In its own right #Bloodborne is a good game; great level design, lovecraftian gothic atmosphere, an intertwining map of shortcuts to slowly unravel, tight melee combat with a fast pace and a risk/reward mechanic where you regain health through counter attacks. Thing is, whenever I go from playing the #Dark Souls series to playing this it inescapably feels like a poor relation.

It borrows massively from the Souls series but there are still some major gameplay differences. Unfortunately most of them are changes for the worse.
The option to put a shield or another weapon of your choice in your left hand is switched out for having no choice but to use guns which can stun with a well timed shot but have limited range, barely do any damage and use ammo that's annoyingly scarce.
Instead of an enormous variety of weapons with unique movesets you have a very small choice of -admittedly stylish - trick weapons.
The choice of armour's far smaller as well and mostly for appearance since they make very little difference to how much damage you take and no difference to movement.
Estus flasks (upgrade-able healing potions that replenish every time you die) are replaced by healing consumables that you have to buy or farm annoyingly frequently. Whether you're summoning or being summoned the co-op mechanics are poorer and you can't rest at lamps (bonfires) or fast travel without going back to the hub first. There's no equivalent at all for enchanted rings, pyromancy, sorcery, or miracles.
All in all Bloodborne is way shallower and less of an RPG. Your freedom for choosing your playstyle's very limited.

Credit where it's due since it's not a direct sequel Bloodborne feels a lot fresher than another Dark Souls sequel and the Lovecraft inspired lore is very well done and makes for a real change from dark fantasy. The intertwining open world of branching paths and shortcuts is something very few games can hold a candle to and a huge redeeming feature. #From Softwarere definitely one of the best developers out there at the moment, even their weaker games deserve a lot of praise.