Giving Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night a mere four stars breaks my heart, but there's no getting around it. Legendary Japanese cowboy / vampire master Koji Igarashi has done just what he said he would: after years of Kickstarter-funded progress and development, he has released a spiritual successor to his now defunct Castlevania series. It meets that goal just fine, but is it everything I'd hoped for? Not quite.

Now don't get me wrong: the game is good. B:RotN hits all the necessary notes to create a satisfying, tangy Metroidvania platformer, chock full of hammy, overacted voice work, a sprawling castle to explore, rare drops to farm, and so on, and so on... The soundtrack spans a wide array of genres and occasionally veers uncomfortably close to throwing in some old Castlevania leitmotifs, but centers everything around its solid core of 80's fantasy rock. The story might not have a direct connection to any other games, but the tropey war between The Alchemists and The Church fits the mood perfectly. And plenty of Easter Egg callbacks to Iga's earlier games are placed throughout it, alongside all sorts of wacky Kickstarter extras, without ruining immersion or sullying the atmosphere.

(God bless you, Guy Who Dressed Like The Corniest Dracula For His Bloodstained Photo <3)

All told, it has every feature I'd want in a Castlevania reboot / spin-off thingy. That being said... there are a few sour notes in the mix, the most unpleasant of which is the crafting system. While I hate bashing one of the only new mechanics in the game, cooking meals and crafting new gear is now a major aspect of powering yourself up in order to deal with the challenges ahead. While it's kind of fun making scrumptious new desserts for your hero to scarf down on, I found the constant backtracking in order to farm rare ingredients or weapon materials an obnoxious chore, especially when new Super Weapons require multiple old Super Weapons as necessary ingredients... Apart from that, there are some production value issues as well: the soundtrack might be thematically fine, but it's also easily forgettable. The 3D-2D visuals show plenty of polish most of the time, but a few areas stick out painfully (the animated sky above the castle early on in the game is particularly guilty of this).

But most of all, what's missing is novelty. And that's a cruel thing to ask of a game so very clearly deep fried in nostalgia sauce. The Metroidvania genre has exploded in the years since Dracula first posited us, "What is a man?" So many dev teams and designers have made amazing titles, like Hollow Knight or Momodora, that take this base formula and stretch it in delightful new directions that a return to form is a little underwhelming. Not bad, mind you. Not at all. It's just not the big fish in a small pond anymore. As it stands, it has limited replay value with some heightened difficulty modes, and there's promise of more content and playable characters to come, and that'll certainly bring me back. Whether that'll be enough to make me declare it king of the genre, however, is pretty unlikely.

After I finished Bloodstained I talked about it with a friend of mine who only played it for an hour or so and I tried to recount my experiences. The strange thing is that I could only remember things I disliked about the game and couldn't really identify what I liked about it, despite knowing that I mostly had fun. After having pondered this for a while my first realisation is that I probably like exploration in metroidvanias more than I thought I did, the second is that I think I liked the potential of the shard system even though I rarely dabbled in it.

The dislikes on the other hand are a lot clearer to me. My primary one with this game is that the controls and movement feels like they were hoisted from a 20 year old game and put into this 2019 release. Maybe it was intentional since it was meant as a spiritual successor to SOTN, thanks but no thanks. I have actually never played SOTN, and the main reason I haven't is precisely because it is over 20 years old and I expect that to show in its controls. When I picked this up I was hoping for a similar experience to SOTN with better movement but alas. Things got better after I got the final movement ability, but by then it was a bit late as I finished the game 30 minutes later.

My second issue is the bosses. I didn't like any of them. They were random in a way where I couldn't react to what they were doing. I had to be constantly jumping because if I waited for a tell it would already be too late. So instead of playing fair I spent some time grinding for gear and shards, got extremely overpowered, and simply face-tanked 70% of the bosses.

The combination of the movement and the boss design is probably the reason why I didn't engage with the shard system. For those who do not know, whenever you kill an enemy in the game they have a small probability of granting you their ability (I am sure this is a mechanic in one of the Castlevanias, I just can't remember which). Almost every enemy in the game has its own shard, and these are divided into 5 categories (a 6th also exists but are primarily used for progression mechanics). This means that there is an enormous number of potential combinations and play styles, and the promise of that kept the system so interesting. However, my expectations did not match up with how I ultimately played the game. Due to the fact that moving and fighting always was a bit off, I settled on abilities I was comfortable with and never really wanted to experiment fearing that it would make things even more unpleasant. I think I only tried 20% of the shards I got in the end. The system seems very promising, and I do encourage anyone playing this to explore it more than I did.

All in all I am a bit torn. The more I think and write about it the less I like it. My biggest take-away from playing it is probably that I should play more metrmetroidvanias; it's not a genre I actively seek out, but apparently I usually like them. There is something about non-linear exploration that I find extremely satisfying. The castle you explore here is nowhere near as well designed and interesting as the world of Hallownest, but it does scratch some of the same itch.

This has to be the ugliest 2.5d game I've seen in a very long time. Just disgusting in every single texture, and the character models look like they come from a porn anime steam game or something.

