Bloodborne PSX is a 90s demake of From Software's classic
Yarnham, but make it chunky
The chairs we've sat on for five years have begun crumbling to dust in the Bloodborne PC port waiting room, but developer Lilith Walther may have something to tide us over. She's working on a demake of From Software's gothic romp that gives the game a chunky PS1 feel.
Walther, lead programmer on indie JRPG Witch, has shared clips on her Twitter which chronicle her progress on the Bloodborne PSX demake. It's an interesting insight into the challenges that come with retro-fying a game.
This Bloodborne PSX dev thread starts with loading and a proper loading screen! Now that we're hopping between levels I need to write a save and load system that passes data around for proper navigation 🧵 pic.twitter.com/MHhMC1ouUE
— Lilymeister ✨🏳️⚧️ BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER (@b0tster) January 16, 2021
Time for another #BloodbornePSX dev thread! Going to be working on a new enemy type today 🐦 pic.twitter.com/GIdLI2Bgdo
— Lilymeister ✨🏳️⚧️ BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER (@b0tster) January 18, 2021
Walther's developing Bloodborne PSX in Unreal Engine 4 and, as you can see, it's very much a work-in-progress. Having said this, it looks really slick so far. I'm a fan of the blocky aesthetics, and the way the original sound effects are slightly fuzzier.
While not really the same thing, Bloodborne PSX reminds me of the Quake mod which lets you fight Sif from Dark Souls, and a hunter from Bloodborne for good measure. I also can't talk about demakes without giving Yakuza's transformation into 2D side-scroller, Streets of Kamurocho, a shoutout.
You can follow Bloodborne PSX's development on Walther's Twitter. Once everything's in order, she plans to release it as "free shareware with no strings attached". Who knows how much she'll recreate, but chances are it's already further along in development than an actual PC port for Bloodborne. Pain.
