A Hunter arrives in the decaying Gothic city of Yharnam seeking a mysterious cure known as Paleblood. After receiving a blood transfusion, they awaken in a spectral realm called the Hunter's Dream, bound in service to forces they do not yet understand. Yharnam's inhabitants have been afflicted by a blood-borne plague that transforms them into beasts, and the Healing Church, once the city's salvation, guards secrets tied to ancient eldritch beings called the Great Ones. To find Paleblood and escape the Dream, the Hunter must slay the beasts plaguing Yharnam and trace the plague to its source, uncovering the hidden connections between the Church, the College of Byrgenwerth, and the Great Ones lurking at the edges of reality.