The anticipated fan-made PS1-style demake of Bloodborne has finally finished development and is now available to play with a free download. The Bloodborne PC demake project recreates the seminal PS4 game from the ground up using PS1-style assets and aesthetics, and was conceived by indie developer Lilith Walther.
Walther initially revealed the Bloodborne PSX demake in early 2021, which generated a fair amount of excitement in the enduring Bloodborne community. Throughout the year, Walther released details and glimpses of the project in YouTube trailers and Twitter threads, which showed consistent progress and kept fans interested. She capped off the year with a 10-minute gameplay showcase for Halloween, and shortly thereafter announced the game's full release date of January 31, 2022. While many call for the official release of Bloodborne on PC, the fan demake might be the closest players will get for some time.
Walther, known as b0tster on Twitter, has now delivered on that promise, as fans can now download and play the 1.0 version of Bloodborne PSX for themselves. The game is free, but naturally, it's only available on PC (via itch.io) and requires a Windows operating system. The demake features both gamepad and keyboard support, with remapped controls that are more reminiscent of a PS1 layout. Walther also thanked all those who supported her over the 13 months of development, and credited other creators who collaborated with her on the soundtrack and the custom box art.
As Walther has stated in the past, the demake only includes the lower parts of Yharnam and ends after the Bloodborne boss fight with Father Gascoigne. However, there are items and areas that normally wouldn't be accessible at the beginning of the original game. There's also an extensive character creator and even a number of cheat codes, in true PS1 fashion. Players can enable old gags like big head mode and paintball mode, as well as a "pet dog mode" - whatever that might be in this context.
Fan remakes and demakes are often impressive in their own right, whether they're made using cutting-edge Unreal Engine visuals or custom assets that look like they're over 20 years old. Fan demakes have become increasingly popular over the last few years, with the results ranging from full playable games to concept art, including a recent SNES BioShock Infinite fan art demake. The downside of passion projects like this is that they make easy targets for the actual publishers of these games, who often demand that fan creators take down their work on copyright grounds. Nintendo is especially infamous for this, but it remains to be seen how (or if) Sony will come after the Bloodborne demake. Like most fan creations, Bloodborne PSX is not monetized in any way - but those who want to check it out should still download it as soon as possible.
Source: Lilith Walther/Twitter, itch.io