Bloodborne

     Bloodborne, the fourth of the "Souls" games coming out of From Software is one of my favorite games of all time and near the top in my running for Game of the Year. The fantastic art direction, great gameplay, and it's brutal difficulty make this game stand out among other AAA releases this year. The difficulty of the "Souls" series has been notorious among gamers and, in the industry, it has received praise.

     Try after try, death after death, you've hit a wall in the form of a monster designed to be terrifying and intimidating. Bashing your head against this boss, trying different methods of dealing damage, and even putting the game down for a while is definitely frustrating; until you beat that boss. The feeling of finally defeating a boss after hours of deaths is really an amazing feeling. This is for sure one of the main attractants to this game, mainly because many of the people who played Dark Souls and Demon's Souls also played this.

     The combat was changed in such a way that "Souls" veterans feel comfortable, yet have a lot to learn. The nuanced combat, with many guns and "trick weapons", is very deep and different gun and trick weapon combos totally change the way you can play the game. This, I think, is one of the reasons why this game stands out among other ARPGs; you're not necessarily building a character around different talents or abilities, but you're building a character around a weapon set and play style.

     The gothic architecture in Yharnam, the ruined wasteland of The Nightmare of Mensis, the darkness of The Hypogean Gaol; the environments in this game are gorgeously menacing and require a certain attentiveness when walking through doorways and around corners. The enemies are vicious and, oft times can kill you with one combo. Did I mention they're designed very well because they are; there is tall pimp looking guys, werewolves, aliens, weird looking witches, dog-crows, crow-dogs and the like. Where enemy design really shines, though, bosses are extremely varied in design and in size. Ranging from about the player's size to smaller, to much, much larger.

 Minor boss Spoilers ahead.

Darkbeast Paarl

Amygdala

Vicar Amelia

     Bloodborne, overall, is a great addition to the Souls series and definitely on of PlayStation 4's best exclusive title. It has plenty of replayability, great level and enemy design, an awesome art style, and probably the best 3rd person action game combat system. Overall, Bloodborne is one of the best games of 2015.