To start Bloodborne's The Old Hunters DLC, defeat Vicar Amelia and examine the skull to bring on the night, collect the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter from a Messenger in the Hunter's Dream, then return to Cathedral Ward and let the Lesser Amygdala in the square grab you. That carries you into the Hunter's Nightmare, a self-contained expansion with four areas, five bosses and 16 new weapons. Below are the exact access steps, the area order, every boss, the side stories you can miss, and how to buy it in November 2026.
We checked this against the Fextralife Bloodborne wiki's pages for The Old Hunters, the Hunter's Nightmare, the Research Hall, the Fishing Hamlet and Laurence, Fextralife's trophy list and Sony's PlayStation Store page in November 2026.
What The Old Hunters Adds
The Old Hunters launched digitally on November 24, 2015 at $19.99 in the US, with a physical release following in early December. It remains the game's only expansion, and players who skipped it miss some of the most talked-about fights FromSoftware has made.
The wiki's summary of its contents:
- Four areas: the Hunter's Nightmare, the Research Hall, the Fishing Hamlet and the Astral Clocktower.
- Five bosses: Ludwig, the Holy Blade; the Living Failures; Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower; Laurence, the First Vicar; and the Orphan of Kos.
- Four NPCs: Brador, Old Hunter Yamamura, Saint Adeline and Simon the Harrowed.
- Gear: 16 new weapons by the wiki's count, 11 melee and 5 off-hand firearms, plus 2 Hunter Tools.
Story-wise, it fills in the history of the hunters who came before you and the experiments that led to Yharnam's plague. It does not change the main game's ending conditions, so you can do it at any point after unlocking it and still go for any of the three endings.
How to Access the DLC, Step by Step
The trigger is simple once you know it, but it is easy to miss because nothing in the game points you to it directly.
- Defeat Vicar Amelia in the Grand Cathedral and examine the skull on the altar. This shifts the world to night.
- Return to the Hunter's Dream. A Messenger there gives you the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter. Keep it in your inventory.
- Travel to Cathedral Ward. From the lamp, take the left exit into the square and head to the far right side.
- Let the Lesser Amygdala grab you. The creature on the wall picks you up, and the screen fades into the Hunter's Nightmare.
- Light the first lamp. From then on you can travel back through the Headstone of Awakening in the Hunter's Dream.
If nothing happens when you reach the square, double-check the two conditions: it must already be night in Cathedral Ward, which only happens after Amelia's skull, and the Eye must be in your inventory. Going back to the Hunter's Dream to collect it is the usual fix.
When to Go In
The DLC opens up remarkably early, right after Vicar Amelia, but the wiki does not list a recommended level and the difficulty is not tuned for an early visit. The first enemies in the Hunter's Nightmare hit hard, and the bosses are some of the most demanding fights in the series.
A practical approach is to grab the Eye, take the trip in, and light the first lamp so the route is saved. If the first stretch feels overwhelming, leave through the lamp, continue the main story, and return when your weapon is better upgraded. Upgrade materials, not levels alone, are what make the difference here.
Before your first trip, pack a few Bold Hunter's Marks. Using one sends you to the last lamp you activated without losing the Blood Echoes you are carrying, which is exactly what you want when a new area turns out to be more than you bargained for. Pair that with a full stock of Blood Vials and Quicksilver Bullets, since the DLC's long stretches between lamps punish a thin supply.
It also helps to know that the DLC does not lock you in. You can travel between the Hunter's Nightmare and the rest of Yharnam freely once its first lamp is lit, so there is no penalty for leaving to upgrade a weapon, finish a base game boss or farm a few levels before coming back for Ludwig. The only thing to avoid is triggering the main game's ending before you are done, because that sends you straight into New Game+.
Insight is worth watching too. The Fishing Hamlet has Winter Lanterns, whose gaze builds Frenzy, and every point of Insight you carry makes Frenzy more dangerous. Our guide to Insight explains why it pays to spend some before heading there.
Area Order and Bosses
The DLC follows a mostly linear path through three main locations:
- The Hunter's Nightmare: a twisted version of Yharnam with two lamps. Ludwig, the Holy Blade is the required boss here, and defeating him opens the way forward. Laurence, the First Vicar is the DLC's only optional boss: his inactive body lies on the altar of the Nightmare's Grand Cathedral, and once you obtain Laurence's Skull and return, approaching him starts the fight. He drops the Beast's Embrace.
