History VideoGame / Bloodborne

** The Japanese version's words for Insight and Frenzy are Enlightenment and Insanity, making it a little more on-the-nose.

** [[spoiler:Iosefka, the kindly doctor you meet at the beginning of the game, is killed and replaced by an impostor from the Choir after you defeat Father Gascoigne. She proceeds to tell you to send civilians you find on the street to her, promising to take care of them, when she in actuality will instead do some experimenting on them and eventually turn them into [[HumanoidAbomination Celestial Emissaries]]. You can implement LaserGuidedKarma by sending the beggar to Iosefka's clinic, where the latter will experiment upon the former.]]

** [[spoiler:Iosefka, the kindly doctor you meet at the beginning of the game, is killed and replaced by an impostor from the Choir after you defeat Father Gascoigne. She proceeds to tell you to send civilians you find on the street to her, promising to take care of them, when she in actuality will instead do some experimenting on them and eventually turn them into [[HumanoidAbomination Celestial Emissaries]].]]

* ReligionOfEvil: The entire religious practices of Yharnam, which involve the worship of [[spoiler:the Great Ones, monstrous beings from another dimension (or just simply demons) who seemingly care little for the affairs of men except as pawns to spawn a new Great One]]. The upper echelons of the church -- the School of Mensis and the Choir -- have differing methodologies as to how to accomplish this. A notable observation is that unlike most works inspired by Lovecraft, this religion is practiced by the ''majority'', up to and including the leaders of the city, rather than people on the fringes hiding from the eye of the law. Then again, Yharnam doesn't exactly have many ties to the outside world, drawing parallels to [[spoiler:Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth]].

*** "Curse the fiends, their children too, and their children, forever, true."
*** "A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea."

* ArcSymbol: ''[[BloodierAndGorier Really?]]'' But as the story progresses, the themes of dreams/nightmares, [[spoiler:the moon and pregnancy]] begin to emerge.

** ''The Old Hunters'' has "A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea.", said in both the DLC's ending narration as well as by the chanting priest at the entrance of the Fishing Hamlet, if you have the Milkweed Covenant Rune equipped.

''Bloodborne'' is a 2015 DarkFantasy[=/=]GothicHorror ActionRPG developed by Creator/FromSoftware with support from Creator/SCEJapanStudio. It is directed by Creator/HidetakaMiyazaki, of ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' fame.

* CorruptChurch: The Healing Church. Their solution to the Scourge of the Beast? Initiate a massive hunt against the beasts that is tantamount to a WitchHunt, since most of the city's citizens are already infected themselves, and see the uninfected as the ''real'' beasts to be slaughtered. [[spoiler:Late-game item descriptions also reveal that not only is the Church well aware of the existence of the Nightmare Realm, the physical reality of the Great Ones, and of the other strange happenings, they're also the ones who brought the Great Ones into their reality in the first place by continuing the work of seeking the 'eldritch Truth' that was started by Master Willem at the Byrgenwerth College. Ultimately, the Church fractured into the Choir and the School of Mensis, both different flavors of ReligionOfEvil. Both Mensis and the Choir directly communicate with some of these {{Eldritch Abomination}}s — Oedon, Kos (or some say Kosm) and Ebrietas — and seek guidance from them in exchange for worship by their congregation.]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Most, if not all the actions of the Healing Church in regards to how they utilize the power of the Old Blood and try to stay in power using it carry this trope heavily. It's even the focus of the DLC: [[spoiler: In the backstory, Byrgenwerth raided and destroyed a fishing hamlet to try to utilize the power of the Great One Kos that the hamlet residents worshipped. They also robbed the unborn child of Kos from her corpse (whether or not they were also responsible for her death is unclear). That's why the hamlet survivors placed the Nightmare Curse on every single Hunter for all time, leading to the existence of the Hunter's Nightmare.]]

* LovecraftLite: [[spoiler:Ultimately, while the Great Ones exert greater control over, and have far more understanding of, the universe, humans are more than capable of comprehending and utilizing their abilities. The player will also likely end his or her game having slain a half-dozen of them — some of which in the very dreams they dominate over.]]

** [[spoiler:It's interesting to note that the human factions have been terrorizing the Great Ones just as much, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters if not more so]] than vice versa, having robbed the Orphan from Kos' corpse, enslaved the Brain of Mensis and kept it around like a tortured lab animal, and peddled the blood of the Great Ones as an all-cure to unsuspecting Yharnamites. Ebrietas, Rom and the Orphan of Kos don't attack the player unless they attack first, and even the Moon Presence doesn't attempt to battle you unless you show hostility, at which point it is clearly startled. They may not neccesarily be "good" so much as just [[BlueAndOrangeMorality very alien]], but they're arguably victims moreso than they are predators, and what harm they cause to humans is primarily due to them being dangerous to humans' sanity [[BrownNote just by existing]].]]

* MarsNeedsWomen: [[spoiler:The core purpose of the Great Ones manipulating Yharnam and the Phtumerians is to use humanity to bear its children.]]

