Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is finally here. And here’s my review.
After 4 years and 2 months of waiting past the Kickstarter deadline, Koji Igarashi (IGA) has finally released his non-Konami, non-Casltevania Castlevania side scroller game, Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. Through various glitches, delays, and perhaps some graphical reworks, the project is delivered, though not without it’s bumps and bruises.
Nonetheless, we’re all happy it’s arrived, and it appears to be a refined version of the classic formula that made IGA who he is.
Contents
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (or Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight in Japan) is one of those landmark games. Coming out the same year as Final Fantasy 7, I considered it the superior purchase. A side scrolling Metroidvania, a myriad of medieval fantasy mythology creatures, an arsenal of weapons and items, Street Fighter like controls, a vampire hero that moves like silk, and a musical score resembling ethereal bliss? It’s a game worth remembering.
It’s also one of those games that puts gaming as #1, and storytelling a very far second (or, last, in some cases.) Exploration and attack are your methods of discovery and interaction. Puzzles don’t need much literary explanation, and upgrading your vampiric poweres grant you abilities to traverse new areas. This formula has persisted throughout all of IGA’s games.
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night checks all these boxes, minus the vampire background, in favor of some magical demonic shard power that is slowly turning your heroes skin to stainedglass (or tattoos. It really doesn’t matter.)
It’s IGAvania now.
I’m sure there’s some legal reasoning behind using that term instead of Metroidvania, but the formula for discovering powerups that unlock abilities that help you open doors to explore new areas is the focus of the design philosophy of these games. Miriam (Bloodstained Ritual of the Night’s protagonist and your main character) doesn’t move as fluidly as half-vampire Alucard, but she has all of Soma Cruz’s skills and weaponry at her disposal.
There’s a story?
Yes, but it’s not relevant. Alchemists did a thing, summoned demons, and there are two “Shardbinders” — those who can control demons power, who need to help/stop the demon menace. Your friend Gebel has taken a throne to Richter from Symphony of the Night, and you must use your Shardbinding powers to go stop him, and figure out what happened.
Though to be fair, the game does have many cutscenes and bookcases with journal entries by various characters explaning what happened. It’s a lot better than other Castlevania games for storytelling, but there’s just not much there to talk about.
The concept of Alchemists summoning demons is a good setting, as a magical castle pops up from their underground and hidden laboratories. Lots of potential with that scenario, but unfortunately, it’s just set dressing.
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night has alchemy
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night has a crafing sysem that allows upgrades to:
- some weapons
- shards
You can also use alchemy powers to:
- Create new equipment
- Convert shards to new ones
- Create meals or food items
- Break down any item into its components.
So the idea of random drops from monsters and the crafting system works quite well together. You’ll be spending lots of time going back and worth between screens to instakill enemies to see what item or shard they have for you to pickup.
Food items also allow for permanent buffs to your character, be it stats, EXP gain or mana regen. Tie this into a quest system for a rather hungry old lady who can’t remember the names of dishes, and you’ve got a lot of recipe and ingredients gathering to do.
Guns and bullets
One idea I haven’t seen before is firearms in a sidescrolling game. In Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, not only can you craft and upgrade certain guns, but you can also collect and craft different types of ammuniation. You’re also able to acquire ammunition capacity powerups.
A customizable heroine
Instead of a cape, Miriam gets a scarf. Similar to the rainbow cloak of Symphony of the Night, she gets a customizable colored scarf. There’s only one alternate outfit (a Valkyrie Dress), the ability to transform into a shovel night, and even a kung-fu bunny demon girl named Lilith.
There’s all kinds of accessories that do have 3d representations, from hats to rings and various kinds of masks (e.g. a voice changer, that actually sounds like you’re inhaling helium throughout all dialogue in the story.)
You do get to change haircolors, hairstyles, and eyecolor, from a certain Edward Scissorhands looking demon.
Kickstarter Silliness
For crazy amounts of money ($1500-3500 USD), you could’ve gotten your portrait in the game, along with your pet, a weapon of your design, or even an enemy. Um, how much did you love Castlevania guys?
A new series?
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is like the Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow brought back into a Symphony of the Night retelling. Since this is the first of its kind, it’s possible this will be IGA’s new franchise to build upon. Though I’m still waiting for my Tyranny sequel, and that’s from an established company.
I’m not sure if the sales from the game will constitute a sequel, but there’s no hardships in seeing IGA go to crowdfunding again.
There were some main story related blocks, where the path to go next is not clear. But that’s nothing an online guide can’t clear up.
Here’s my video review if you’re looking for some sound, images and video of the title: