[DISCUSSION] Playing Bloodborne as a casual gamer.

I'm a casual gamer at best and haven't owned a console since the original Xbox. I have played my PS4 quite a bit - finished GTA5, TLoU, all Uncharteds, Bioshock, Wolfenstein, Metro, Ratchet and Clank, etc, and have put hours into many other smaller games - but never considered myself a hardcore gamer. I skew to single-player games because I don't enjoy getting owned by people way better than me in online games. I play games for the pretty colours and design, mostly. I've never played any true RPGs but after hearing such unequivocal praise for this game I decided I had to try it.

I went into this game expecting a challenge, but I wasn't expecting...this. The game is menacing, isolating, oppressive. And the more you explore the more you realise how deep the rabbit hole goes. As a first-time Soulsborne player I've never seen a game world quite like it. Some nights I play for hours and don't unlock any new areas or discover any new bosses at all. Literally zero progress. But I keep going.

With Bloodborne, I feel like I am alone taking on a massive quest, plunging into darkness, knowing that every step forwards will require another ten to dig myself back out.

My point is that I've played for nearly twenty hours and have still only slain three bosses. I know there is still so much further to go and the sheer scope of the undertaking is daunting. I don't even know when or if I will actually finish it. Despite the game's massive fanbase and co-op component, I feel alone and vulnerable when I play it. I feel like to play this game is to abandon yourself to it's world completely, and no other game has ever made me feel like that, with the exception of The Witness last year (although in a completely different way).

Did other first-time players experience the same things as me? Was the game too punishing, too isolating, too deep and complicated, too relentless? Did you feel consumed by this game, like even when you're at work or school or with friends, it's still lingering in the back of your mind?

Does everybody who starts playing Bloodborne actually finish it?