Watch Bloodborne's opening 18 minutes

Sony has revealed the first 18 minutes of Bloodborne via an IGN-exclusive video.

In a lot of ways it's not much different than the alpha that some lucky folks got to test a few months back, but there are some noticeable changes and additions. Notably, the gothic city of Yarnham is cast in a eerie shade of sunset pink rather than the grim grey shroud of night we last saw it under. Will this be something the player can influence like Demon's Souls' esoteric World Tendency system or the sky in Dark Souls' Anor Londo? Perhaps there will be a day/night cycle (though this seems unlikely given how long it stays the same time in this early build)?

Besides the new sky, we get to see Bloodborne's central hub and warping system. While Bloodborne isn't technically a Souls game, it has quite a few parallels with From's best known franchise. Like in Demon's Souls, players are presented with a practically impossible battle at the off that they're meant to lose; Dark Souls' warp point bonfires have been replaced with antique torches; and, most intriguingly, we get to see the new safe house.

Demon's Souls had the ornate rustic fortress the Nexus, Dark had the solemn Firelink Shrine, and Dark 2 had the majestic coastal village of Majula. Now, Bloodborne premieres its take on the home base with the hazy Dream Refuge. A dignified cathedral set upon a graveyard and ensconced in fog, it's appropriately somber and unsettling as our mysterious hunter uses its walls to shop and improve their gear.

What do you make of these new riffs on an old template? Does it look too much like a Souls game, or perhaps not enough with its swifter, more aggressive take on combat?