains the richest and most complex of FromSoftware works to date.
If you have the game, play it! It is an experience unlike any other.
September 23, 2020
all i can say is the bloodborne fandom is truly something else
Read
June 27, 2022Bloodborne è un'opera immensa, un capolavoro totale. Redgrave riesce a tirare le fila di un mondo complesso e ambiguo; ogni tanto si perde ma il lettore vaga tra le pagine di questo testo con il senso di smarrimento tipico dei lavori di Miyazaki. Alla fine si risolvono molte matasse ma al tempo stesso si aprono interrogativi che mai potremo districare
December 24, 2019
In the realm of fan theory and the investigative efforts and research required for its creation, the Paleblood Hunt is second to none. As someone who loves content like this (I was a huge fan of the Mass Effect Indoctrination Theory), I applaud Redgrave very much for his work in this masterpiece of a game.
Bloodborne, like all From Software games, does not tell its story using traditional methods. Rather, its story exists somewhere in the background and can be easily overlooked. It's up to the player to piece it together if they want to. This makes it sound like the developers have little faith in the stories behind their games but nothing could be farther from the truth. All of From Software's games stories and worlds are fantastically rich and are guaranteed to defy your expectations.
As a literary comparison, I would reference Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. Indeed, the only reason I discovered those books was by googling "books like Dark Souls" and thank goodness I did, because they became some of my favorite novels. I often hear a lot of people say they've read this series a few different times and manage to get a different view of it each time. It's that kind of compelling prose and intrigue, where the book expects the reader to take an active part in figuring things out on their own, that you can see in these games, inasmuch as such a method of storytelling can exist in video games.
The worlds you traverse in From Software's titles are littered with items, enemies, corpses and so on, and it may seem as if they are all randomly placed, but nothing here is random. Everything is hand placed and tells just a little bit more of the world you're visiting and the story you're taking part in. This is the real reason why people hold games like Dark Souls in such a lofty regard. It isn't a bunch of morons wanking off the hard difficulty or anything like that; it's the fact that the story and world within has been crafted with such care and passion, the likes of which is very rarely seen in games, if at all.
Bloodborne's story in particular is arguably more detailed and hand-crafted than any other From Software experience yet. Redgrave does a phenomenal job in exploring all the details we discover while making our way through merry old Yharnam and manages to piece them together in an easily digestible way that leaves you constantly thinking "Ohhhh I totally missed that" or "Wow, I didn't catch that on my first play through." I absolutely recommend this to any Bloodborne fans out there.
Bloodborne, like all From Software games, does not tell its story using traditional methods. Rather, its story exists somewhere in the background and can be easily overlooked. It's up to the player to piece it together if they want to. This makes it sound like the developers have little faith in the stories behind their games but nothing could be farther from the truth. All of From Software's games stories and worlds are fantastically rich and are guaranteed to defy your expectations.
As a literary comparison, I would reference Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. Indeed, the only reason I discovered those books was by googling "books like Dark Souls" and thank goodness I did, because they became some of my favorite novels. I often hear a lot of people say they've read this series a few different times and manage to get a different view of it each time. It's that kind of compelling prose and intrigue, where the book expects the reader to take an active part in figuring things out on their own, that you can see in these games, inasmuch as such a method of storytelling can exist in video games.
The worlds you traverse in From Software's titles are littered with items, enemies, corpses and so on, and it may seem as if they are all randomly placed, but nothing here is random. Everything is hand placed and tells just a little bit more of the world you're visiting and the story you're taking part in. This is the real reason why people hold games like Dark Souls in such a lofty regard. It isn't a bunch of morons wanking off the hard difficulty or anything like that; it's the fact that the story and world within has been crafted with such care and passion, the likes of which is very rarely seen in games, if at all.
Bloodborne's story in particular is arguably more detailed and hand-crafted than any other From Software experience yet. Redgrave does a phenomenal job in exploring all the details we discover while making our way through merry old Yharnam and manages to piece them together in an easily digestible way that leaves you constantly thinking "Ohhhh I totally missed that" or "Wow, I didn't catch that on my first play through." I absolutely recommend this to any Bloodborne fans out there.
January 22, 2024
Bloodborne has quickly become one of my all-time favorite games and this essay (more like a full book with 100+ pages) was an excellent companion to understand the incredible lore and world of the game. After reading it I still don't understand the story of the game but it is an incredible read if you finish the game and want to understand what is actually going on. Highly recommended!
November 8, 2019
this was such a good in depth lore analysis,,
August 18, 2025
The horrors beyond my comprehension have been broken down very comprehensively
January 21, 2018
Probably the best lore analysis essay I've read.
February 16, 2022
Listened to the audiobook on YouTube and it was OUTSTANDING! I just finished the game but now I think I need to do another play through!
November 20, 2023
8/10 (9 gdyż blooborne)
May 17, 2022
I listened to the audiobook version of The Paleblood Hunt on YouTube narrated by Jay Britton.
I should caveat this review with the information that I have never played Bloodborne. I came across some YouTube content about the game by accident which sparked my interest before discovering this audiobook. When I began listening I thought that this was either a novelization of the game's narrative or a tie-in novel to the game. Either of which I would have been excited to experience based on my rudimentary understanding of the game's dark and gritty premise. I soon discovered however, that this is actually a very long essay analysis of the game's characters and lore. Although I must admit to being slightly disappointed that I wasn't in for an action driven narrative, the opportunity to learn about the world and lore of this game without having to play it was tantalizing enough to make me keep listening. That and Jay Britton's exceedingly excellent narration. The writing, although extensively researched and deeply contemplative of the subject matter, was a bit offputting at times. At first I thought that the essay analysis was written from the perspective of an ingame character--an NPC reflecting on the events that take place during gameplay. Again I found myself slightly disappointed that the narrative was purely from a user perspective and not in anyway tied to a character POV. Although a five and a half hour dissertation on gamer's opinion of an RPG was not what I signed up for, I still found the content interesting. My desire to know more about the world of Bloodborne along with the wonderful reading talent of Jay Britton was enough to keep me immersed. Truly the reading style and compilation of ingame voice overs and background ambience and OST music was what made this experience enjoyable and worthwhile. Even though this book wasn't written in a medium I expected or desired, I still gleaned some interesting, enjoyable and thought provoking content from it. At the very least, this audiobook gave me some world building inspiration and helped kindle my growing interest in Lovecraft horror. Ultimately my desire was to learn more about Bloodborne from this book, which I did. However, most of the content left me more confused than enlightened, with more questions asked than answered. Though that may be the point ... given the contents of Bloodborne. Ultimately I think RedGrave has compiled quite an excellent and deeply though provoking analysis. I probably would have gotten more out of this if I had come into it knowing what it was, and if I had played the game before. Alas, I didn't and I haven't, and so I was left with a bit to be desired from this. That being said, the delivery of the audiobook by Jay Britton was fabulous, the analysis written therein by RedGrave was therough, and the content was interesting. I was just hoping for something different.
I should caveat this review with the information that I have never played Bloodborne. I came across some YouTube content about the game by accident which sparked my interest before discovering this audiobook. When I began listening I thought that this was either a novelization of the game's narrative or a tie-in novel to the game. Either of which I would have been excited to experience based on my rudimentary understanding of the game's dark and gritty premise. I soon discovered however, that this is actually a very long essay analysis of the game's characters and lore. Although I must admit to being slightly disappointed that I wasn't in for an action driven narrative, the opportunity to learn about the world and lore of this game without having to play it was tantalizing enough to make me keep listening. That and Jay Britton's exceedingly excellent narration. The writing, although extensively researched and deeply contemplative of the subject matter, was a bit offputting at times. At first I thought that the essay analysis was written from the perspective of an ingame character--an NPC reflecting on the events that take place during gameplay. Again I found myself slightly disappointed that the narrative was purely from a user perspective and not in anyway tied to a character POV. Although a five and a half hour dissertation on gamer's opinion of an RPG was not what I signed up for, I still found the content interesting. My desire to know more about the world of Bloodborne along with the wonderful reading talent of Jay Britton was enough to keep me immersed. Truly the reading style and compilation of ingame voice overs and background ambience and OST music was what made this experience enjoyable and worthwhile. Even though this book wasn't written in a medium I expected or desired, I still gleaned some interesting, enjoyable and thought provoking content from it. At the very least, this audiobook gave me some world building inspiration and helped kindle my growing interest in Lovecraft horror. Ultimately my desire was to learn more about Bloodborne from this book, which I did. However, most of the content left me more confused than enlightened, with more questions asked than answered. Though that may be the point ... given the contents of Bloodborne. Ultimately I think RedGrave has compiled quite an excellent and deeply though provoking analysis. I probably would have gotten more out of this if I had come into it knowing what it was, and if I had played the game before. Alas, I didn't and I haven't, and so I was left with a bit to be desired from this. That being said, the delivery of the audiobook by Jay Britton was fabulous, the analysis written therein by RedGrave was therough, and the content was interesting. I was just hoping for something different.
October 12, 2025
I love this so much. The dedication it takes to write this with a game with such deep and complex lore is nothing but admirable. I loved that there were sounds (like the bell tolling or music) and dialogue taken from the game. The narrator does an incredible job and sounds like he belongs in the game. I have nothing bad to say. This was absolutely perfect 💜
August 12, 2022
Format: Audiobook Narration
Reading Source: The Paleblood Hunt - A Bloodborne Audiobook, read by Jay Britton
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktMg4e...
Reading Source: The Paleblood Hunt - A Bloodborne Audiobook, read by Jay Britton
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktMg4e...
March 16, 2019
The facts and the interpretations supplied are simply astounding - a must read for anyone who enjoyed the universe of Bloodborne!
July 11, 2023
"Be, one day, a fond, distant memory..."
Me he enterado de la mitad 😅. Le daré una buena relectura cuando tenga más reciente el juego.
Me he enterado de la mitad 😅. Le daré una buena relectura cuando tenga más reciente el juego.
July 31, 2022
The game is awesome.
The world is stunning.
The lore is mind-blowing.
The essay is brilliant.
The audiobook is excellent.
The world is stunning.
The lore is mind-blowing.
The essay is brilliant.
The audiobook is excellent.
April 5, 2020
What Redgrave has done here is an absolutely phenomenal accomplishment.
While yes, you have to play the game for any of this to make sense or really mean anything to you (it very much reads like an essay, not like a novella) what Redgrave has pulled off here is nothing short of creative genius.
This could have easily been a dry and dull helping of Bloodborne interpretation, but Redgrave writes with so much fervour, compassion, and sheer gumption that this really stands up as its own complete and satisfying work of art.
The final page alone honestly blew me away, with a stinger so brilliant that it works both as an analytic conclusion and as just, a thrilling ending to a tale of cosmic horror, that completely re-frames the game in a really compelling and believable way.
I'd consider this an integral companion piece to Bloodborne, it completely enriches the whole experience, speaking with a very confident yet playful voice. Excellent stuff.
"Are you cold? Oh, good hunter..."
While yes, you have to play the game for any of this to make sense or really mean anything to you (it very much reads like an essay, not like a novella) what Redgrave has pulled off here is nothing short of creative genius.
This could have easily been a dry and dull helping of Bloodborne interpretation, but Redgrave writes with so much fervour, compassion, and sheer gumption that this really stands up as its own complete and satisfying work of art.
