During their Gamescom press conference Sony debuted the first official gameplay trailer for Bloodborne which can be found below. Additionally, SCE Japan Studios’ Masaaki Yamagiwa discussed that there are three new themes in Bloodborne which are “fear and exploring the unknown, intense life-and-death battles, and new and unique online experiences.”

Here is a snippet of what he had to say regarding the life and death battles that players will be able to take part in while the full details can be found here.

Like with Demon’s Souls, there’s a lot of emphasis on achievement and reward, that sense of accomplishment from overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. With Bloodborne, the goal is to take that to the next level, which requires focusing on more than just a high difficulty level. To really build up that sense of achievement, not only are there new elements of fear, but we are adding new layers of edge-of-your-seat tension, where your palms sweat as you grip the controller.

At E3 we introduced Bloodborne’s evolved combat style, which requires more pro-active and offensive tactics. The weapons, like the transforming saw cleaver and blunderbuss shotgun, lend themselves to this different combat style, as does the quicker movement and dodging. There’s no more hiding behind a big shield waiting for a chance to strike. Enemies in Bloodborne are quicker and more aggressive as well, and at times you’ll be facing more enemies at once than in the past. There are situations where if you sit back and wait for an opening, you’ll get overwhelmed. At times, you have to be on the offensive. But this is not a hack-and-slash game. Rest assured, Bloodborne is still an action RPG at its core, and combat is still very much about strategy and tactics.

The new, more offensive combat actually goes much deeper, by way of our brand new Regain System, which rewards players for taking more risks and being more decisive and strategic. The Regain System allows players to recover health lost after taking damage by striking back at enemies within a short time period with a bladed weapon. Basically, The Regain system allows players a way to channel that negative energy they feel from taking a hit, and direct it back at the enemy to get revenge and steal back the health they lost.

The amount of health you can recover will be shown in yellow in the HP gauge, and it will get shorter over time if you hesitate to strike. You will still have to be smart and strategic with your strikes, as attacking indiscriminately could lead to taking more damage at the hands of the enemy. Now, the strategy and skill come into play in your offensive and counter-attack tactics, rather than waiting and timing defensive tactics just right.

With Bloodborne we are also seeing an evolution in the weapon design. Set in a more modern 19th Century style gothic setting, you’ll have firearms like the blunderbuss shotgun at your disposal to drive back multiple enemies at a distance, and to do massive damage at close range. But the core of the combat will be the transforming blade weapons that decorate the screen with copious amounts of blood.