I. Beginning – Iosefka’s Clinic

As soon as you launch the game, what you see next is an old man speaking to you about Yharnam. This man begins by saying, “"Yharnam is the home of blood ministration. You need only unravel its mystery. But where is an outsider like yourself to begin? Easy, with a bit of Yharnam Blood of your own. Whatever happens, you may think it all a mere bad dream."

From that it seems that you, the hunter, have proceeded to the cursed city of Yharnam on your own free will and have enlisted the help of Iosefka to explore Yharnam with the help of a little Yharnam blood. Before you move on, the man tells you that your deal requires a contract, which then launches the Character Customization screen.

For the Character Customization, you are given the option to nominate the following details:

Name

Gender

Age

Origin

Appearance

If you do not want to spend so much time on customizing your character, you may proceed and select presets.

Once you are done with customizing your character, another cut scene emerges where the old man tells you that the blood transfusion may begin. When the blood transfusion does begin, your character passes out. Immediately after losing consciousness, you awaken to see a beast emerging from a pool of blood. The beast, with its long and sharp claws, tries to reach out to you but then suddenly bursts into flames. Then, several skeleton-looking creatures or Messengers swarm over you and then you pass out once again.

After that, the game now allows you to take the reins and control your character. You still find yourself inside Iosefka’s clinic. You will find two doors on both ends of the room—only one can be accessed. As you move around the room, Messengers spring out of the floor offering you some tips in the form of notes. Take this time to drum those tips in your head and learn the controls here (like dodge, backstep, etc.)

As you move further around the clinic, you will find a beast devouring a corpse. Of course, the beast goes after you and you can try your best to kill the beast with your bare hands.

But since that may prove to be extremely difficult, once you are killed by the beast, you are immediately transported to the hunter’s Dream, a place wherein you are offered more tips from the Messengers and a place where you can store your items.

It is here in the hunter’s Dream where you get your first Weapons to use in the game, which you would use to defeat the beast in Iosefka’s clinic. The first weapons you are offered differ among Trick Weapons (Right-handed) and Firearms (Left-hand weapons). Your first set of weapons could be the following:

Right Hand Weapons:

Saw Cleaver, hunter Axe, Threaded Cane

Left Hand Firearms:

hunter Pistol, Hunter Blunderbuss

The game seems to favor this route (dying and then getting your Weapons first) but if you enjoy a challenge and would like to further test your skills with the controls, then go ahead and defeat the beast with your bare fist. Here’s how it’s done: