A rather harmless sounding item might have contributed to your death(s) in Bloodborne without your knowledge. The item? That handy little lantern that you can attach to your hip to light your Hunter's surroundings.
Players have recently discovered that the game's Hand Lantern has a surprisingly negative impact on stamina regeneration in Bloodborne, which could lead to players being a bit slower as they recover from attacking and defending. In fact, other equipment has an impact on stamina as well, players have discovered, despite Bloodborne shedding the equip weight stat that was present in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.
That means that if your Hunter has two weapons equipped in its right hand weapon slots, say Ludwig's Holy Blade and a Kirkhammer, using one of those weapons will expend more stamina, and slow your recovery. Having just one right hand weapon equipped, leaving the other one bare, will consume less stamina. Like most things in Bloodborne, the game doesn't communicate this kind of thing very well.
For a look at how the Hand Lantern can impact stamina recovery, watch the short video above. You'll see that the stamina meter fills at a slower rate when the player has the lantern switched on. In the video below, you can see a comparison of how having a Rune equipped affects the rate of stamina recovery with the lantern on and off.
In my play-throughs of Bloodborne, I've used the Hand Lantern pretty liberally, unknowingly making the game harder on myself. The lesson learned? Travel lightly, Hunter.
