Today, Sony released the trailer for the very much anticipated Bloodborne expansion, titled The Old Hunters, offering a date of November 24th for download in Europe and the US and December 3rd for Japan. The trailer, despite only being 2 minutes in length provides a wealth of information about what we can expect in the new expansion and we’re happy to report, it all looks to be brilliant.

Be aware that a lot of what will be written here is speculation based on the existing knowledge we have of Bloodborne’s lore and what little the trailer gives us to work from. Some speculation may be wrong, some may be right.

Before we start with the trailer though, the Video description on YouTube features a lot of interesting information:

Experience the nightmare of the hunters who once guarded Byrgenwerth’s deepest, darkest secrets and uncover the mystery behind Yharnam’s sinister past and in The Old Hunters expansion DLC for Bloodborne™. Journey to a world where hunters from the past are trapped forever, find multiple new outfits and weapons to add to your hunter arsenal, and explore brand new stages full of dangers, rewards, and deadly beasts to hunt.

“Journey to a world where hunters from the past are trapped forever”. From Software’s DLC has always dealt with the past in some way shape or form. Artorias Of The Abyss took you back in time to the land of Oolacile and The Lost Crowns trilogy for DkS2 tasked you with heading to long forgotten parts of Drangleic to uncover what happened to the three kings of the land. From the description alone we can assume either that there is an element of time travel to the DLC, or you will be retracing a path that the Byrgenwerth hunters once took.

In terms of Byrgenwerth’s deepest, darkest secrets, this could clarify some long held lore suspicions. Could we learn of Rom’s experiments that lead her to become the Vacuous Spider? Could we learn of the fate of Laurence when he split from Master Willem’s teachings? Could we actually face Ludwig in a fight?

Finally, learning Yharnam’s deepest darkest secrets implies that we will find out more concrete evidence about the Old Blood, it’s source and potentially the full facts around the start of the Scourge which ravaged Yharnam so. We may even find out more about Gerhman’s early days within the Healing Church Workshop. There are so many possibilities and questions posed by a simple video description. Now, onto the video itself.

The trailer opens with a shot of a river, in a dilapidated rural area. A rowing boat with a candle at the bow drifts past, containing a robed skeleton, laid out in a fashion akin to a Scandinavian funeral ritual. A female voice, potentially an existing character in the game (I want to say it’s Adella, but I’m not sure) says:

Curse the fiends, their children too, and their children, forever true

Despite the second word of the dialogue being hard to pick out (and the YouTube video does not have closed captioning available), the dialogue would imply that a people are being cursed and the curse passing down through countless generations. The video’s description makes reference to the hunters of Byrgenwerth so potentially the narration could be referring to the scholars and the hunters of the college. As everything seems to be fairly focused around Byrgenwerth we may actually find out what that trapdoor in the college building is for.

The video moves on to a six fingered hand being flexed, which looks to be one of the Amygdalas, or potentially the Amygdala. Either way, it certainly has a look of an Old One about it. The shot then moves to the shrine in Yahar’gul’s chapel. Looking back to the main game, this shrine held the Hypogean Gaol lamp but also the lore note “Nightmarish rituals crave a newborn. Find one, and silence its harrowing cry”.  At this point, the narrator continues:

I call to the Bloodless wherever they be

The Bloodless aren’t referenced in the main game, so this looks to be a new facet of lore for the expansion. On first thought, this could reference the Old Ones or at least a certain kind of Old One. The closest thing in the main game to a so-called Bloodless would be Formless Oedon, owing to the fact that it has no form, therefore no blood.

After the titles show, we are given shots of existing scenery, including Yharnam at sunset and Moonside Lake when the Blood Moon is triggered after defeating Rom.

Another voice then comes in saying:

The night brings the defiled scum and it’s burned [unintelligible] stench. Just think, now you’re sent to hunt; kill ’till your heart’s content 

This sounds like the dialogue of an old hunter, someone who has succumbed to the Scourge, or someone like Djura, who has an affinity for the afflicted and is trying to protect them from you. The tone of the vocal performance indicates that whoever is saying this to you is an adversary and could potentially be a hunter battle.

This is as much as the trailer gives us for story or lore points as after the dialogue finishes,  we go straight into combat sequences which show off a lot of new things for Bloodborne.