The final page alone honestly blew me away, with a stinger so brilliant that it works both as an analytic conclusion and as just, a thrilling ending to a tale of cosmic horror, that completely re-frames the game in a really compelling and believable way.
I'd consider this an integral companion piece to Bloodborne, it completely enriches the whole experience, speaking with a very confident yet playful voice. Excellent stuff.
"Are you cold? Oh, good hunter..."
Read
June 13, 2020The quintessential fan theory guide to Bloodborne's lore, with plenty of textual evidence. While I don't buy *all* of RedGrave's specific interpretations, many/most of them are quite compelling. The highest praise I can offer is that as someone who has played through the game 4+ times, I still learned a great deal about the game's characters and locations that I didn't know before. Well worth the two hours it takes to read, and again, essential for the diehard fan of the game.
August 8, 2017
Invaluable for the true Bloodborne fan. I don't agree with all of his conclusions but it is a very cool, thought provoking read.
August 25, 2020
Not a piece of literature, but a remarkable 'insight' into the most abstruse video game story I have ever encountered.
December 28, 2022
i mean...... obviously brilliant, he put sooo much work into this, it is amazing
April 1, 2024
A bit surprised to find this work on Goodreads, but excited nonetheless! I'm a massive fan of videogames--especially ones that have a story to tell. And Bloodborne, the masterpiece, Playstation-exclusive Fromsoftware title that blew me away and introduced me to the Soulslike genre, is no exception. The issue with Fromsoft games is they tend to be... fickle when it comes to their storytelling. Answers and plot points are hidden behind arbitrarily placed item descriptions or nearly undecipherable prose. Needless to say, by the time I had finished Bloodborne, I had no idea what it was mainly about. Upon frantically searching for a summary of some kind, I found this masterpiece, The Paleblood Hunt.
The Paleblood Hunt is not only a retelling of Bloodborne's story (and DLC story) as a whole, but a critical and thoughtful analysis with various citations and examples that intends to unravel the Eldritch mystery of Bloodborne. The Paleblood Hunt is divided into ten chapters that each focus on a particular portion of the game's world. All of these chapters--barring ten which is purely opinionated due to the nature of pale blood and the fact people still don't really know what it is--are separated into two sections. First, a detailed analysis of the game world, telling the story of this particular thing and allowing you to come up with your own theories around it. This section uses only concrete, set-in-stone knowledge that is proven correct. And secondly, Redgrave's own opinions are shown in another paragraph dedicated to it. This blend creates an interesting formula that allows you to engage with the text in a way most books won't do. It's like a mini book-club! You form an opinion based on a text, and then another person shares theirs! Even if you have not played Bloodborne, you can learn the entirety of its lore simply from this book.
What worked with this text... hmmm... Well, everything! The personal descriptions are well-thought-out and compelling, with the final chapter's core themes genuinely making my jaw drop. there are so many things that I didn't understand about the Eldritch world of Bloodborne, but they're all explained here; even down to the minute and seemingly irrelevant details like the Powder Kegs or the witches in the Hemwick Charnel Lane. It's like it was made so I could send it to a friend who doesn't understand and have them still understand it. It's made in such an accessible way that makes even my goldfish brain understand it in full.
Now for the closing paragraph, I'd love to talk about what doesn't work with the book...
But I can't! There's really not a lot done wrong here. The only thing I noticed were some minor grammatical inconsistencies here and there, but it's really nominal given the size of the book. You can't pick apart opinion pieces, that's simply really not applicable here. And even the factual, genuine story pieces are completely correct, with sources from in game in just about every paragraph. In short, read the book. I beg of you.
May the good blood guide your way.
