Done with the newest hunt? The Bloodborne DLC invites you to experience the old one.
Upon release, Bloodborne caught either the heart or the heartfelt frustration of every PS4 owner who’d entered the hunt. This instant classic still provides one of the most exhilarating excuses to buy a Sony system by itself. But wait, there’s more!
Many players claim that The Old Hunters Bloodborne DLC not only mops the floor with any other DLC in existence, but makes for a better experience than vanilla Bloodborne. Why, you ask? Well, because the quality of a Souls game will always hinge upon the quality of its bosses, and The Old Hunters features the best rogues gallery ever put into a game.
Ludwig, The Holy Blade
The Bloodborne DLC opens up with a bang, and it rarely slows down. Many hail Ludwig as the greatest boss in the Souls series because of how perfectly he combines challenge with reward. This is a massive yet nimble beast that features a wide range of moves. We don’t recommend engaging in combat with this thing before you learn everything you can from the base game.
Ludwig has two different phases. In the first, he’ll lunge at players like a rabid dog. The second one will have him use FromSoft’s iconic Moonlight Greatsword against the player. One would imagine the second phase to prove the biggest challenge, but it’s the first one that players should be really weary of.
Players can stagger and even permanently injure Ludwig by striking him from the side. But unlike bosses like the Cleric Beast and Vicar Amelia, an injured Ludwig will remain an incredibly tough foe. Get ready to run and dodge, as his forward lunges will absolutely obliterate anyone’s health bar.
Lawrence, The First Vicar
Lawrence shows the Bloodborne DLC at its most obvious. The thing is, even at its worst, The Old Hunters still has some tricks up its sleeves.
Lawrence looks and plays just like a higher-hp rehash of the Cleric Beast, one of the first and more basic bosses from the original game — until he doesn’t. It’s only after taking over half of this brick wall’s HP that players realize things won’t turn out as simple as expected. Lawrence will lose his lower limbs and somehow become a much more formidable opponent. At this point, he’ll maintain the tired character model. Not only will he gain a completely new move set, but also the ability to continually bleed deadly lava all over the play area.
In the blink of an eye, Lawrence goes from an endurance match to a game of “the floor is lava”. Albeit one that still requires a lot of endurance, because Lawrence’s unstoppable hemorrhage somehow does nothing to diminish his defense.
Living Failures
The Living Failures encounter might feel like a filler boss, as it’s just a group of regular enemies the game put there for the player to waste some time. Heck, FromSoft might have named this boss due to an internal disappointment for the challenge that they had just created, but it’s not that bad. In fact, the idea of slaughtering a bunch of cute blue aliens doesn’t rub me the wrong way at all.
Tough statement? Maybe, but I’m sure I have the favor of everyone whose infancy was also filled with forced radio exposure to Eiffel 65’s Blue.
Lady Maria Of The Astral Clocktower
Many hail Lady Maria as the greate— you know what we’re about to say. And we apologize in advance, because it also applies to the entry after this one.
We believe The Living Failures isn’t that bad of a boss because it gives players the perfect sense of calm before the storm. It provides players with a moment in which they can bask in a feeling of all-powerfulness before they facing a challenge that will bring them back to earth. Maria is the most powerful hunter in the game, and fighting her is an absolute delight.
The encounter initially looks like a fight against a regular hunter. It’s only when she reaches half-hp that she stabs herself with her weapon, and thus unleashes her old blood-based powers.
Players who know the game’s lore will probably feel very pleased by this, as Maria abhors the usage of blood. Making her go against her beliefs just to stop the player should fill many with a sense of dark self-accomplishment, but that might not make up for what they have just awakened. The blood makes Maria fiercer, gives her more range, and equips her with a very powerful lunge we should definitely dodge.
It’s only when players get her around 20% HP that they realize that she has a third phase, one where she first uses blood and then sets it on fire. She goes all out in what feels a lot like the Solidus boss battle at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, and we love it even more for that.
Orphan of Kos
We’ll refrain from reviewing the quality of the clash against the Orphan of Kos. This is the intended final battle of the whole game, so you should know what kind of spectacle to expect.
Despite looking like an eldritch abomination, the Orphan actually behaves similarly to a hunter in his first phase. Orphan does a great job of subverting expectations, as many would expect to keep such a seemingly close-range combatant away. However, the best way to get him to meet his parents is to actually get as in his face. Players can easily dodge and stagger him with heavy attacks. Rinse and repeat until the first phase ends.
He becomes much more menacing in the second phase, but the strategy remains similar. Despite seemingly possessing no long-range weapons, he’ll easily snipe players who run away from him. Consider the risky tactic of staying as close as possible, because that’s somehow the safest place. Just don’t forget to dodge!