** Eileen's job as part of the Hunter of Hunters is this.

*** A great deal of the story can be attributed to Lovecraft's works: [[spoiler:Yharnam is, essentially, Innsmouth, but with beastmen instead of fishmen; Byrgenwyrth College is Miskatonic University, but without the voice of reason; the Amygdala enemies are entities similar to the invisible spawn of Yog-Sothoth from ''The Dunwich Horror''; and the Pthumerans, the race that came before mankind, are like The Great Race of Yith, minus the bizarre non-human anatomy. Oh, and The One Reborn? That could easily have come out of Reanimator.]]

* ArmorIsUseless: [[DownplayedTrope Okay well, not really.]] This rather warrants a bit of an explanation. See, the story departs from the traditional medieval settings of [[VideoGame/DarkSouls its spiritual predecessors]] in favor of a more Gothic and Victorian Era setting, which includes the technological advancements in firearms, which allows for guns [[note]] Although to be fair, firearms have existed as far back as the 1200s, with the firearms here in Yharnam being more developed. [[/note]], and, as a result, having heavier armor would make for a far more difficult time in not necessarily protection, but rather avoiding more fast-paced attacks that could involve firearms. Furthermore, according to the description of the Wooden Shield found early in the game, [[ShieldsAreUseless shields apparently aren't as effective against these kinds of beasts]] [[note]] They actually are though, they just simply require a LOT of stamina in order to use them effectively. [[/note]], who are shown to easily overpower humans in terms of strength. As a result, this led to the style of fighting in which Gehrman codified, by eschewing armor altogether in exchange for speed as well as wielding versatile weaponry in order to quickly dispatch beasts before one is overwhelmed. Attire is the equivalent here in terms of Physical Defense, as the earliest proper chest piece gives you 110 Physical Defense, while the most expensive set only gives you 120. Instead, clothes are more easily selected based upon characteristics such as their resistance bonuses or simply their aesthetic appeal.

** What ''really'' makes it hurt is that you can't level up until you acquire Insight, because the Doll doesn't come to life until you have at least one point. This means either finding a Madman's Knowledge or ''running into a boss'' before you can improve your stats (though you don't have to ''defeat'' the boss in question). Said boss is on a bridge behind a pair of werewolves, who move faster and hit ''much'' harder than anything you face up to that point, and given the narrow confines, you ''will''draw aggro on them.

* FilkSong:
** "[[http://youtu.be/8eSrmSsz7mQ Paleblood Moon]]," sung from the POV of one of the Hunters, and "[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u0P1hhFt-nU A Thousand Eyes]]," from Provost Willem's (the old man in the rocking chair pointing at the lake in Byrgenwerth College), by Music/MiracleOfSound.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHZVBv6mdFU Never Wake Again]]" by Music/JTMachinima.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaJDK2x6KJk BLOODBORNE EPIC RAP]]" by Music/DanBull.
** Music/Aviators has made four:
*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0J2ZUg5dSY Wake Me When It's Over]]"
*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqdyyxdZ4cQ No One Will Save You Now]]"
*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYdxC6AEKz4 Here Come the Ravens]]"
*** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrcD0SS022w When Our Bodies Wash Ashore]]"

* OneStatToRuleThemAll:
** Arcane is among the most incredibly useful stats to raise and to base a character build around. Most stats raise only one thing (Strength raises strength weapon adjustment, skill raises skill weapon adjustment, etc.), but Arcane raises elemental weapon damage (and all enemies have an elemental weakness), increases the attack damage of most attack items (like firebombs), grants access to the use of magical items, and raises item drop rates. Long story short, even if your build is strength or skill based, many advise raising your arcane during your second playthrough so you can make the best use of all of your items, and broaden your arsenal so that you're up for the challenge. ''The Old Hunters'' DLC introduces the Kos Parasite, a peculiar weapon that turns you into a [[HumanoidAbomination Lumenwood Kin]] and it ''only'' scales with Arcane. In other words, if your primary weapon is the Kos Parasite, you don't even need to raise any other stat at all.
** Skill is the second most useful stat since Visceral Attack damage scales with it. If you happen to have all 3 Clawmark runes attuned and have a weapon with decent Skill scaling, every single Visceral Attack is OneHitKill, a potential GameBreaker for [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]]. Visceral Attacks also scales with Thrust Damage. So if you have a good Skill weapon that ''also'' does lots of Thrust damage...
** Bloodtinge may seem to be a DumpStat, however once you obtained Evelyn, Bloodletter, Chikage, Bone Marrow Ash and Cursed Gems, they can potentially become GameBreaker for [=PvP=].
** While not as deadly as the three above, Strength is the stat for Saw Cleaver and Hunter Axe, the starter weapons which also happen to be DiscOneNuke, if you invested Strength heavily, you can utilize the [[ArmCannon Cannon]] and [[GatlingGood Gatling Gun]] as well, the latter is capable of gunning down the TrueFinalBoss without even a slice.