The Paleblood Hunt is not only a retelling of Bloodborne's story (and DLC story) as a whole, but a critical and thoughtful analysis with various citations and examples that intends to unravel the Eldritch mystery of Bloodborne. The Paleblood Hunt is divided into ten chapters that each focus on a particular portion of the game's world. All of these chapters--barring ten which is purely opinionated due to the nature of pale blood and the fact people still don't really know what it is--are separated into two sections. First, a detailed analysis of the game world, telling the story of this particular thing and allowing you to come up with your own theories around it. This section uses only concrete, set-in-stone knowledge that is proven correct. And secondly, Redgrave's own opinions are shown in another paragraph dedicated to it. This blend creates an interesting formula that allows you to engage with the text in a way most books won't do. It's like a mini book-club! You form an opinion based on a text, and then another person shares theirs! Even if you have not played Bloodborne, you can learn the entirety of its lore simply from this book.
What worked with this text... hmmm... Well, everything! The personal descriptions are well-thought-out and compelling, with the final chapter's core themes genuinely making my jaw drop. there are so many things that I didn't understand about the Eldritch world of Bloodborne, but they're all explained here; even down to the minute and seemingly irrelevant details like the Powder Kegs or the witches in the Hemwick Charnel Lane. It's like it was made so I could send it to a friend who doesn't understand and have them still understand it. It's made in such an accessible way that makes even my goldfish brain understand it in full.
Now for the closing paragraph, I'd love to talk about what doesn't work with the book...
But I can't! There's really not a lot done wrong here. The only thing I noticed were some minor grammatical inconsistencies here and there, but it's really nominal given the size of the book. You can't pick apart opinion pieces, that's simply really not applicable here. And even the factual, genuine story pieces are completely correct, with sources from in game in just about every paragraph. In short, read the book. I beg of you.
May the good blood guide your way.
April 18, 2023
First off, I appreciate how this provides a basis for diving into the lore of the game, and the research that went behind this. I still think reading this is worthwhile, just for the facts/evidence sections alone, as it puts some parts of the game into context.
But the way this is written is that, in his theorizing sections, he makes assumptions which start small, but build on each other and continue to get larger and eventually build a grand story/theory, and you believe it because it's the natural conclusion to the small assumptions of before. By the end of the book when Redgrave dropped the grand conclusion I was mind-blown.
But as soon as my hype died down, I realized that that last mindblowing ending theory is partly predicated on believing all his other assumptions, as well as making some large leaps of its own.
So I looked into it more and I was right, and this isn't a new issue. From when the document had originally dropped, to when it was revised, and long after, people have disagreed with a large part of the document, and for good reason.
While I still respect it for what it is, I urge any reader to look at other sources either before or after, preferably after, before you make a conclusion and regard the document as Truth.
But the way this is written is that, in his theorizing sections, he makes assumptions which start small, but build on each other and continue to get larger and eventually build a grand story/theory, and you believe it because it's the natural conclusion to the small assumptions of before. By the end of the book when Redgrave dropped the grand conclusion I was mind-blown.
But as soon as my hype died down, I realized that that last mindblowing ending theory is partly predicated on believing all his other assumptions, as well as making some large leaps of its own.
So I looked into it more and I was right, and this isn't a new issue. From when the document had originally dropped, to when it was revised, and long after, people have disagreed with a large part of the document, and for good reason.
While I still respect it for what it is, I urge any reader to look at other sources either before or after, preferably after, before you make a conclusion and regard the document as Truth.
May 11, 2023
Great fan-made summary of Bloodborne’s more than meets the eye lore. So well researched that I could see someone getting a lot out of just reading this without ever having played the game. What a fascinatingly macabre world Miyazaki has created here and this book helps detail just how interesting and immersive it all is. If you are any sort of a fan of gothic or Victorian aesthetics you really need to play this game or read this book. Hell, even gameplay and explanation videos will captivate you even if that doesn’t sound appealing. The story is just that damn interesting. One of my favorite games ever and I’m still randomly learning more and more after all these years due to dedicated fans like this. Information that was always there, we just had to piece it together. There’s some speculation towards the very end on account of the author but a majority of the book contains well evidenced “facts” that can all be subtly found in the game.
