Nightmare Kart

Bloodborne Kart is a racing game created by Internet user Lilith Walther, known for BloodbornePSX, the demake of Bloodborne by FromSoftware. The game is free and can be downloaded from itch.io.

Mechanics and game modes

Bloodborne Kart revolves around races on the dark Victorian streets of Yharnam. The titular vehicles as go-karts driven by characters known from FromSoftware's titular soulslike. There are twelve playable characters total, such as the Good Hunter, Gehrman, Eileen, the child of Mergo, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, the Plain Doll and Micolash.

The chracters compete against each other during the story campaign - the story of which resembles the original game and has us race against bosses, such as Father Gascoigne and the Moon Presence - as well as infection and battle modes. The former tasks us with infecting all targets within the time limit, the latter tasks us with beating as many opponents as possible.

Weapons, both melee and ranged, play an important role in both these modes. They also have a use during the main campaign, both during boss battles and regular races, making it easier to get an advantage over our opponents. The weapon system, as well as upgrades, boosters and hidden shortcuts scattered around the sixteen tracks, make Bloodborne Kart heavily resemble CTR: Crash Team Racing, as well as Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, its remake.

Technical aspects

As in the case of BloodbornePSX, Lilith Walther did their best to make the visuals of Bloodborne Kart resemble the titular game if it had been released on the first PlayStation. She was successful both in terms of graphics and audio. The game looks exactly as if it was directly transferred from a 32-bit console, maybe a bit better. The audio is particularly atmospheric, as the music is modeled on the soundtrack of Bloodborne.

The controls also resemble games from the PS1 era. For example, the camera can't be freely rotated, only by 90 and 180 degrees. Just like CTR: Crash Team Racing, Bloodborne Kart supports local split-screen multiplayer. Players can also play solo against AI-controlled opponents.

Trivia

Bloodborne Kart was announced on April 1, 2021, on April Fool's. This meant the trailer was initially thought to be a joke. In March 2022, Lilith Walther officially announced it was, in fact, not.