- The Research Hall: reached by an elevator from the Surgery Altar. The Living Failures guard the Astral Clocktower Key, which opens the door to Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower. Defeating Maria gives you a lamp in her arena, a large amount of Blood Echoes and the Celestial Dial.
- The Fishing Hamlet: hold up the Celestial Dial at the large window in Maria's room to open a path, then drop down into the hamlet. The Orphan of Kos waits at the end, reached through a cavern near the Lighthouse Hut elevator, and he is the DLC's final boss.
If you want the bigger picture of how these fit around the base game's bosses, our existing Bloodborne boss order guide lays out a full recommended route.
Side Stories You Can Miss
The Old Hunters hides three short NPC stories that are easy to skip:
- Saint Adeline: a patient strapped to a chair at the bottom of the left elevator in the Research Hall. She asks for Brain Fluid, which you collect from the brain creatures in the hall. The first dose earns her blood, the second earns the Balcony Key, and a third earns Milkweed.
- Simon the Harrowed: you meet him in the Hunter's Nightmare, and his story ends near the lighthouse in the Fishing Hamlet. Speak to him twice there and he leaves behind Simon's Bowblade and the Underground Cell Inner Chamber Key.
- Brador and Old Hunter Yamamura: both are locked in cells after Ludwig. Keys found later, including the Underground Cell Key taken from a patient in the Research Hall and the key Simon leaves behind, open the way to them. Freeing Brador's cell leads to him invading you, and killing him in human form yields the Bloodletter.
Two of the DLC's weapons, Simon's Bowblade and the Bloodletter, come straight out of these stories, so if you are chasing every weapon, do not skip them.
Trophies and Weapons
The DLC adds six trophies, by Fextralife's list: Old Hunter's Essence (gold, for every old hunter weapon), Orphan of Kos (silver), and bronzes for Ludwig, Lady Maria, the Living Failures and Laurence. They are tracked separately and are not needed for the base game's Platinum, so you can treat them as a bonus.
Old Hunter's Essence is the one that takes planning, since it needs every DLC weapon, including the ones tied to Simon and Brador. Our Bloodborne trophy guide covers both the base list and these six, along with the order to tackle them.
The DLC is also where many players find their endgame weapon, so it pays to finish it before the final story choices described in our Bloodborne endings guide. Beating the final boss of the main game sends you straight into New Game+.
How to Get The Old Hunters in November 2026
Sony's US store page lists a Bloodborne Complete Edition Bundle, which includes The Old Hunters, at $34.99 when we checked. If you already own the base game, the expansion is also sold on its own. The Complete Edition plays on PS5 through backward compatibility, just like the base game; our Bloodborne PS5 guide explains what that means for performance and save transfers.
Be aware of what PlayStation Plus Extra covers. Sony's page shows the base game as included with Extra, while the Complete Edition Bundle is listed as a separate purchase, so plan on buying The Old Hunters if you play through the Game Catalog and want to enter the Hunter's Nightmare.
Already Cleared It Once?
If you have beaten The Old Hunters before and want to revisit its weapons without replaying every fight, the store's Bloodborne modded save lists all base game and DLC weapons and outfits, full base game and DLC completion and a New Game+ ready file. It is for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, and its page is clear that you must already own both the game and The Old Hunters on your account, with active PlayStation Plus. Other services are on the Bloodborne page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you start The Old Hunters DLC?
Defeat Vicar Amelia, get the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter in the Hunter's Dream, then let the Lesser Amygdala in the Cathedral Ward square grab you.
How many bosses are in The Old Hunters?
Five: Ludwig, the Living Failures, Lady Maria, Laurence and the Orphan of Kos. Laurence is the only optional one.
Do Old Hunters trophies count for the Platinum?
No. The six DLC trophies are separate from the base game's 34, which include the Platinum.
Is The Old Hunters included with PS Plus?
The Game Catalog version is the base game. You need to buy the DLC or the Complete Edition Bundle to play it.
Why can't I get into The Old Hunters?
Check that night has fallen in Cathedral Ward and that the Eye of a Blood-drunk Hunter is in your inventory, and that the DLC is installed.
When was The Old Hunters released?
The DLC released digitally on November 24, 2015.