A fan-made top-down action RPG take on Bloodborne has given fans a clear picture of what a Diablo-style spin-off might look like.
Developer Maxime Foulquier, who had ditched plans to remake Bloodborne in Unreal Engine 5 out of fear of a cease and desist from franchise owner Sony, has now started a new project called ‘Bloodborne Top Down Arena,’ and in the tweet below, showed gameplay off.
HUNTERS! I haven't touched Bloodborne Remake for a year for 50 reasons (too big, too risky to finally be C&D).
— Maxime Foulquier (@MaximFoulquier) November 5, 2024
But last week I decided to start a new project from scratch, Bloodborne Top Down Arena
Maybe you won't like it, but I'm enjoying developing it and playing it ? pic.twitter.com/OPont0sS45
The gameplay looks very much as you’d expect: FromSoftware’s hugely popular Bloodborne but with the camera pulled up into an action RPG perspective. The repurposed Bloodborne combat is action RPG snappy, perhaps a good fit for a Diablo-style game.
Foulquier said Bloodborne Top Down Arena is "less ambitious and different from a true remake” of Bloodborne, so hopes it will avoid falling into the crosshairs of Sony’s lawyers. “The Demake and the Minecraft Project didn't receive CnD so I cross the fingers,” Foulquier added.
It’s worth noting that the developer behind Bloodborne Nightmare Kart ended up re-jipping the game after Sony got in touch, so perhaps Foulquier is being a little naive here. Foulquier insisted, however, that because Bloodborne Top Down Arena is not planned for release on Steam, it will avoid a similar fate.
Yeah but I don't want to release this on Steam.
— Maxime Foulquier (@MaximFoulquier) November 6, 2024
Of course, what Bloodborne fans really want is a sequel to the PS4 classic, or, saving that, a next-gen update for the original game. Neither are so far announced from either FromSoftware or Sony. In February, ahead of the launch of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that because the developer doesn’t own the Bloodborne IP, he can’t speak about its future. He did, however, admit Bloodborne would benefit from releasing on more modern hardware.
In the meantime, IGN has had a look at Bloodborne running on the PS5 Pro, which launches November 7 priced $700. And then there’s the Bloodborne cameo in recently released PS5 exclusive Astro Bot, if you’re desperate for a fix.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
