A few days ago Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Asia update the Japanese page of Bloodborne, adding information on chalice dungeons and online gameplay. SCEA finally did the same, adding even more info, and revealing the official English names of items and gameplay elements, also including a few screenshots.
Some are entirely new, some are 1080p versions without the rather annoying cropping done on the Japanese website, while others have the menus translated in English.
You can read all the info below:
Traps
Both a grave and a place of slumber, these dungeons are not a place where visitors are welcomed. Those who venture here quickly find this out thanks to the many fatal traps hidden throughout the tunnels and halls, such as these guillotine blades covered in the blood of unsuspecting Hunters.
Architectural Variety
The sheer size and adaptibility of the Chalice Dungeons are what makes them so alluring to hunters - that and the promise of treasure and newfound challenge. Not limited to simple rooms or hallways, Dungeons can contain murky swamps, narrow rocky corridors, or even grand, ornate halls teeming with rich detail.
Create and Download New Challenges
The Chalice Dungeon feature includes both standard dungeons as well as procedurally-generated dungeons. Both types of dungeons can be played offline or online with other players, but generating new dungeons requires connecting the game online once to download required data. You can also publish your Chalice Dungeons online to share with other players, and download dungeons created by other Bloodborne players.
Dungeon Threats
Protectors
Some say these ruins are the tombs of inhuman creatures, and some say they are more a place of slumber. Protectors roam the depths, keeping guard over the quiet. Born in the depths and living off of blood and rotting flesh, they are cold and damp, with bluish-white skin that has never been touched by sunlight, and devolved eyes that are pitch black and sunk deep into their sockets.
Ritual Masters
Whether the ruins are tombs or a mere resting place for something dark and foul, or both, one thing is true: Someone or something lies asleep here. The Protectors also worship what lies beneath, and among the Protectors are a special class of ritual masters that carry out horrific and detestable ritual rites.
Ancient Guard Dog
This gigantic guard dog watches over the underground ruins. Covered in a petrified body hard as stone, clad in a rich cloud of flames, and left directly by the inhuman inhabitants slumbering in the ruins, these special guards are said to be enveloped in these dense flames in order to better carry out their duties through the ages.
Cooperative Play
Bloodborne's sense of reward and accomplishment upon overcoming difficult challenges is central to what makes it so unique, but that doesn't mean hunters have to go it alone. Up to 3 hunters are allowed to join forces online to tackle challenges that may be too great for a solo player. The player initiating the cooperative session is the “host” and players who respond to that are the “guests.”
Cooperative Play rules
The goal of cooperative play is to join forces and work together to defeat enemies, and ultimately the boss enemy in that level.
Initiating cooperative play:
- Host uses the Beckoning Bell item
- Guests use the Small Resonant Bell item
- Host and guest (up to 2 guests) are connected, and play within the Host’s game
Cooperative Play Completion
Once players successfully defeat the boss enemy in the area they are joined to, the guests receive a bonus reward and are returned to their own game.
Cooperative Play Incompletion
If the host or guest(s) die, or a guest uses the Silencing Blank item, the guest(s) are returned to their own world/game, and do not receive the bonus reward.
Password
Multiplayer matchmaking for cooperative play is automatic and random. However by setting a password for your session, other players can enter the same password and be joined to your game. Passwords can be up to 8 letters long.
*Passwords are only used for cooperative play, not Versus PvP sessions.
Versus PvP Play
Hunters don't always have to work together. Versus PvP allows players to face off against one another in combat, using their various weapons and accrued skill to best each other by invading another player's game. In the below outline, the player that gets invaded is the “Host” and the invader is the “guest.” Also note that in certain areas within the game, there can be up to two invaders within a host’s game.
Versus Play Rules
When a host is in an area where a “bell-ringer woman” is present, Versus PvP invasions are possible.
Initiating Versus play <Random Invasion>
- Guest uses the Sinister Resonant Bell item
- Host begins cooperative play, or uses Sinister Resonant Bell to summon the bell-ringer woman
- Guest is transported to host’s game
- Host and guest play in Host’s game
Versus Play Completion
If the guest is able to defeat the host, s/he will receive a reward and be returned to his/her game/world.
Versus Play Incompletion
If the guest dies, or the host makes it to the boss fight area, or if the guest chooses to use the Silencing Blank item, the guest is returned to his/her own game without receiving a reward for completing the versus play session.
Asynchronous Gameplay Features
Notes
Using the Notebook item, you can leave hints, messages, and gestures for players to discover within their own game via the Messenger creatures that appear on the ground. You can also interact with Messengers you find to read notes left by others, and can votie them as Fine (helpful) or Foul (misleading). Just because another hunter has left advice behind, that doesn't mean they're being truthful; ambushes and pitfalls abound in Yharnam, even from other players, so beware.
Specter
Players will leave behind a tombstone when they die that appears in other players’ games. If you touch one of these tombstones within your game, you can view a sort of replay of their final moments, and hopefully get a hint as to how they met their end so you can avoid the same fate.
Player Ghosts
You may see player ghosts - white phantoms of other players currently playing the game in the same area as you - which may give you hints as to how to proceed.
Updates & PS Plus Requirements
Update
As of launch day, March 24 (Tuesday) at midnight, there will be an online update to the game that provides for a better gameplay experience. The main contents of the update are as follows:
- Online Play Optimizations
- Game performance and usability improvements, etc.
PS Plus Requirements
Certain online elements require a PS PLUS subscription in order to enjoy:
Online Multiplayer - YES
Asynchronous Online Features - YES
Sharing Generated Chalice Dungeons - YES
Installing Game Update - NO
Downloading Chalice Dungeon Data - NO
Below you can see the screenshots. Incidentally, the third one seems to be the "sequel" of the one featuring the red hunter showcased by Sony Japan. Looks like the red hunter won, this time around.
The Chalice Dungeon ritual menu also seems to indicate that we'll have to collect materials in order to create them.