* SamusIsAGirl: You probably couldn't tell that the Huntress with the Rakuyo Trick Weapon is titled Lady Maria of The Astral Clocktower. Oh, and she's [[spoiler:the person that the Doll is based on]].

* RiversOfBlood: In the DLC ''The Old Hunters'', there is a literal river of blood flowing through the fake-Yharnam portion of the Hunter's Nightmare. The banks of this river are completely filled with [[spoiler:[[NotQuiteDead still somewhat living]]]] shriveled up corpses, and at the end lies Ludwig.

** OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The beast-disease infecting the citizens of Yharnam turns them into mixes of humans and various beasts, like wolves, spiders, crows, and so on. In general, most of these resemble werewolves of some sort; this is the most common enemy type, as opposed to the ''Souls'' series' usual penchant for undead zombie-folk. The origin behind the lycanthropes -- [[spoiler:them being hybrids between humans and a squid-like EldritchAbomination of the full moon]] -- is also fairly unusual. While vulnerable to conventional weapons (albeit highly resistant, to the point where late 19th century small arms are said to do nothing to them), they notably appear to possess the classic vulnerability to silver, given that Ludwig's Holy Blade is made of the stuff. Unique to ''Bloodborne'''s take, they're also particularly vulnerable to fire.

* WeirdMoon: The moon is never obscured by the clouds; in fact, the moon is always ''in front'' of the clouds. By the end of the game, it becomes apparent that [[spoiler:the "moon" (or at least the moon in Yharnam) is merely the physical representation of the thusly named Moon Presence throughout most of Yharnam's dream, up until the end (depending on the player's choice) where it will appear in its "real" form.]]

* CastFromHitPoints: The Chikage and Logarius' Wheel both have tricked modes that make the weapon more powerful at the cost of draining your health. [[NotSoDifferent Ironically]], the latter is a weapon of the Healing Church Executioners, who claim the moral high ground over the "depraved, blood sucking" Cainhurst Vilebloods, which used the former.

*** The Church Pick is a special case as it has a built in effect to its Thrusting attacks (which is every attack in its transformed mode) that does 20% more damage to enemies vulerable to Beast Hunter damage (normally only available via Beast Hunter blood gems, this includes enemies that vulerable to Serrated damage plus many more) and/ or Righteous damage. This set it apart from the more typical Serrated and Righteous weapons because unlike them the bonus only applies to certain attacks, which all other Serrated and Righteous weapons have the bonus to all attacks in one or both of their forms.

*** Serrated Weapons, all of which have a flat 20% damage bonus against Beast-type enemies. The weapons in question being the normal mode of the Saw Cleaver, both modes of the Saw Spear and the tricked mode of the Threaded Cane. ''The Old Hunters'' also adds the Beast Cutter, the Whirligig Saw and the Church Pick[[note]]despite lacking a serrated edge, for some reason[[/note]], with all three retaining the damage bonus in both of their modes.
*** Righteous Weapons, which have a varying damage bonus against Unrighteous-type enemies[[note]]namely, four enemy types found in Forsaken Castle Cainhurst, three of which can be found elsewhere in the Chalice Dungeons[[/note]]. The normal mode of the Threaded Cane has a 20% bonus, both forms of Logarius' Wheel have a 30% bonus, and the normal mode of the Kirkhammer and both forms of Ludwig's Holy Blade have a 50% bonus. ''The Old Hunters'' also adds the Church Pick and the Holy Moonlight Sword, with both of their forms having a 20% and 50% damage bonus respectively.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: If he is made non-hostile, [[spoiler:Retired Hunter Djura tells the player that he has been watching over the beasts in the burnt-out district of Old Yharnam, and asks the player to leave them be]]. If the player agrees, he gives them his badge and teaches them a gesture out of gratitude.
** [[spoiler:Note that it's quite easy to be forced into this, as making Djura non-hostile is somewhat of a hidden process.]]

* WhamShot: [[spoiler:Rom the Vacuous Spider]]. Until that shows up, [[spoiler:all of the creatures and locations are at least somewhat in the vein of gothic horror: witches, werewolves, zombies, and other such things]]. But then you drop into [[spoiler:the Moonside Lake]] and see this...'''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'''. From there, the situation only gets worse: once you [[spoiler:beat her, you descend into the newly opened [[EldritchLocation Yahar'gul]], and you see ''dozens'' of [[EldritchAbomination Amygdalas]] crawling over the city like maggots on a rotted corpse.]] ''This'' is when you [[OhCrap realize]] that [[spoiler:what you have been playing in is in fact a CosmicHorrorStory.]]

* BloodyHorror: The Game. ''Tainted'' blood serves as TheCorruption, the resulting monsters have a serious bloodlust (implicitly literally), and the players themselves spends the game injecting, consuming, losing and throwing around a ''lot'' of the red stuff.

** And considering how not all the stains are red and the locations the player character crawls through, there's also a good chance not all of that is blood.