Bloodborne: The Board Game Review - with Tom Vasel (re-upload)

Tom Vasel takes a look at the game based off Bloodborne the video game!

Note: The first video was missing the components section, this has them added back in.

Intro 0:00
Overview 1:43
Final Thoughts 11:21

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[c.h.]

Running back to the boss while ignoring everything is what one does in the game as well ;-)

[ravstyle]

For those wondering what the dolls in the Kickstarter box are for, they are replacements for the activation tokens.

[SirGRC]

I know this is an older video by this point but I just wanted to let you know about with the models, I would say the size comparison is pretty spot on. A lot of enemies in the game are bigger than the player is in the game.

[neosmagus]

What is it about board games and crappy rule books? If there's something I'm starting to hate about playing a new game it's trying to decipher the badly written rules and trying to figure out how to play it properly. There should be more attention on the rulebooks, and maybe hiring competent copy writers and copy editors to make sure that the rules don't require so many FAQs, how to play videos, and long arguments on Board Game Geek. :( The other thing that is really starting to get to me is expansion rule books - can we please get in the habbit of including complete and revised rule books in expansions that include all the rules so far? Rather than being forced to page back and forth between them? Like Roll Player - refer to the following steps of the core rulebook for setup, but then refer to this step from this expansion and that step from that expansion, then the next step from the core... seriously? /rant

[ChibiFlashify]

Was really surprised at how much I ended up liking this game. I haven't liked many of the CMON games and its an IP game so I mainly backed for the Bloodborne minis so it was a bonus that theres a great game attached.

[ChrisWood]

Just ran through my first solo, single character game. It beat me up pretty badly, and I was scratching my head about how anyone could defeat it. But, like a good puzzle, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Unlike the Dark Souls game, this one feels less random and “solvable” if you play well enough, instead of getting utterly destroyed by a bad die roll.

[JDKT]

I really enjoy this game, but I'm with Tom on not restarting from the very beginning of a scenario. It would have been easy enough to allow for the players to start at the beginning of the chapter with relative power scaling by keeping track of how many blood echos have been spent. After spending hours playing the scenario/chapter, only to have the players get their teeth kicked in by the boss (or even just a miniboss) and have to restart? That doesn't make people want to keep playing, it makes them want to play something else.

[jcapo]

Awesome game! I agree with you on 2 major things. Rule book sucks lol. Also the rule saying you need to restart the entire campaign is silly. Because I'm a fan of the game and I want my board game to function the same way I actually ignored the tracker completely and gave myself lives. Amount of characters +1. Still enjoyable but the game makes more sense. I still use the tracker because of functionality I just restart it when I get to the end.

[Evlmonkey]

it tells you which enemy would go first when attacking you in the rule book. it says from left to right on the enemy board when looking up enemy actions in the rule book. and the insight tokens are used to count some enemies multiple health bars and also different actions, also in the rule book. I personally think the rule book was written pretty well. But i'm not a professional board game player and reviewer like Tom here so lol.

[xteDota]

Soulsbourne games have a rep of being difficult, but you never get a game over, you can retry sections as many times as you like.

[zachkahler]

I really enjoy that intro/component overview music for some reason....

[sauce]

My favorite ps4 game now as a board game 🥲. That figure you said is an ordinary dude in the game he's a giant enemy

[casusbelli]

For those who only want the added Components section, it starts at 9:40

[nothanks]

Can somebody tell me which is the better board game; bloodborne or dark souls?
I'm considering buying one, but can't afford them both.

[alexandrebrochu]

Kinda sad that without expansion you are stuck with only 3 bosses. Vicar Amelia is a good one, staple of Bloodborne. Cleric Beast I understand why it's here, it's possibly the very first boss you will encounter. I'm not sure about the Blood Starved Beast... Maybe Father Gascione would have been a better choice?

[Errorzero]

Re-upload with Components section expanded

[benjaminmealer]

Tom mentions that if two monsters are on the same space that you don’t know who to target and I didn’t see anything in the faq discussing this…

[tbatrics]

I'm in a Renaissance of single player friendly board games. I am not sure this one is for me, but the minis are great.

[kuribojim]

Going back to the start of the game after death is an interesting one. I think it makes sense in a video game, where the physical act of playing is pleasurable. But in a board game, I'm not sure it makes so much sense - given that the battles are conceptual.

[marcymarc]

This review (which I am actually only seeing after having purchased and played the game many many times) is so spot on; I think it's appeal lies in (exactly as Tom is saying) the thinky-ness. You HAVE to plan your turn, as well as make good *use* of your turns, otherwise the clock gets you. I think, in a tidal wave of IP games (and particularly video game ports to board game) this is definitely one of the better ones done!