With the release of Lies of P, NEOWIZ’s dark take on the fairy tale, Soulslike fans have been catered to pretty well as of late. Earlier this year saw the release of Remnant 2 with its expanded customization options, improved biome generation and tough-as-nails battles. There was also Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which utilized some genre staples while relying more on parrying and breaking the enemy’s stance a la Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is more of an action-adventure game, but its combat and exploration take more than a few cues from the genre. Of course, for those seeking a more “traditional” Soulslike experience, Lords of the Fallen is launching soon on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.
It’s the long-awaited sequel to the 2014 action RPG with a world five times larger and the ambition to be Dark Souls 4.5 rather than embracing the open-world structure of Elden Ring. And though there’s no release date, Elden Ring is getting even bigger with Shadow of the Erdtree, its first expansion, in development.
The genre seems to be in a healthy place, but you can’t help but wonder, especially with how well Lies of P has been received – why has there been no revival, remaster, port, remake, what have you, of Bloodborne?
For those unaware, FromSoftware’s action RPG masterpiece launched in 2015 for the PlayStation 4. It was the antithesis to the Dark Souls series in many ways, eschewing a medieval fantasy setting for the Gothic Victorian town of Yharnam. Combat still relied on stamina management and reading an enemy’s attacks but with a heavier emphasis on aggression. Shields were pretty much a death sentence, but players could rely on firearms to stun enemies and create openings for Visceral Blows.
Healing with items was quick, but when damaged, you could recover health by landing blows on an enemy. Movement and dodging felt faster, allowing for quicker reactions to enemies and bosses and adding to the risk vs reward mechanic. It doesn’t even begin to cover Bloodborne’s story, level design and bosses, with the sublime lore tying it all together in incredible ways. It was also the first FromSoftware game to this day to experiment with procedurally generated Chalice Dungeons (though the ones with fixed layouts were better received).
Bloodborne received extensive critical acclaim when it launched and its fair share of nominations. It was one of the few games that year to compete with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in acclaim, even if the latter ultimately won out in awards. Due to Sony publishing the title, with Japan Studio supervising and co-producing, Bloodborne remained exclusive to PlayStation 4, becoming one of the first major reasons to pick up the console.
Perhaps the only real drawback is that it’s stuck at 1080p/30 FPS. Despite a gorgeous aesthetic, from the detailed environments to the hideously grotesque enemies, Bloodborne received criticism for its performance and loading times at launch. It was patched quickly enough, but you can’t experience the game at a higher resolution or frame rate today.
All of this leads to the same question that fans have asked for years: Why is Bloodborne still stuck on the PS4? Why is there no PS5 release, remaster or even a PC port? Given the number of titles which have received the remake/remaster treatment, not to mention the previous-to-current-gen port treatment, it’s odd to see it neglected in such a way.
Sure, there have been several rumors and reports, including Bluepoint Games working on a sequel and remaster. However, noted insiders, including who leaked details about Elden Ring, have never encountered anything to do with Bloodborne despite seeking it several times. Not even a patch to have the game run at 60 FPS on PS5.
While it’s a shame for many reasons, perhaps it’s time to accept the hard truth: Bloodborne may never get remade or remastered. You would be hard-pressed to see anything done with the franchise anytime soon.
There are several reasons why. FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki spoke in 2015 about how he didn’t think it was the “right choice” to continue “indefinitely creating Souls and Bloodborne games.” At the time, he considered Dark Souls 3 as the “big closure of the series.” Elden Ring has a new setting with a new story and a vast open world, but it’s still heavily based on Dark Souls. Maybe the developer isn’t completely opposed to returning to Bloodborne if incentivized enough.
Unfortunately, much of that would depend on Sony, which owns the rights to the game. Bloodborne sold one million copies in its first month of release and hit two million sold within six months. It’s nothing terrible, but far behind what some of the company’s biggest exclusives have achieved in a shorter span.
As the publisher focused on bigger, more cinematic action-adventure games, it de-emphasized “riskier” projects that may not see such significant returns. That trend has only become more prominent in the PS5 era, except now it’s pushing for several live-service titles by April 2026, despite issues behind the scenes with releases like The Last of Us multiplayer project.
Still, Demon’s Souls received a remake on PS5 nearly three years ago, courtesy of Bluepoint, so there’s still hope for Bloodborne. Right? Sadly, despite a positive critical response, the release probably cemented what Sony already knew. It sold 1.4 million copies in about ten months, again not terrible but way behind what its other big franchises have achieved in a shorter time frame.
Of course, there are other factors to consider. Sony had other original IPs like Gravity Rush, Puppeteer, Tokyo Jungle, Patapon and more, but these didn’t fit with the company’s vision for big-budget, triple-A blockbusters. Japan Studio would close, with only Team Asobi of Astro Bot fame remaining. While a Bloodborne remake or remaster isn’t impossible without the team, it’s certainly a lot harder, further adding to the risks that Sony may not want to take.
You could argue that releasing it on PC could result in more sales for the publisher. However, the effort required to port it, especially considering how much work is needed to implement new graphical options and optimize it for a wider range of hardware, may not be worth the investment. Besides, as well as Sony’s initial PlayStation releases like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War have performed, its recent titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Returnal and The Last of Us Part 1 haven’t done as well.
Make no mistake – Sony has the resources to make a remaster, much less a remake, happen. However, as successful as Souls-like titles, whether they bear the FromSoftware name or not, it’s not enough to justify the company’s time and investment based on its current plans and vision. That’s not criticism of its approach, even taking its live-service ambitions into account, but the reality of the situation.
Never say never and all that jazz, but for now, we’ll have to be content with waiting and imagining what could have been. Unless you’re keen on modding your PS4 to get it running at 60 FPS, that is.
Share Your Thoughts Below (Always follow our comments policy!)