Bloodborne: Spin To Win

I'm not entirely done with Bloodborne yet, but I've played more than enough to talk about how amazingly over powered the Hunter Axe is. It's fast enough, hits hard, staggers most enemies and when you transform it into its alternative version, it has an amazing charge attack. What's not to like?

The combat in Bloodborne can be pretty punishing sometimes; one wrong move can mean a significant loss of health. If you aren't just flat out killing enemies in one hit, then you're going to want to stagger them as you hit them. For the most part, the axe will do this no problem. The axe isn't the fastest weapon out there, but when you hit people and it interrupts them, who needs to be fast? Enemies don't recover fast enough to get an attack in before your next hit, so your only real concern is if it's a larger enemy, in which case only a charge attack will stagger them.

I've tried a number of times to use two other weapons, both very similar to one another. One is a sword that transforms into a large hammer, and the other is a sword, that transforms into...a larger sword. I know, kinda dumb, but it's cool, don't worry. A little context: All the main weapons in Bloodborne have an alternate version which acts as a heavy weapon; simply hitting L1 will transform the weapon. The larger weapons are slow to say the least. The best thing about them are their charge attacks. The basic combo attack of the great sword is actually pretty good, but like I said, it's painfully slow. When it comes to the axe however, the combo is actually pure garbage, but its charge attack is so good it makes up for it.

The way Bloodborne displays the stats for both the sword/hammer and the sword/great sword weapons suggests that each is stronger than the axe. But in reality, only their alternate versions are actually stronger. The base swords for both weapons are inherently quicker than the axe, but do less damage and don't stagger. So for everyday use, the axe is better. What about not so every day use?

There are a lot of bosses in Bloodborne, much like its spiritual predecessors. The way these bosses act is vicious. They are fast and scary and attack mercilessly for the most part. You can hardly get a combo in before they start smacking you around, so why bother? The bosses are made for you to just charge attack them, and as I said before the Hunter Axe has the best of them all. Not only does it charge a little faster than the other alternate weapons, it does this double spin attack when it's in its alternate form (a long two-handed axe). You basically get 2 attacks for the price of one. Just do that about a dozen times and the boss is dead, easy peasy. Another great use for this double spin charge attack is against those jerky hunters that attack you for whatever reason. At first I thought they were real people—they dodge and attack almost like the real deal. That is, until you realize they'll run straight into a charge attack. Morons. Even if you charge too early and miss because they haven't gotten close enough yet, the second sweep comes around and the guy goes flying.

I'll have a more in-depth review of Bloodborne next week, but all you need to know for now is that the Hunter Axe is OP. If you're going to play Bloodborne in the future either start with the axe, or choose to never use it so you won't have to know what you're missing. I keep trying to use other weapons, but the axe has ruined them for me.