This may come as a surprise, but Bloodborne‘s arrival in 2015 was a bit unexpected. Fans eagerly awaited a return to the world of Demon’s Souls, the 2009 action-RPG that launched Hidetaka Miyazaki into stardom and popularized the Soulslike genre.
Instead, they were greeted with Bloodborne, a brand-new IP dripping with gothic appeal that pretty much became an icon since the day it released exclusively on PS4. To this day, it has a fan following that defies its age, and pleas for a modern remaster rack up by the thousands. However, the game’s origin is just as interesting as its post-launch fame.
Sony Approached Miyazaki To Create Bloodborne
In a 2014 interview with 4Gamer, Miyazaki revealed it all began with Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) asking them to build a brand-new game for the upcoming PlayStation 4:
This project actually started out with the proposal to make something new on new hardware. I think it was around the time that development for Artorias of the Abyss Edition of Dark Souls settled down, and it was still before the initial PS4 announcement, but the idea of working on new hardware was very appealing to us, so we eagerly agreed.
The opportunity to ditch the limitations of the PS3/Xbox 360 generation and craft a game from scratch using the muscle of the then-new PS4 hardware, must’ve been very exciting for the development team. They certainly utilized it to the fullest, because Bloodborne could barely run at a stable 30fps, that too with inconsistent frame pacing, hence the outcry for a PS5 and PC remaster.
Hidetaka Miyazaki “Never Considered” Demon’s Souls 2
Bloodborne came as a surprise to FromSoftware fans who were expecting Demon’s Souls 2, but according to Miyazaki, the idea of a direct follow-up to the game was never planned by the developers:
Those of us actually working on the game never even considered making it Demon’s Souls 2. Even looking at it objectively, it does seem like a very SCE-like decision.
When asked if Miyazaki himself would’ve been interested in making a sequel, he said, “Working on an all new game is definitely appealing, but on the other hand – and I felt this way while working on Artorias of the Abyss Edition – but there is a unique kind of fun when you’re working on a sequel. You can make lots of straightforward additions to what you’ve already built, and there are a lot of things you can take for granted, allowing you to really expand on the scope of the game.“
Miyazaki isn’t wrong. With sequels, the groundwork is already laid – the world, mechanics, and core systems are there. This lets developers streamline adding new stuff. By using what they already have, they can focus on making a bigger and more intricate experience that builds on the original game’s strengths.
Miyazaki then dropped a surprising nugget of information when he confirmed that he was “kind of removed” from the development process of Dark Souls 2. He couldn’t elaborate on any further, but it was most likely a decision by studio leadership. Miyazaki then shifted his focus to Bloodborne, and said he had “a ton of fun working on it”.
This distance from the previous Souls games may have further fueled his desire to create something truly unique with Bloodborne. Untethered by the expectations of a sequel, Miyazaki was free to unleash his full creative vision, resulting in a masterpiece that no one expected.
