“Isn’t that how you’ve made me?”: Feminine Dualities and Victorian Sensibilities in Bloodborne

Abstract: Notable for its difficulty, Gothic and Lovecraftian horror, and intricate storytelling devices, Bloodborne (2015), an action role-playing game created by FromSoftware, received critical and commercial success upon release. While many scholars have discussed the Gothic and Victorian elements of Bloodborne ‘s worldbuilding, lore, fashion, and architecture, less has been said about how such influences dovetail with the gender politics and themes of the game. Bloodborne is intimately concerned with how the Victorian historical period navigates violence and gender. We argue that Bloodborne constructs and critiques the binary of “good” and “bad” femininity of the period, particularly through the pairings of some of its female characters: Adella and Arianna and Maria and The Doll. These pairs are largely defined by their relationships to the imagined masculine player and tangible masculine presences of the game, enacting violence against one another (and the player character) while sharing concrete and symbolic space as defined by Victorian ideology. The relationship between gender, horror, and violence initially suggests traditional gender roles naturally occur in the game world. However, a deeper analysis of the game provides a complication of these binaries, demonstrating that such patterns for feminine behavior are unstable and set an impossible standard for women. Though the game requires gender violence to achieve excellence, deeper readings of the game world reveal a reflexive critique of this violence. Through close readings of dialogue and item descriptions alongside visual analysis of dress and demeanor, we show how FromSoftware uses and dismantles archetypal femininities to key players into the story, themes, and characterization of Bloodborne . Gendered violence in Bloodborne often occurs with an ambivalent ethos, a tendency which we argue demonstrates gaming’s ability for simultaneous liberatory and constraining interpretations. Our analysis points to the continuing need for feminist scholarly analysis of this popular medium for storytelling.