The controls are extremely clunky and slow, with the tight hitboxes of the olden pixel perfect sprite based Castlevania games completely gone. Using any of the weapons and powers feels like a chore to connect with the enemies.

All of these elements together form a lack of polish and accuracy that really makes you take hits when you do everything right, and then on top of that clusterfuck the "retro" save system feels like a kick in the nuts.

Idk if it's purely because they were better designed, or the levels were a bit tighter, or just the controls didn't feel like ass, but it wasn't this frustrating to die in the other igavania games. When a 9 bat parade ends up killing me for the second time In a part of the game that makes me replay an extremely boring and uneventful 15 minute trek, including secret loot and equipment swapping, I'm not gonna think fondly of the situation.

If you haven't played all of the older 2D Castlevania, emulate those. If you have and want more, go for the indie games that have taken up the mantle in a way better manner.

The biggest shame is that the retro games made in the bloodstained universe by a different developer are actually amazing... And now they are tied to this forever.

I was very pleased to discover that this was a great Igavania. Early impressions and previews had been fairly negative. I would say quality wise this is in the same vein as Symphony of the Night, Aria/Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia.

The few issues I have is that if you grind a bit, the bosses become ridiculously easy, this was a problem in older Igavanias, but IGA had found a great balance in Ecclesia, a game that was quite challenging even if you grinded a bunch. I haven't tried Nightmare mode, but the problem is that the bosses are simply not that interesting, which is quite surprising, because even when the bosses weren't tough, they were definitely memorable in previous titles. This is not the case here, however the rest of the monsters are just as good as they used to be.

Another slight let down is the music, it's really kind of forgettable, which again for an Igavania is kind of a shock. It's not bad by any means, mind you, I simply can't remember a single tune.

It's also worth noting that this feels kind of like a throwback, not in a bad way, this is a great and fun game, but it is very much a by the numbers Igavania. The systems in place are more in depth than in previous titles, perhaps, but this is not the step forward that games like Hollow Knight, or SteamWorld Dig brought to the conversation.

This game is "simply" an excellent Metroidvania, and if you are into that, then go right ahead and play it, because you will have a real blast. (Just don't get it on Switch)

9/10

Disclaimer: This review is written by someone who is practically a newcomer to this Castlevania(ish) world. I mean no offense to anyone, and forgive me if I misinterpret things.

Huge castle, monsters and demons everywhere, demon slayers: a lot of things that I love in one place. Awesome! I loved so many things about this game. The gameplay was simple enough so that I could just slash the enemies or use a little bit of magic and move on. I can also see how many gamers would combine different elements of the game and strategize. It was nice to see how the game could work for both approaches.

The music was so amazing! I would never get tired of it, no matter which section of the castle I was in. The plot was kind of predictable in some ways, but I didn't mind it that much. I did not choose to play this game for the story, that's for sure. I liked the freshness and sarcastic tone of the lines. Compare to the usual pixelated style, I loved how polished this looked.

Now, a couple of things that could improve. The controls felt clunky and slow. Sometimes I had issues using double jump of using magic in fast succession. This was frustrating during boss fights... The thing that put me off the most was that near the end of the game there was so little guidance as to how to progress. I know there were a couple of hints, but they were so vague... Maybe I am not used to this type of games. I had to finish the game following a guide, which made me feel not as accomplished as I would have liked.

The game is so much fun, I would play it again for sure. I would give it 5 stars, but having to use a guide for so many things really pissed me off. Maybe I just don't understand these types of games.

And I loved Zangetsu, so I will definitely be playing the other two games!

The first Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that delivers a faithful and engaging Metroidvania experience. The exploration is well-paced, the castle layout is intricate and rewarding, and the shard system adds a layer of creativity and customization that keeps combat fresh. Combined with varied weapons, spells, and the ability to swap loadouts quickly, the gameplay feels both deep and flexible.

The presentation leans heavily into gothic atmosphere, with moody environments and a strong soundtrack composed by Michiru Yamane, which elevates the experience and ties it back to its Castlevania roots. This is truly one of it's standouts, the same people that worked in the original SOTN was developing this, and for fans of this genre this was enough to be interested. Visuals are stylish, though some players found the character models and mix of art styles inconsistent compared to the initial Kickstarter promise.

While the gameplay is polished, the story and characters are largely serviceable rather than memorable, often acting as a backdrop for the action rather than a driving force. As already said, the focus here is in the combat, and while the previous games of this genre already had very complex and fun combat mechanics, this one showed us what the original developers are able to achieve.

It is impressive the amount of builds you can think of while playing this, even the "funny" ones such as the Luck-based builds are viable, so you are in for a treat if you like that kind of thing. Overall, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night succeeds as a modern take on classic Metroidvanias, it doesn’t reinvent the formula, but it embraces it with confidence, offering fans of the genre a rich, nostalgic, and satisfying adventure.

I adore Metroidvanias. Hollow Knight is constantly in my top 3, I loved Blasphemous, the Ori series, even Metroid itself. I know a lot of people say this is a loving homage to the Castlevania series, maybe I'm just not a fan of Castlevania (never played one). Let me start with some things that I liked and I'll go from there

PROS

+This game is visually stunning. I love the art style and the 3D models in a 2D world really does something for me.

