Bloodborne is a fan favorite action RPG from the critically acclaimed studio From Software. It is one of the only Souls-like game released this generation that is exclusive to a single platform unlike the Dark Souls series. This means that those who prefer the Souls game in 60 FPS were out of luck.
The Souls series started first with Demon Souls on PS3 that was a technical mess with low frame rate and terrible visuals. Demon Souls proved to be a surprise hit though leading to the multiplatform Dark Souls. It was another game that was a hit among fans but it didn’t exactly improve in term of the technical performance on consoles leading to an area of the game where the frame rate hovered lower than 20 fps. Thankfully Dark Souls finally made its way to PC leading to a version of the game which was completely playable in 60 FPS. This was followed by Dark Souls 2 and later a remaster of the game for the PS4 and Xbox One running at 60 FPS. Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin was the first game that utilized 60 FPS to its advantage leading to a smoother experience overall on consoles.
Bloodborne, just like the Dark Souls series, is a console exclusive to PS4. While the game doesn’t really have a severe performance issue like the original Demon Souls or Dark Souls, there is still an issue with how the frame pacing varies in the game leading to an appearance of stutter during gameplay. When Sony announced the PS4 Pro, fans were hoping that this would lead to an improvement in the performance for games that were restricted by hardware, unfortunately Bloodborne never received an official patch for it. Thankfully a boost mode was introduced as part of a firmware update that allowed games to utilize some of the extra potential offered by the PS4 Pro hardware, but even that mode didn’t unlock the full power of the PS4 Pro leading to an experience, that while improved from the base game, didn’t exactly offer much of an improvement to be considered substantial. The game still had frame pacing issues but the loading times were now a little faster and the frame rate dropped less in the more intensive chalice dungeons.
Fans still kept hoping for a 60 FPS update for Bloodborne because they believed it had the potential to make the experience better however after Bandai Namco released a PS4 Pro update for Dark Souls 3, the dream of Bloodborne being playable at 60 FPS is all but dead. Dark Souls 3 runs at an unlocked frame rate on the PS4 Pro that runs at an average of 40-45 FPS making it a rather messy experience. Since Dark Souls 3 runs on the same engine as Bloodborne, we can now officially count out the game running at 60 FPS even with an update just like Dark Souls 3.
Hopefully the next game by From Software that is released on the PS4 manages to utilize the potential of the hardware offered here since it will be built from the ground up for the new hardware. But as it stands, we are pretty much stuck with the 30 FPS for Bloodborne. Honestly this would have been such an issue if From Software had atleast managed to fix the frame pacing for the game, but they never did it, even with an update. Despite this all, Bloodborne stands as one of the finest Souls game that was released this generation and I can’t wait to see what From Software have in store for us next.
