Walther, lead programmer on indie JRPG Witch, has shared clips on her Twitter which chronicle her progress on the Bloodborne PSX demake. It’s an interesting insight into the challenges that come with retro-fying a game.
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— Lilymeister ✨🏳️⚧️ BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER (@b0tster) January 16, 2021
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— Lilymeister ✨🏳️⚧️ BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER (@b0tster) January 18, 2021
Walther’s developing Bloodborne PSX in Unreal Engine 4 and, as you can see, it’s very much a work-in-progress. Having said this, it looks really slick so far. I’m a fan of the blocky aesthetics, and the way the original sound effects are slightly fuzzier.
While not really the same thing, Bloodborne PSX reminds me of the Quake mod which lets you fight Sif from Dark Souls, and a hunter from Bloodborne for good measure. I also can’t talk about demakes without giving Yakuza’s transformation into 2D side-scroller, Streets of Kamurocho, a shoutout.
You can follow Bloodborne PSX’s development on Walther’s Twitter. Once everything’s in order, she plans to release it as “free shareware with no strings attached”. Who knows how much she’ll recreate, but chances are it’s already further along in development than an actual PC port for Bloodborne. Pain.