+The sheer variety of weapons is something to love, especially as each has their own special moves associated with it

+The shard system was super cool, allowing you 2 active skills, a passive, a "hold" skill that requires you to hold a button while using it, and a familiar. The combinations here are endless

+Each area feels super unique and well crafted. Just like most other metroidvanias I've played, each has areas that are inaccessible until you acquire a certain ability.

CONS These are big ones. I have a few small nitpicks, but I want to get my main frustrations out of the way

-The only way to "beat" this game and watch the credits roll is to damn near 100% the game. I found the "final boss" on complete accident and killed him first go. What am I met with? A short cutscene and a game over screen. So I looked up a guide which leads me to my second gripe.

-The way to watch the credits roll is convoluted as all get out. I'll try to leave as many spoilers out as I can, but read at your own risk. First you have to figure out how to get underwater. Good news is there's a shard that lets you sink to the bottom of water whenever you want! Bad news is the path to get there is underwater. You see the issue here? You have to kill a specific enemy to get a chance at them dropping a specific shard, none of which is told to you at any point. Unless your playstyle was "get all shards as soon as they're available" from the very beginning, you're going to need to look this up. Smooth sailing for a bit, then you need to cross a spike hallway. You need a very specific set of armor located on the dead opposite side of the map. And then... and then... and then... go find ANOTHER MOON... and then... I love doing 100% runs of games, just not my first playthrough. And this game REQURES it if you want to see credits.

-Again, just my opinion, but the combat is not good. You have one attack, and weapon-dependent specials that require special inputs. Your dodge is a backstep that honestly not as good as just running the other way. Plus is BACKWARDS. You have to face the attack and dodge to move away from the attack. Very counterintuitive.

-The bosses are nightmares. Each and every one is fast, unpredictable, and hits like a truck. Not to mention that, most of the time, they're hard to hit. The very last true boss almost made me quit the game altogether, especially considering it came right after a different difficult boss.

And that's that. I think a lot of it is nostalgia, which I don't have for this franchise. Who am I to argue with 26,000 reviews on Steam with a 94% positive, though? If you're on the fence after reading this, read a few from people who enjoyed it. I personally could not wait for it to be over after a certain point, so I may not be the most reliable source.

Bloodstained Ritual of The Night Review

So i tried Bloodstained and it was okay but ultimately i kind of quit when i got to the last boss but got the worst ending. There's tons of secrets and areas that are kind of a pain to find. I spent like 5 hours looking for new areas and everytime i found a new one it was just a treasure or upgrade room. I was lost for the longest with this blood power i had no idea i had to use to progress. So i felt it was a waste of time and just decided to play something else.

I wasn't really that into the game i thought the story was whatever. I really wasn't paying attention at all to the story. Its also the thing where its occuring and your just thrown right in. Your after this guy who was your friend but hes turned evil and has this book which allowed demons to invade, so you have to stop him and save him and i felt no connection to this or anything at all.

Now most likely you didn't play it for the story and play it for the gameplay i still think its okay. I means its find you can pick two characters a guy Zangetsu i think? And Miriam but its recommended Miriam first. The gameplay is side scrolling, platforming metroidvania style stuff. You explore a huge map with multiple areas, locations, secrets, and enemies. You attack, you jump, you can crouch you can slide and you have abilties. Main problem with the combat is, it is slow and sluggish and at times it ain't that responsive compared to Shantae which is very fast and quick. The Enemies you defeat in the game They drop these shards which you absorb and there is 3 types which is like a range attack, being able to summon them, and a regular attack all these you use in combat. There are chest you find which can have crafting materials, food, and weapons. There are health and mp upgrades you find hidden in the map. There's these crystal things which upgrade a familiar which is a summon. There are a lot of weapons you get, you get 8 or more types of weapon than you find stronger weapons. They really are just boost in power though and a different look they don't have different attacks or anything so i didn't really feel that excited finding them. Than there's accessories you find to equip and i didn't care about these at all.

I think the overall problem i had with this game is i didn't feel like i was being that rewarded finding stuff. I would find a new area just to get an accessory im not gonna use or just new weapons which look cool but don't really add nothing. The new powers you get to progress out of my 8 hours i only got 3 which felt so little granted there was still tons of areas left to find but still you weren't constantly getting new stuff or powers to use. Which is important because in these games everytime you get new powers it opens up more areas to explore and allows you to get new items and Shantae did this way better.

I bring Shantae up a lot in this because Shantae was my first Metroidvania game and i loved that game so im most likely gonna compare it to everything. In Shantae The story, the characters, The powers you get. all the stuff you find, the areas were way better with better secrets. It held my interest way more than Bloodstained did. I played every single Shantae game besides Seven Sirens which i will get to.

Im not saying Bloodstained is a bad game just it wasn't for me not enough to keep me interested or to make me stay to play it. I needed it to be what Shantae had constantly getting new powers feeling rewarded and a story that could make me want to play and see. So Bloodstained for me is a 5