Nightmare Kart, the upcoming Bloodborne-inspired Kart Racer, has humble beginnings. It was originally conceived as a Bloodborne fan game called Bloodborne Kart, made by the same developer who created the Bloodborne PSX Demake, after a fake leak claimed such a game was in development. It quickly became an in-community joke before Lilith Walther, the aforementioned dev, decided to make it a real thing. As an April Fool's joke, Walther released a smoke and mirrors trailer for Bloodborne Kart that got more attention than anything she had done prior, and the logical conclusion from that is to genuinely make Bloodborne Kart.
However, the project eventually got Sony's attention which, reasonably and understandably, asked her to stop its development; however, the company said that if she removed the Bloodborne branding, the game could still be released. From those ashes rises Nightmare Kart, a Kart Racer releasing for free on Steam and Itchio on May 31. The Best War Games recently spoke with Walther about Nightmare Kart, and she estimated that she and the team were about 40% complete with the rebranding process. Interestingly, it is more fun than it might sound.
Nightmare Kart Becomes 100% Walther's Creation
"Honestly, I'm not going to say I'm glad it happened," Walther said, referring to the intervention from Sony, "but there have been a lot of positives." This isn't Walther's first rodeo with a Bloodborne fan game, but she acknowledges that such projects are very limited because everything she did had to be something that existed within Bloodborne. Through this rebranding process, Walther is able to make Nightmare Kart her own, genuinely, and do things she hasn't done in prior projects. This approach is twofold: Her creativity is no longer limited, and she can execute ideas she's always wanted to do. Secondly, her in-depth knowledge of Bloodborne allows her to take advantage of themes and motifs not present in the FromSoftware Soulsborne game.
The Three Tiers of Rebranding
During our conversation, Walther explained the three tiers of rebranding work she's had to do. The first is simple work consisting of mostly a palette swap and slight silhouette adjustments; this work, she says, takes about two hours to do. The second involves significantly changing the silhouette, which can take a day or two to complete. The third tier is a complete redesign from the ground up, consisting of completely new models, new concept art, and new textures.
How Nightmare Kart Has Rebranded Key Bloodborne Characters, Motifs, and Themes
Nicholas is a key example of the first tier of rebranding; Nicholas began as the Bloodborne character Micolash. To change him, Walther changed his domineering color scheme, gave him a Bird Cage with a bird inside of it, and changed his hair color. Thus, Nicholas was born. Another example is how Umbilical Cords became Moon Shards, Blood Echoes became Blood Droplets (right now), and Insight has yet to find its proper replacement (as she continues to work on the game and thus this is all subject to change). For these, it was as simple as a name change, an asset change, an icon change, and a sound effect change.
Mistress Marie qualifies as the second tier, who is born out of the Bloodborne character Lady Maria. Mistress Marie underwent several processes to change her silhouette significantly, including additional armor pieces, new gauntlets, and a new but still Victorian-appropriate hat. As Walther explained, "Changing hats has been very common; I've changed all the hats." The protagonist Hunter of Nightmare Kart, who now carries the name of Rede, is an example of a character who was done from scratch. Of course, rebranding the characters is just one of the many changes for the game.
Nightmare Kart's Story
When it was the game known as Bloodborne Kart, the story to its campaign mode was essentially an abridged version of the full title. It was more referential, Walther explained, than a full-blown story because players would have been expected to know Bloodborne's story and lore. That's not possible in Nightmare Kart, so Walther has been busy writing a new story adherent to its own canon. This process has been rather "on the fly," Walther explained, but creating this new story and doing all of this rebranding work is still fun. Speaking about creating this new story, Walther explained,
"I actually kind of enjoy it. The pressure is off because it's a Kart Racer; you're not really here for the story. I am having a good time writing everything and making sure everything connects and fits together. It isn't going to blow anyone's minds, but I think it would please people who would be along for the ride, so to speak, as they go through the campaign, take on bosses, and do stuff like that."
Nightmare Kart's Themes and Motifs
Perhaps the most interesting element of this rebranding process, however, is not where Walther is creating something brand new, but where she is making something within the holes of Bloodborne's motifs and themes. As Walther explained,
"There are a few things that Bloodborne seemingly deliberately chooses not to do, to make it less generic, like the werewolves are not called werewolves. They're called Scourge Beasts, right? That's an example."
This affords Walther the freedom to pursue motifs Bloodborne otherwise avoids. For example, Bloodborne's Messengers are shriveled-up old guys, but a lot of players initially misinterpret them as skeletons from afar. Walther decided to reinvent them as skeletons, but instead of a simple skull, she messed with the silhouette some more and gave them a giant eyeball for a head because Bloodborne doesn't really do that. There are eyeballs that give Bloodborne players the Frenzy condition, but nothing that's just defined as a big giant eyeball.
Another interesting example is that Bloodborne doesn't do much thematically with roses. There might be an incidental, singular rose or rosebed somewhere in the game, but nowhere is it a central motif. This is something Walther has wanted to do, but she never could because Bloodborne doesn't. However, now that it is not a central motif to Bloodborne, it's something Nightmare Kart can pursue:
"Another example is just the idea of a red rose as a motif. There are no roses in Bloodborne as a visual thing. You'd think there would be, but there aren't. It just seems like a conscious decision, so I wanted to use those."
Another, albeit smaller, example is that the Astral Clocktower in Bloodborne's Old Hunters DLC does not feature any sort of numbers, Roman numeral, or otherwise. It's another area, Walther believes, where Bloodborne sought not to be a generic game, and it's something she can play with in her creation of Nightmare Kart. Her clocktower might just have Roman Numerals on it, or something else entirely, but it's an interesting creative pursuit to see what or what doesn't give a game its identity.
Ultimately, Bloodborne Kart was restricted and Nightmare Kart is set free. The latter is a creative pursuit defined by Walther's own passions, while remaining an interesting creative practice with different kinds of limitations. It remains to be seen how it is received, but Nightmare Kart and its own world, its own story, and its own design takes will be at the starting line very soon.
Nightmare Kart releases May 31 for free on Steam and Itchio.