FromSoftware has come along way from its cult classic first “Soulslike” action-RPG title, Demon’s Souls. Through the Dark Souls series, the developer became one of the most surprisingly influential in modern gaming, sparking conversations about the nature of difficulty in games with its more obtuse and punishing approach and atmospheric dark fantasy world. Elden Ring, however, was seen as the full realization of their abilities under Hidetaka Miyazaki, winning Game of the Year, becoming by far the company’s best-selling game, and attracting a much wider audience to their catalog. Noted superfan of the game and Ex Machina helmer Alex Garland is now spearheading a film adaptation due out in 2028, which will be by far A24’s most expensive production ever with a budget over $200 million.
However, he’s not the only one busy expanding the worlds of FromSoft to other mediums. Seán McLoughlin, better known as Jacksepticeye, was announced to be producing an R-rated animated movie based on the gothic, Lovecraftian Bloodborne at CinemaCon. The news of a return to Yharnam came as a shock, considering Sony hadn’t done much with the game since its release on the PlayStation 4 back in 2015, despite it remaining a fan favorite to this day. Few details were shared at the time, with no writer or director formally attached to the project. However, while development has mostly remained in the dark, McLoughlin recently confirmed that things have moved along smoothly since the news first broke.
The YouTube star spoke to IGN ahead of his arrival as the latest elusive target in the video game Hitman: World of Assassination and shared a progress update on the film. For the most part, mapping out the story has been the focus, but he revealed that a writer and director are now on board to make things happen. Moreover, he’s hopeful that announcements aren’t far off and that he’ll soon be freed to speak a bit more candidly about the madness that will unfold in his vision of the game.
“Things are obviously much more along the pipeline than they were back then. It’s one of those things that I personally would love to just say everything as a fan of this thing, but then there’s no expectation, or there’s no fun in the process. So we definitely have a lot more stuff mapped out where we’re going with the story, and there are people in place to make this thing happen. Hopefully sooner than later, we can have announcements where we talk about who’s involved and where it’s going, and little teases of the story and where we’re at with that.”
“Things are obviously much more along the pipeline than they were back then. It’s one of those things that I personally would love to just say everything as a fan of this thing, but then there’s no expectation, or there’s no fun in the process. So we definitely have a lot more stuff mapped out where we’re going with the story, and there are people in place to make this thing happen. Hopefully sooner than later, we can have announcements where we talk about who’s involved and where it’s going, and little teases of the story and where we’re at with that.”
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever. - You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage. - These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired. - You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you. - You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too. - The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults. - By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party. - You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films. - The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention. - Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary. - Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds. - This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be. - Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
‘Bloodborne’ Won’t Be a Direct Adaptation of the Game
Image via Sony Computer Entertainment- Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
- Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
- Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
Image via Sony Computer Entertainment
Image via Sony Computer EntertainmentTaking on Bloodborne, especially as a huge fan, is no small feat. McLoughlin hasn’t been shy about his love of the game, even getting a tattoo of the Hunter’s Mark. Yet, so far, he told IGN that “I am proud of the work I’ve been doing on it” and expressed confidence in what’s being developed as he tries to ensure the film is accurate to the feel of the modern classic.
“I think it’s such an interesting job to have, and for me, it’s fun to do. It can be really stressful as well at the same time because you’re taking on such a monumental IP. And I am just there to be like, ‘Hey, we need this pinprick perfect.’ Will we ever get something perfect? I don’t know. It’s probably impossible to get everyone’s expectations into one central pillar, but as someone who’s brought on to do this job, I’m right in the position where I need to be, and we’re poised to have something really cool.”
</blockquote>“I think it’s such an interesting job to have, and for me, it’s fun to do. It can be really stressful as well at the same time because you’re taking on such a monumental IP. And I am just there to be like, ‘Hey, we need this pinprick perfect.’ Will we ever get something perfect? I don’t know. It’s probably impossible to get everyone’s expectations into one central pillar, but as someone who’s brought on to do this job, I’m right in the position where I need to be, and we’re poised to have something really cool.”
McLoughlin is also taking a much different approach than Garland is to Elden Ring. Personally, he feels that FromSoft’s work is better suited for animation because of how otherworldly the games can be and the sheer scale needed to capture every important detail. “I think Bloodborne specifically is poised to do that well, because there’s so many otherworldly aspects in that that would just be so cool to be able to blow the doors off animated rather than being like, ‘Okay, put you in front of a green screen, and let’s hope for the best,” he continued. “Now, we can really whittle it down into something cool.”
Even with Elden Ring likely to release before his film is done, the differences between the two projects, from the games they’re adapting to the live-action and animation approaches, are so vast that he doesn’t anticipate taking too much from Garland’s work. He’s more interested in Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil or Prime Video’s Fallout as a comparison, as he’s aiming to explore the world of Bloodborne with a new story rather than just retreading the player’s journey through the Night of the Hunt.
“I don’t want to adapt something if we’re just going to tell the same stories with the same characters over and over and over again. Movies are a completely different medium than video games. What do movies do better than a game does? It’s passive versus interactive, so how do we push and pull with that and play with different ideas? I think I don’t want to be involved in an adaptation if it doesn’t feel like there’s a story worth telling within it or if it’s not a good idea.”
</blockquote>“I don’t want to adapt something if we’re just going to tell the same stories with the same characters over and over and over again. Movies are a completely different medium than video games. What do movies do better than a game does? It’s passive versus interactive, so how do we push and pull with that and play with different ideas? I think I don’t want to be involved in an adaptation if it doesn’t feel like there’s a story worth telling within it or if it’s not a good idea.”
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Bloodborne as McLoughlin and the team continue development.
Bloodborne
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