Highlights
- The visual design of bosses in Bloodborne effectively captures Lovecraftian horror, including The One Reborn, which stands out as the most grotesque.
- The boss fight against The One Reborn showcases its gross design by incorporating its disjointed figure directly into its combat, adding to the Lovecraftian horror experience.
- The encounter with The One Reborn draws inspiration from previous FromSoftware titles, particularly Demon's Souls' Tower Knight, with a similar kill box castle, ranged allies, and general representation of the title.
The visual design of bosses in Bloodborne perfectly evokes the Lovecraftian horror elements that the game is going for, from cosmically grotesque creatures to humans that are beyond being reasoned with. Among these bosses is The One Reborn, who could take the title as the most grotesque design, even when up against other hideous creatures like the Blood-Starved Beast in Old Yharnam.
However, the design of The One Reborn is more than just disgusting or horrifying, as developer FromSoftware is never satisfied with even a simple encounter being stuck as a one-trick pony. Instead, this boss manages to give Bloodborne a reference to an earlier game that acted as the start to this new Souls-like era for the company, specifically with the design of the arena.
The One Reborn from Many
The introduction of The One Reborn is easily one of the most harrowing moments from Bloodborne's endgame, as the player is ambushed by a group of bell-ringing women and forced to face off against the boss. In the cutscene that summons The One Reborn, this boss is called through the void, seemingly being birthed from a shadow moon that descends upon Yharnam during the hunt. With this being after the reveal of the Blood Moon, the boss is then shown in its true form as a mass of human body parts re-purposed to become the singular entity that the player must defeat.
With this being one of the first major encounters found after defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider and revealing the Blood Moon, this is a rare encounter where the enemy's true self is on full display. There's a strange twisting to the way that enemies are crafted after this point, and throughout the Yahar'gul area, enemies that previously had fur-coated, beastly bodies are revealed to be a mishmash of spare body parts. This persists for The One Reborn, who is every bit as grotesque as the hairless scourge beasts and cramped caskets that litter the streets that precede the boss.
To make things more interesting as the actual fight itself starts, this uncanny amalgamation of body parts also incorporates its disjointed figure directly into its combat. Instead of just attacking with an arm that happens to be made out of body parts like Dark Souls 2's The Rotten, the individual parts themselves lurch out to attack on their own. This helps to elevate the Lovecraftian horror of Bloodborne directly into the gameplay, with a series of attacks that strike out as a shocking surprise and have little to no telegraphing.
Demon's Souls' Tower Knight Sends His Bodyguards
On top of the already incredible design and the intense fight against The One Reborn, this encounter is one of many by FromSoftware that draws a great deal of inspiration from previous titles. Most notable is the bell-ringing women who first appear to summon The One Reborn, but stick around throughout the fight in order to attack the player with ranged attacks the whole time they contend with the boss. Successful strategies against The One Reborn will often take care of these women quickly, before ever having to worry about them sniping the player while trying to take down the boss.
This group of ranged enemies perfectly mirrors the arena for the Demon's Souls boss, the Tower Knight. In this earlier FromSoftware title, players are met at the entrance of a castle with a giant boss that towers over them and is backed up by a series of archers with crossbows trained down at the battlefield. Even the location itself, in the killbox of a castle, ambushed by a group of enemies with a larger figure standing over the player, helps to solidify The One Reborn as a reference to a classic FromSoftware boss.
Bloodborne is available now for PS4.