Highly recommend the Jay Britton narration of this book on YouTube and Spotify too. It uses some of the sound effects and music from the game and it’s just immersive as hell especially with the narrator sounding like he could be a character from the game.
Highly recommend the Jay Britton narration of this book on YouTube and Spotify too. It uses some of the sound effects and music from the game and it’s just immersive as hell especially with the narrator sounding like he could be a character from the game.
January 5, 2025
For almost a decade this has been one of my favourite video games of all time - of course, the mechanics and playstyle are a large part of that. What is by far the most intriguing thing about Bloodborne however is it’s mysterious, incomplete lore and characterisations that are left open to interpretation.
For years I’ve completed, and over time, replayed the game all the way through and each time new things can be picked up. Everything in Bloodborne links up: the mythology of the world, the opposing factions and their morality’s, the ancestory and character goals and how the playable character ties into it all. What has always confused me though is how to piece it all together to form an overall picture of the story - and this is by far the version that makes best sense to me.
It constantly reminds readers throughout that it’s a combination of fact and filling in blanks in the lore with logical assumptions (and therefore aspects are up to each individuals interpretation) - but it certainly makes for a highly compelling read!
Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the game, especially if you’re fairly familiar with how the world visually ties together and time points of the story.
Easy 5/5 from me 👍
For years I’ve completed, and over time, replayed the game all the way through and each time new things can be picked up. Everything in Bloodborne links up: the mythology of the world, the opposing factions and their morality’s, the ancestory and character goals and how the playable character ties into it all. What has always confused me though is how to piece it all together to form an overall picture of the story - and this is by far the version that makes best sense to me.
It constantly reminds readers throughout that it’s a combination of fact and filling in blanks in the lore with logical assumptions (and therefore aspects are up to each individuals interpretation) - but it certainly makes for a highly compelling read!
Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the game, especially if you’re fairly familiar with how the world visually ties together and time points of the story.
Easy 5/5 from me 👍
March 21, 2018
Mostly if I have questions of the story in a videogame, and mostly these are From Software games, I search forums, blogs and comments to find the answers that lean towards my idea of what happened. This essay opened my eyes on so much aspects, for example the name of the boss/mobs Shadows Of Yarnham. After 3 years and 5 playthroughs I thought that it was a cool name for the hooded chaps that probably came from the place called Yarnham. But now I have been granted eyes. They are only in places where Queen Yarnham is, which are Byrgenwerth and Mergo's Loft. They are her Shadow as in bodyguards, they protect her presence from outsiders. Such a simple thing that I overlooked but it is one of my favorite parts in this read. A lot of answers have been answered but there is still place for the imagination. I can't thank the author enough for taking the time to write this. It has changed my vision on the game once more, and it's a good bonus to the replay value. Thank you so much!
April 6, 2021
As someone who finished Bloodborne for the first time recently, this book served a great post-game literary analysis and exploration on the stories, atmosphere, and history of not just Yharnam, but the entire civilisation (and perhaps cosmos?) as a whole.
The book clearly divides between fact and personal conjecture, and it is interesting to see how the puzzle pieces (from item descriptions, forgotten notes, NPC details) fit together to form a cohesive narrative.
An intriguing read for those who have finished the game with many unanswered questions and an avid fascination with the worldbuilding and lore.
I highly recommend it for those who have finished both the main game and The Old Hunters DLC as it jumps right into the minute details with the assumption that the reader is aware of the premise and general flow of the game.
The book clearly divides between fact and personal conjecture, and it is interesting to see how the puzzle pieces (from item descriptions, forgotten notes, NPC details) fit together to form a cohesive narrative.
An intriguing read for those who have finished the game with many unanswered questions and an avid fascination with the worldbuilding and lore.
I highly recommend it for those who have finished both the main game and The Old Hunters DLC as it jumps right into the minute details with the assumption that the reader is aware of the premise and general flow of the game.
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