Having logged 300+ hours in Elden Ring over the last year-and-a-bit, I needed a break. I've loved my time roving around in FromSoftware's multi-award-winning ARPG, and I'm buzzing for Shadow of the Erdtree. But with the first slice of Elden Ring DLC still without a concrete launch date – currently boasting a tentative "late 2023" release window – now feels like as good a time as any to step away from the Lands Between, momentarily or otherwise.
The Resident Evil 4 remake scratched an itch for me between times, as did the criminally underrated indie platformer Horace. I'm never far from the shores of GTA Online's Los Santos either – but none of these games have managed to fill the gaping action-roleplaying, uber-punishing hole left by Elden Ring. As such, I pondered a return to Dark Souls but decided against it. I'm as familiar with Lordran as I am with my hometown of Glasgow at this point. I thought about revisiting Dark Souls 2, inspired by my love of ER's most absurd locations. I could have given Dark Souls 3 another run, or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, or the Demon's Souls remake. But all of these distractions were simply delaying the inevitable: my return to FromSoft's most twisted gothic nightmare, 2015's PS4-exclusive and stone-cold classic, Bloodborne.
I love the Lands Between, but I've missed Yharnam more than I realized. And after just one effortlessly cultured flick of my Saw Cleaver, my curved Beasthunter Saif, my Hunter Axe, and my Blade of Mercy, I'm now totally convinced that Elden Ring needs Bloodborne's ludicrous Trick Weapons.
Look sharp
I'm 300 hours into Elden Ring and have only now discovered its version of Dark Souls' worst area
For me, one of Bloodborne's redeeming features is its suite of multipurpose weapons. What began with me questioning their limitations upon first playthrough, wound up with me totally convinced of their mastery – enthralled by each tool's dual-wield capabilities, that can be swapped in and out on the fly in the heat of battle to suit myriad fighting styles. The game's outright denial of shields (unlike its Souls series forerunners) demands a more forward-thinking, aggressive approach to combat, and the headrush from following-up a guard-breaking Cannon blast with an extended Reiterpallasch slash is second to none, even now, eight years and a new console generation later.
At first glance, Bloodborne's arsenal may seem poorly represented against the likes of Dark Souls and Elden Ring – the latter of which boasts over 300 weapons; many of which are entirely new, some of which are borrowed from previous games. In comparison, Bloodborne has a total of 26 weapons – 15 right-hand Trick Weapons, and 11 left-hand, shield-replacing firearms – but its more fluid, mix-and-match approach to weaponry and combat means two battles in the blood-soaked streets of Yharnam never play out in the same way.
With Elden Ring in mind, intuitive PC modders have, as you might expect, already spent the last several months adding Bloodborne's most iconic hardware to the Lands Between, reskinning the game's existing tools to best fit their source material. But, while great player-made projects, without FromSoftware's own exquisite moveset animations, and the same oh-so-satisfying snap-and-slide frames levied by the OG Trick Weapons, they're just not the same.
"A fully-blown, gothic-inspired, Bloodborne Hunter Hat-doffing Elden Ring DLC would be top notch, but perhaps that's wishful thinking."
A fully-blown, gothic-inspired, Bloodborne Hunter Hat-doffing Elden Ring DLC would be top notch, but perhaps that's wishful thinking. I'm not suggesting the timelines of both games would be merged in this process, but maybe a future DLC could explore Elden Ring's more supernatural elements within, I dunno, the Eternal Cities of Nokron and Nokstella; leaning into the cosmic, larger-than-life lore that ties these two particular locations. Between times, we already know that Elden Ring's next steps will take a more orthodox look at the Lands Between. Is Shadow of the Erdtree the Elden Ring Miquella DLC we've wanted all along? From the very little we've seen of the forthcoming add-on so far, that's what I reckon.
On the other hand, will there be a Bloodborne PC or PS5 release? That's a question players have been asking for several years now to no avail, despite seemingly omnipresent rumors. Last year, the Bloodborne community found itself up in arms when separate rumors of a Horizon Zero Dawn reimagining surfaced, but that won't stop folk like myself from dreaming.
And so: is there a solution? Generally speaking, I've often turned my nose up at 'weapons pack' add-ons as I feel they don't tend to add enough to whichever game they're being tacked onto. But what if FromSoftware rolled out Bloodborne's Trick Weapons in Elden Ring in an official capacity? What if we could snap at the heels of a Tree Sentinel with an untethered whip-like Beast Cutter, before chopping it to bits with a galvanized Ludwig's Holy Blade up close? Elden Ring is already brimming with combat combos, but this would grow that number exponentially. I'm excited just thinking about it. Moreover, Bloodborne's Trick Weapons are metal as hell – wouldn't their introduction to Elden Ring be a great middle ground between FromSoftware and fans desperate for Bloodborne 2 and/or a Bloodborne remake? I certainly think so.
Need to move on from the Lands Between? Here are the best games like Elden Ring
