Central Yharnam Complete Walkthrough: Every Item, Shortcut & NPC (BB PC Remaster)

Central Yharnam is one of the best opening areas in any game and it's also where most new Bloodborne players quit. Don't be one of them. The BB PC Remaster mod makes this area look incredible with real time shadows and point lighting on every torch and lantern that was just a static texture before. But the enemies still hit just as hard.

I've run through this area probably 30 times testing different builds and the mod's visual settings. Here's the route I settled on that gets you every item, every shortcut, and sets you up properly for the rest of the game.

First Lamp to the Clinic Gate

From the Iosefka's Clinic lamp, head upstairs and talk to Iosefka through the door. Do this. If you skip it, you lose access to one of the best consumable items later. She gives you Iosefka's Blood Vial, which heals more than a standard vial.

Outside, the first enemy is a weak scourge beast. Kill it. Then you'll hit the first real challenge: the central square with the burning beast. There's a crowd of Yharnamites standing around it and if you run in swinging you will die. I died here six times my first playthrough before someone told me to use pebbles to pull enemies one at a time.

Grab the pebbles from the corpse near the gate. Lock onto the closest rifleman, throw a pebble, back up, kill him when he comes to you. Repeat for the melee guys one by one. There's usually about eight enemies in this square. Pick them off and the area becomes trivial.

Don't miss the item behind some coffins on the left side of the square. It's Coldblood Dew, not a big deal but free echoes are free echoes.

The First Shortcut

After the square, you have two paths. The left path goes through a dark house and leads to the first shortcut. Go this way first. Upstairs in the dark house there are two riflemen and a wheelchair guy. The wheelchair enemy doesn't look threatening but he fires a blunderbuss that can one shot you at low vitality. Rush him first.

The door at the top of the stairs opens back to the Central Yharnam lamp. This is the shortcut that makes the rest of the area manageable. Without it, every death sends you all the way back to the clinic.

The Sewers and Hunter Set

From the dark house, go out the bottom exit into the sewer section. Drop down carefully. There are drowned corpses in the water that grab you. Walk slowly and you'll see them twitch before they attack.

In the sewer tunnel, hug the left wall until you find a ladder going up. This leads to a bridge with a Hunter Set armor lying on a corpse. Equip it immediately. The starting foreigner set has terrible physical defense and the Hunter Set roughly doubles your survivability in Central Yharnam.

Back in the sewers, follow the main channel. You'll find Madman's Knowledge items scattered around. Grab them all. You need one to unlock the level up mechanic back at the Hunter's Dream.

Eileen the Crow and the Saw Spear

This is easy to miss. Before heading up to the Cleric Beast bridge, break the barrels and coffins blocking a path near the central square. You'll find a ledge you can drop down to. Follow it and you'll meet Eileen the Crow, standing in a corner.

Talk to her until she repeats herself. She gives you Bold Hunter's Marks and the Shake Off Cape gesture. More importantly, this starts her questline which leads to one of the best runes in the game. If you enter the Forbidden Woods before talking to her, she disappears forever.

The Saw Spear is hanging from a body above the sewer entrance near Eileen's spot. Cut the body down with a throwing knife or by attacking the rope. The Saw Spear has serrated damage in both forms, which means bonus damage against beasts. I prefer it over the Saw Cleaver for the early game honestly.

Cleric Beast Bridge

From the central square, head up the stairs past the brick troll. There are two werewolves on the bridge. These things wreck new players because they lunge faster than you expect. My advice: don't fight them. Run past them into the dark house on the left side of the bridge. They can't fit through the door. You can cheese them from inside with a transformed weapon.

Past the werewolves, the Cleric Beast fog gate is at the end of the bridge. Before going in, check the small courtyard to the left of the bridge for more Blood Vials.

Gascoigne and the Second Shortcut

After Cleric Beast, head back through the sewers. There's a ladder near the giant pig that leads up to an elevator. Take it. This elevator is the second major shortcut, connecting the bridge above to Central Yharnam below.

At the top, you'll find a little girl in a window. She gives you the Tiny Music Box. This is Gascoigne's weakness. During his boss fight, using the music box stuns him for about three seconds. You can use it three times max before it stops working. Don't use it in phase one, save all three uses for phase two when he transforms.

The Bridge to Oedon Tomb

Past the elevator, cross the bridge with the fireball. The brick troll here drops Blood Vial x2 every time. Worth killing if you're low on vials.

At the other side, there's a dark room with another wheelchair enemy and some crows. Beyond that, the Oedon Tomb fog gate. Gascoigne waits inside.

Before the fight, make sure you've spent your echoes and explored everything. Once Gascoigne is dead, the Cathedral Ward lamp lights and Central Yharnam is effectively complete.

One thing the remaster mod does to this area that I love: all those hanging lanterns that were just flat textures in the original now cast dynamic light. The alleyways actually feel dangerous at night because the shadows move as you walk. It's not just a visual upgrade, it changes how you read the space. You notice enemies you'd have missed before because their shadows stretch across the wall before they round the corner.