Bloodborne, the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls currently in development via a collaboration between From Software and Sony Japan Studio, takes place in an ancient and dangerous city that few people live in and fewer still visit. However, the city has a secret treatment for curing illnesses, and those who do seek it out do so as a last resort.

I’m sure by now, many of you have seen the ripped gameplay video with me in it, and have formed your own opinions of what you’ve seen in it. You’ve probably seen other videos now available to view as well, but let me offer my opinion on what I saw, as well as what you didn’t see.

The story of the game, (or at least the level we saw being played) seems simple: your character travels to an old city in the hopes of finding a miracle cure for an illness no one else can help with, only to find that it has been overrun with a plague of its own, changing the cities inhabitants into terrifying creatures.

In order to survive and find the cure, you’ll have to brave the city and unlock the mystery behind it. Gameplay looked quite smooth, you could tell with a glance that this is very much a spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls. While the demo did have a few issues such as the player being unable to climb ladders, I’m sure that the talented folks at Sony Japan Studio and From Software will iron them out as development moves forward.

Combat looked very much like Demon’s Souls. The character in the demo wielded a powerful shotgun and the awesome saw cleaver, a weapon that can hit for big damage at close range, as well as unfold for longer ranged attacks.  You are very clearly outnumbered in the game, and the demo showed that sometimes letting your enemies separate and not get too close and gang up on you is a very wise strategy.

You can read more about some details that surfaced after E3 2014 here in our first preview, and here in our second preview. Bloodborne is expected at some point in 2015.