Bloodborne is another great From Software game, meaning that it's brutal, difficult, and most of all, fair. Any mistake that a player makes in the game is due to their own missteps — something you can practice. Although some would have you believe otherwise, the game challenges gamers like few others have, doing the Souls formula better than Souls does (most of the time).

Any excellent game is going to come packed with awesome things that even the most seasoned hunter may not know. Sure, a few things on this list may make you slap your forehead and curse our name, but we guarantee that no one knows all the facts contained on this list. Even after all the brutal boss fights, enemies cheesed off cliffs, and the blood spilled on the cobblestone streets of Yharnam, there are a few things that gamers are bound to miss. Luckily, we're here to chronicle a wealth of secrets nestled away in Bloodborne's many folds.

So, strap on your hunting gear, grab your Kirkhammer, and find some blood, because we're delving into 20 Awesome Things You Didn't Know About Bloodborne. You're about to step-up your Souls-borne game in a major way.

20 The Music Box

Via: youtube.com

Hunters that explore every nook and cranny of the beginning area of Yharnam will have come upon a little girl perched in a house window near the sewers. She will mention that her father is a hunter that hasn't returned home in quite some time, giving the player a Tiny Music Box to use in case they happen to run across him.

Run across him they will, in the form of Father Gascoigne, the lightning fast, partly transformed, two stage boss that'll make less experienced players question most of their decisions in the game up to that point. Using the Tiny Music Box against Gascoigne can make him considerably easier, and if players manage to figure out the secret behind summoning him for help, playing the music box in his presence will cause him to chuckle.

19 Familiar Armor

Via: joshuabarsody.com

When hunters start to get more proficient at killing all the eldritch horrors that walk the streets of Yharnam, they'll start finding different materials for use in chalice rituals; essentially the game's system for creating randomized maps for players to explore. For hunters that have spent some extensive time in the labyrinthian underground expanses, they may have noticed a particular set of armor laying around in certain spots.

In some areas, a large collection of corpses can be found scattered about, all adorned in armor that would be right at home in a Souls game. In addition, a suit of armor that is identical to the one from the original Demons Souls cover art can be found as well, even posed in the same fashion as the armor from the first game's box art in some regions.

18 The Blind Lead The Blind

Via: bloodborne.wikia.net

Gamers may have noticed that a lot of characters in the Bloodborne universe, NPCs and enemies alike, lack eyes. Father Gascoigne, Willem, Vicar Amelia...most have a bandage or garment that covers their peepers, or what was once their peepers. There are also a variety of eye based items that allude to vision, site, and seeing that tie into the Old Lords.

All the eye references in Bloodborne have to do with another key concept in the game, Insight. Players may have noticed that the higher your Insight gets, the more powerful foes get and in some cases, the more monsters that will appear. The connection between the two is that the more Insightful that some members of Burganworth or The Healing Church became in an attempt to get closer to the Old Lords, they could not comprehend the horrors that they witnessed, causing them to gouge out their own eyes to stop from witnessing such things.

17 A Craft Of Love

Via: wordpress.com (zothiqueelultimocontinente)/pastemagazine.com

We're not going to bore you here, if you've read anything about Bloodborne, or heard anyone talk about it, you've no doubt heard mention of the influence an early horror writer named H.P. Lovecraft had on the game and its design.

Sure, there's a lot of things with tentacles, townspeople driven mad by a mysterious disease that turns them into beasts, and all types of multi-eyed-too-many-appendages types of eldritch horrors waiting around every corner. In that case, the relationship seems obvious: of course, the guy that created the whole "elder gods and old ones that watch from beyond the realm of reality" has a link to a game that deals similar themes to gamers in spades.

However, some of his designs and ideas are copied almost to the tee by the game's designers. With enough insight, players start to see monsters that resemble Cthulu, The Dunwich Horror, and essentially every other beast that Lovecraft conceived in his chilling tales.

16 Who's The Boss?

Via: youtube.com (Mantah)

PvP online has always been one of the most fun and frustrating aspects of From Software's Soulsborne games, leading to some of the most ingenious, and cheapest, ways to take down a foe. A certain number of players in the game have actually taken PvP a bit further, dressing up and behaving exactly like a number of bosses found within the game.

While there are obviously more than a few bosses that can't be emulated due to their complex designs, size, or unique attacks, some players are trying their hardest none the less. There is nothing quite like having a player drop in for PvP, only to be confronted by Micolash or some other take on one of the game's more bothersome enemies.

15 Did It Hurt When You Fell Out Of Heaven?

Via: reddit.com

Normal guys can have confidence issues when it comes to picking up girls in modern times. Even though the customs and traditions of Yharnam might be a little different than what we're used to, it doesn't mean that picking up girls is any easier.

There's no greater proof of this than in the Hunter's Workshop, in the stack of books laying next to the shelves of Gehrman's personal library. Any curious gamer may have investigated a bit further to see what kind of material Gehrman has on his reading list, to find a rather humorous title at the top of the pile titled, "How To Pick Up Fair Maidens." If you think you need some help, imagine being the first hunter in a world full of feral females.

