All those Bloodborne fans still returning to Yharnam 11 years later are clearly hungry for more. With a sequel seeming more and more unlikely each year, and a remake project rejected by FromSoftware, we’ve had to start new playthroughs or turn to fan-made games to get our cosmic horror fix.
Perhaps the best-known fan-made game is Bloodborne PSX demake, but another recent standout was 2020’s Yarntown, which turns Bloodborne into a 2D Zeldalike, as described by solo developer Max Mraz. After making a couple of other 2D Zeldalikes, he’s back with another Bloodborne-inspired project: Tombwater, a Soulslike that serves as a spiritual successor to Yarntown. Tombwater excellently brings what makes Bloodborne so beloved to a 2D version of the Wild West.
You play as a gunslinger arriving in the titular town. He’s looking for a buddy he used to rob trains with, and who now is the sheriff. Of course, finding him isn’t so easy; I quickly learn Tombwater is an accursed place with all manner of monsters out for my head.
Foes are fellow gun-toting or sword-swinging outlaws at first. But the more I explore Tombwater, the more monsters show their ugly faces. Some are halfway between human and monster, with bloody tentacles protruding from their chests. Others are rotting animal corpses somehow still out for blood. They’re all creepy as can be, and look great in simplified 2D sprites.
My arsenal consists of several melee weapons, firearms, and spells. There’s enough variety across all weapons that I find myself consistently trying out new weapons, like a knife that doesn’t do much damage but quickly refills my bullet count, or a pistol that gradually inflicts freeze damage on an enemy once enough bullets have found their target.