Weapons

The trailer shows off several brand new trick weapons in a variety of situations:

• Circular Saw Blade – One of the first new weapons shown, the hunter can be seen tricking the weapon much like you would with Ludwig’s Holy Blade or the Kirkhammer, the saw blade is on the hunter’s back and you can see as the shaft is connected and the extended weapon pulled from his back to be ready to fight. There isn’t any indication what the alternate of the weapon is, but an educated guess would indicate a sword of some description. The blade appears to be motorised and looks to be rather powerful, though like the Kirkhammer or Ludwig, it also seems slow to swing necessitating precise timing.
• Fire Hammer – This is seen briefly at 1:03 in the trailer. The hunter is running through the street in Cathedral Ward, the weapon is tricked, scraped along the ground and swung into the beast with a firey trail. The weapon transformation looks like that of the Hunter’s Axe, with the shaft of the weapon extending. However instead of an axe blade there is a large, flat hammer head which connects with the beast. It has a spike on its rear side which could potentially give rise to some devastating combos in the one handed version of the weapon.
• Curved Scythe – Seen at 1:05, this weapon when closed mirrors the look of the Saw Spear, but with a smooth curved blade, rather than a serrated one. The hunter tricks it as part of a combo and it reveals a long, arching blade with two sharp sides. The moveset (for the brief time the weapon is shown) looks to be similar to the Saw Spear, indicating that the weapon will likely behave differently to the Burial Blade and have different stat requirements to use.
• Simon’s Bowblade – Yes, the fan’s request has been granted, bows are back in this DLC. The hunter can be seen at 1:09 taking on a Bloodsucking Beast in Cainhurst with the bow, finally allowing players to choose how close and personal they get to some enemies. The name implies its trick is to transform from a Blade into a bow, which sounds incredible.
• Flail – Now this one is interesting. At 1:10 the hunter is seen taking on the group of enemies on the bridge just before the Gascoigne fight in Central Yharnam. The weapon at first I mistook for a saw cleaver, however as the hunter swings it around the group the chain/flail extends and swings in an arc, almost as if it were elasticated. The closest weapon currently existing in Bloodborne would be the Threaded Cane but even then it does not behave like this when tricked. It looks to have great crowd control potential but part of me thinks that it might be one of those weapons that requires a certain knack to use effectively.
• Beast Transformation – Yes, you read that right. At 1:12 we can see the hunter’s torso transformed to a miniaturised version of the Cleric beast as he shrieks then dives on top of a Cainhurst gargoyle. The left arm is increased in size, the body is covered in matted fur and there is no trick weapon in sight, instead large extended claws are in the right hand. From have clearly listened to the fans in this regard and I’m interested to see how the mechanic is put to use within the game.
•  Bolt Saw Cleaver – at 1:17 you see the hunter fighting Father Gascoigne. He side steps an attack and with an extended Saw Cleaver, goes for a charged R2 attack, however as the charge builds up, bolt energy is seen on the blade which is not seen before the attack (I slowed the video down to confirm this). This would imply either a special blood gem which adds bolt to charged attacks or a new variant of the Saw Cleaver with elemental attacks imbued.
• Hunter Tools – New Hunter tools look to be brought into the game for those who like to keep a little distance or make use of Arcane heavy builds.
• Sword & Shield – at 1:30 we have potentially the most interesting weapon set so far, featuring a long curved sword and a sturdy metal shield, the hunter is seen deflecting attacks from Logarius. More information is needed about this but it has piqued the curiosity of many about the gameplay implications of such a set within Bloodborne.

Enemies

Not many new enemies are shown in the trailer, it would seem that From are keeping a lot close to their chest for the DLC, however a couple of variants, both of which seem to be bosses and one new creature are shown.

• Ludwig – Yes, Ludwig is a boss in the DLC, which has been confirmed by Sony. Previous speculation in the main game was that Ludwig became the Cleric Beast, but no, it’s confirmed that Ludwig is the horse looking creature seen in the trailer. Ludwig is shown as a wildly disfigured horse featuring multiple extra limbs. He swings widely and attacks quickly, at least from what we can see in the trailer. He looks to be a significant challenge.
• Flaming Cleric Beast – A brief glimpse at the end of the trailer shows a Cleric Beast covered in flame rising up and shrieking
• Darkbeast Abhorrent Beast – The Abhorrent Beast was a tricky fight in Bloodborne, especially if you weren’t expecting him to appear after talking to the suspicious man outside of Oedon Chapel. This variant looks to be harder still, being infused with bolt and ready to ruin any hunter’s day.

Locations

New locations are shown, however extrapolating from such short glimpses of the new areas is quite difficult without knowing the context of the Expansion proper. The meaning of areas can change depending on the lore context so I’m not going to speculate on them, however the new areas do look gorgeous and look to add greater variety to the already diverse locations found in the main game.

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters looks to be a fantastic addition to an already spectacular game. From this short trailer, From Software seem to be addressing the handful of shortcomings the fans identified with Bloodborne as well as adding new content in with their own particular intentions and style. November cannot come soon enough.

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