From Software are geniuses at creating their worlds. From the lore to its appearance everything is almost perfect and no other developer comes even close to this kind of richness in their settings. On top of the worlds, they so painstakingly create, their ambitious level design is something that stands out when compared to anything everyone else is doing.
In Bloodborne’s case, they took a detour from their traditional fantasy worlds to a blend of Lovecraft and Victorian era which they easily nailed the presentation of. The world feels like it’s lived-in and influenced by the eldritch monstrosities that you experience along the journey.
With so much love given to each level and the world, it is a loss to miss any part of it, and sadly there are many levels or sections in Bloodborne that are optional and many unaware players will miss out on these if they don’t perform the right actions.
One such world is the Cainhurst Castle, the kingdom of weird vampire-type people. To get to this castle you will have to follow some specific steps otherwise you won’t even know it even exists within the game. These steps are:
- Defeat Vicar Amelia and examine the skull on the altar to change the world state to Night.
- Enter the Forbidden Woods to access the back of Iosefka’s Clinic. Once there, be sure to open the gate that leads to the front of the clinic.
- Enter the clinic and obtain the Cainhurst Summons.
- Go to Hemwick Charnel Lane and defeat Witch of Hemwick.
- Approach the tall stone obelisk in the area with the two Executioners enemies.
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Accessing Cainhurst Castle
Before you can access Cainhurst Castle you will have to meet some conditions:
- You will have to first defeat the Vicar Amelia boss who is located in the Grand Cathedral in Cathedral Ward. Upon defeating her and inspecting the skull that is resting on the altar in her arena you will trigger the world state to Night.
- From defeating her you will have to venture to Forbidden Woods. Exit the arena and go straight down all the stairs until you reach the big circular graveyard area with two sleeping Church Giants. In the graveyard, go through the side entrance behind a sleeping Church Giant. Head left, then down the stairs, past Alfred, where you will get to a locked door that requires a password that you received from inspecting the skull. That door will lead to the Forbidden Woods.
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- From the forest you will have to find the back entrance to Iosefka’s Clinic, the same clinic where the game began.
- Moving through the forest you will come to a point where there will be a bunch of dog cages and behind these cages facing the cliff, there will be a pathway. Follow it and you’ll head into a cave. Keep some Antidotes on you for a later area.
- Follow the path and you’ll reach a large cavern, with shimmering water and three Reaper enemies. This whole water body is poison and walking on it will build up your slow poison meter so use the islands and antidotes to move across.
- You will reach a ladder at the end, climb it and you’ll come back out in Yharnam in a courtyard with a gate in front of you. Pull the lever and you’ll have opened the locked gate next to the front entrance of the Clinic.
- From the previous location head to the back where there will be a Celestial Host. After killing it, climb the ladder to the roof and make your way to the open window into a hallway in the back of Iosefka’s Clinic. If you turn right, you can open the door to the main clinic room where you will find the Cainhurst Summons key item. This is the item that is necessary to enter Cainhurst Castle.
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- Now you have to go to Hemwick Charnel Lane to use the item we just got. It is accessed from Grand Cathedral Lamp where we defeated Vicar Amelia, follow the right path exiting the cathedral and go through a tunnel that leads you to a graveyard. Fight your way through this area and you will reach an open area where you can see two Executioner enemies. Defeat both of them and also don’t forget to take care of the many dogs that inhabit this location too.
- Once you have defeated all of them you will have to spot a stone obelisk in this area. You can see it in the picture below. Interact with it and it will summon a spooky horse carriage.
- Walk to the carriage’s open door and enter it to trigger a cutscene that will transport you to the Forsaken Cainhurst Castle.
This is a totally optional area that you can skip if you want but it’s too amazing to let go. This will show a different side of the game from the previous desolate forests and cities to now a castle ruled by blood hunger abominations. Also, this place is needed for Alfred’s quest. And remember a Hunter is never alone!