It appears that Bloodborne (review) was quite a bit tougher than some expected, especially in the first few hours. Now, an official support group has been announced for players, particularly those who have never played a game from From Software before.

The PS4 exclusive has garnered much critical acclaim (scoring a 93 aggregate score on Metacritic); however, it’s hardly considered an easy game to beat, with its many foes proving difficult to prevail against for even experienced (hardcore) gamers.

At the support group, which meets online every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm PST (about 5 am South African time), players can express their anguish at losing their Blood Echoes to a sudden boss appearance, vent their frustration at being mercilessly killed by any of the games creatures, and most particularly, explore why they keep being drawn back to the action RPG/horror title regardless.

Ten steps to utter defeat

“Since Bloodborne’s release, it became clear that its popularity and difficulty level, especially in the first few hours, was causing some consternation amongst players. We decided that clearly a support group to help frustrated gamers was needed,” explained support group coordinator, Molly Caudel.

Caudel is apparently putting together a ten step plan that helps players “acclimatise” to Bloodborne’s ruthlessness, starting with playing one hour of Solitaire, then progressing to Tetris, before moving up the tier of increasingly more difficult games (Ninja Gaiden is the eighth game and Dark Souls snags the ninth position), till they feel ready to be slaughtered yet again by Bloodborne’s denizens.

Incidentally,Caudel also runs a support group for those who use exploits, such as this one for Bloodborne, and another support group for people who want to cease joining support groups.

For more information, those interested can visit www.happyapril.com or on Twitter, #foolsday.