Bloodborne: The Old Hunters

Overall

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters is a fantastic piece of DLC which offers a rich story scattered through everything you interact with and challenging bosses aided by stunning music and audio/visual design.

The Old Hunters will give you just about everything you’ve come to expect from From Software expansions — new enemies to fight, new weapons and items to uncover, a big new map to explore, and of course, the soul crushing defeats.

A brilliant expansion to an already unmissable gaming experience.

And so another yarn has arrived from Yharnam just in time to remind us why Bloodborne is one of the best games of the year. The Old Hunters is a full-blooded expansion, boasting nightmarish new environments and a bevy of brutal beasts to slaughter, but it's the vast array of original equipment that will have moon slaves practically salivating over this add-on. As far as DLC goes, this is one of the stronger sets that you're likely to see.

The Old Hunters reminds us why Bloodborne was one of 2015’s best exclusives (and also the most difficult).

The Old Hunters is a satisfying, visceral addition to the Bloodborne legacy.

This expansion is for enthusiasts, but will deliver precisely what that type of player wants in spades.

The Old Hunters is another shot in the arm of the same serum that coursed through Bloodborne’s veins. Though diehards may pillage its secrets quickly, my approximate 15 hours spent delving its depths and gleefully employing each new destructive tool felt satisfyingly dense. The Old Hunters is an impressive return to From Software’s oppressive and rewarding universe, and while it retreads much of the same path, it’s very much a path worth taking.

The only negative that I began to notice in my time with The Old Hunters was that although, for the most part, the new enemies and bosses looked entirely fresh and unique compared to those that came before, the methods of dealing with certain bosses and enemies felt unfortunately familiar. It was definitely not enough to leave any lasting negative impression with me, but it’s worth noting that some of the challenges you face might not need as much creative new strategy to deal with as you might hope.

I might sound down on a lot of aspects of The Old Hunters, but ultimately, it will satiate most fans out there. The fact that it was supposed to be two DLCs that were merged into one makes sense, as part of it feels like cut content, and the other half seems like wholly original work. While I’m glad I had an excuse to drop into the world of Yharnam once again, there’s a part of me that feels disappointed that this will be the last, and only add-on for Bloodborne.