14 A Special Message

Via: bloodborne.wikidot.com

Gamers maneuvering through the twisted and dark world of Bloodborne will have no doubt noticed that messengers; the little shriveled looking dudes that crowd around lanterns, levers, and messages, among other things. While their appearance is somewhat hideous upon your first investigation, they actually become one of the few, "cuter" characters that aren't constantly trying to end gamers' hunt early (plus you can dress them up in little top hats!).

What gamers may not have noticed is that the number of these little buggers that turn up around specific objects will vary, sometimes with only a handful hanging out, and other times so many that they'll often look like little more than a bundle of tiny, pale hands. The reasoning behind their differing numbers is actually pretty logical; they represent the density of players in the area. A whole bunch of them means that there are a multitude of other online hunters running around the area for PvP or summon, while three or four means that other gamers are scarce.

13 Full Beast Mode

Via: youtube.com (A_k_u_t_o__S_a_i)

The "Beast Roar" hunter tool in Bloodborne is often used as an anti-mob counter measure; when being swarmed by enemies few things work as well as a beastly roar that produces a shockwave capable of knocking back a decently sized area of enemies. Aside from the obvious crowd control uses of "Beast Roar," there is another function that some hunters may not be aware of.

Gamers who have become well versed with the shockwave producing hunter tool may have noticed that timing a blast when a projectile is incoming will deflect it away from the player, causing no damage. This means that bullets, fireballs, and any type of disgusting, tentacled projectile that enemies may throw are largely ineffective as long as the spell is timed correctly.

12 A Waking Dream

Via: bloodborne.wikidot.com

Every hunter is familiar with the Hunter's Dream, which consists of a small graveyard, workshop, and a sentient doll that serves as one of the main NPCs of the game. It becomes one of the only truly safe area in the game, and as such has become one of the most explored.

Even though the Hunter's Dream is just that, a dream, the actual layout is based on a world location that curious players can find in the game. After hunters down the Blood Starved Beast, they can head back to Odeon Chapel, where a new door has opened that leads to a tower. Skirting the tower and heading through a door on the first floor will lead to a pit. Falling tactfully through the pit will drop players in front of a door that will lead them to the Abandoned Old Workshop, the actual workshop that Gehrman started to combat the beasts roaming the streets.

11 What's The Real Story?

Via: gamers.at

The Soulsborne series' story is nefariously wrapped up in mystery and requires a lot of independent investigation on the part of the player. The story is usually uncovered through NPC interaction, item descriptions, and through the environments and the enemies that they contain.

While Bloodborne is a similar game in mechanics and design to the Dark Souls series, and in the way that its story is presented, the tale that's told in the game is a bit different than that of knights, armor, and dragons.

Essentially, citizens of Yharnam found a labyrinth under the city (The Chalice Dungeons), and found all types of tentacled terrors wandering around (The Old Lords/Great Ones), and looked to obtain otherworldly knowledge. So, Master Willem started Burganworth to gain greater Insight (see what they did there?), in order to get closer to the Great Ones. His star pupil Lawrence found that blood, especially the blood of the Old Lords was a panacea, and went to start the Healing Church, where everyone started drinking a whole lot of the red stuff. Unfortunately, the blood made everyone turn into a bunch of crazy monsters, hence gamers running around and slicing the crap out of them all. Very watered down, but the general gist is there.

10 The Tomb Prospectors

Via: playstationlifestyle.com

It's been mentioned that gamers have scoured every single inch of Blodborne countless times, slaying beasts to their heart's content. Then, there are those gamers that are never saciated — the ones that will never actually be done with the game. These gamers are knonw —in the world of Bloodborne— as The Tomb Prospectors.

This reddit group dedicates their precious gaming time to jumping into every level and type of chalice dungeon, looking for anomalies, rare monsters, and desirable items. It's a strong community that shares their dungeons, as well as walkthroughs of the more difficult ones, in addition to documentation of rare monster spawning and interactions. Although it may sound tiresome to some, when it comes to The Tomb Prospectors, the game is never really finished.

9 The Plague State Of Mind

Via: anoncraft.com

When the Bubonic Plague broke out in Europe and the surrounding land masses in medieval times (and several other times), the citizens of the world panicked at the (seemingly) civilization ending disease, and the massive body count left in its wake. With the relatively unenlightened masses left to interpret the catastrophic event that was killing their family and friends, they turned to their usual sources of knowledge: mysticism, religion, and magic.

The erroneous assumptions that these citizens made in their uneducated ignorance was not lost on From Software in the development of Bloodborne. The entire sense of mystery, the Victorian feel, and the addition of some equipment and items that directly resemble instruments and clothing used during the numerous plague outbreaks throughout history all point to the deadly disease's effect on the game's design.

8 Umbasa!

Via: thebookishgamer.com

The alpha build of Bloodborne afforded players only a small piece of the game to explore before it was released, letting them fight an early version of the first boss and explore an early build of the streets of Yharnam before the game hit shelves.

In the case of a few dedicated alpha testers, they were able to pass a blocked off area through the tried and true art of glitching, which led to them stumbling into one of the game's most punishing early bosses, Father Gascoigne. Aside from being as much of a pain in the butt then as he is now, he also had an interesting piece of dialogue that he'd spout after killing the player that was cut from the final game. After commenting that the player was a poor, corrupted beast, he utters "Umbasa," the equivalent of "Bless You" or "Amen," in the Dark Souls universe.

7 Hunters Who Play With Dolls

Via: youtube.com

Any gamer who has played Bloodborne is aware of the somewhat creepy doll that serves as the leveling NPC in the hub world The Hunters Dream. She was originally created by Gehrman to keep himself, and the many hunters that would pass through the dream, company while they hunted beasts in the city of Yharnam.

Although the doll is pretty one dimensional as far as gamer's interactions with her, she does have some hidden reactions to several of the game's gestures, a feature that most Soulsborne gamers attribute to the Fire Keeper in Dark Souls III. Certain gestures will result in her clapping, bowing, or as is most common, looking at the player like they're a complete and total loon.

6 Making Contact

Via: youtube.com (Nidhogg The Dragon)

Bloodborne, much like its Souls influences, uses a series of gestures to interact with different elements, NPCs, and other players that they may meet online and in the game. Although gestures may feel like a bit of a useless add on for some players, one gesture, in particular, has some serious hidden power in the world of Bloodborne. 

The "Contact" gesture is a simple gesture that makes hunters hold their arms at certain angles before shifting to the same angle on the other side. Doing this at certain points in the game can yield powerful items and relics, including a moon relic from the nightmare fuel beast featured above.

5 It's All In The Cards

Via: megabearsfan.com

Fans of Bloodborne have scoured the game tirelessly, including the Chalice Dungeons and New Game + option that allows hunters to tackles the game repeatedly at a higher difficulty. For fans that think they may have exhausted one of their favorite games, they may want to peel their eyes away from the screen and focus them on the tabletop.

Bloodborne The Card Game is a tabletop adaptation of the game's chalice dungeon component, charging 3-5 players with facing off against iconic in game enemies and bosses, as well as each other. Designed by the award winning board game designer Eric M. Lang, the game is apparently incredibly well designed, in addition to being a load of fun.

4 The Saint And The...

Via: loser-city.com/bloodborne.wikidot.om

Two NPCs can be found in the game world, one involved in a more holy and virtuous way of life, while the other is a good old fashioned lady of the night, selling her body for all that sweet, sweet blood. Arianna is a nice lady and a street walker to the patrons of Yharnam. She can be sent to Odeon Chapel for safety, and will even offer you some of her blood in exchange for your help.

Adella is a nun of the healing church that sees the hunter as the savior of the city, and treats him as such. The two have obvious differences, and Adella isn't the biggest fan of Ariana, voicing her displeasure multiple times in conversation if the hunter accepts her blood. Accept Arianna's blood three times, and Adella frickin' kills her, leaving her slumped body in her chair, right in the middle of Odeon Chapel. Creepily enough, if players shift their camera to look at Adella while speaking to Ariana, she tilts her head and glares on, obviously upset at the hunter and the street walker's interaction.

3 It's All About Perspective

Via: youtube.com (septeries)

In multiple areas of the game, there is an interesting glitch that completely changes Bloodborne, giving the game, and subsequently gamers, a fresh pair of eyes to view the twisted world through. By jumping off of numerous different higher ledges at specific angles and landing on lower platforms, gamers have tricked the camera into staying in an overhead perspective, the same camera angle that usually accompanies a hunter's fatal fall to their death.

While the glitch seems neat at first, it is just that, a glitch. It's unpredictable how the game will react, with hunters going invisible, malfunctioning in all sorts of bizarre ways, and making the game virtually unplayable aside from a short section or two.

2 Gascoigne's Daughter

Via: bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com

Everyone is familiar with Father Gascoigne, the butt kicking half hunter, half blood crazy beast that punishes early players to the point of controller snapping frustration. But he has a reason to be a hard ass, and like most back stories in the Soulsborne universe, it's depressing and all messed up, resulting in the death of a child.

So Gascoigne is a hunter who went out and just kind of never came back, partly due to clawing out his own eyes from all the crazy stuff he was seeing, and partly because he was drinking way too much claret. His wife goes out to find him, who he apparently kills and throws onto a roof, and keeps hacking all types of things up. Meanwhile, his daughter waits at home for either of her parents to reappear. If you interact with her, she'll tell you the sad tale. If you smash her mother's jeweled broach and show it to her, she'll leave for a safe haven, before being eaten by that big ass pig in the sewers.

1  Tip Line

Via: japantimes.co.jp

Sony's head of worldwide game development, Shuehi Yoshida, really like Bloodborne. He has earned a platinum trophy for the game, a serious achievement for any gamer. While these victories were surely achieved like most fans of the series were (by putting in time and dying a lot), Yoshida had an, even more, concrete way of gaining the upper hand when it came to the blood soaked streets of Yharnam — he emailed the developers for tips directly.

Yoshida apparently emailed the devs any time he hit a particularly rough spot, when the internet or other players' in game messages just weren't helping enough. It definitely helps that Yoshida had the developers at his fingertips to probe for strategy, and is a testament to how in depth the game really is for those that want to get the most out of it.