Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I typically don't write reviews but had to for this one. This game is fantastic. The visuals, the music, the characters, the exploration. Everything was wonderful. If you've played any Castlevania game buy this, if you're into any game in the Metroidvania style buy this, If you're reading reviews to decide on whether or not you want this game stop here and buy it. You won't regret it.

This game may be need a little time to patch, it can do better.

I went in just hoping for a proper metroidvania game and thats exactly what I got. What made SOTN so great was the variety in gameplay mechanics, the vastness of the map and all the secrets within, and satisfying progression. Iga improved on his formula and made it pretty to look at as well. Pros: -Good graphics -Awesome play mechanics with incentives galore to experiment. -Huge map. -High replay value. -Scratches that SOTN itch well. Cons: -Crashes a lot. (Even crashed on me right after finally beating the Master Butcher!) -frequent stuttering. -Some platforming in the 3D transitions can be awkward. -Equipment/item layout could use more clarity and distinction fixing. More color coding. Stats in the sorting menu. Overall: 9.5/10 (10/10 after some patching) Provided a great deal of nostalgia while providing something fresh and new. Mechanically and graphically. Great job all around.

I didn't back this on Kickstarter, bought it here once it was out for a week. Just finished it 20 minutes ago, and I give this a solid 4/5. It's far from perfect, but it also never screws up big time anywhere (except in one instance where it's not going to bother a lot of people. Positive aspects: * Loads and loads of areas to explore. * A huge array of weapons, gear and abilities to equip, and I loved Order of Ecclesia so having so many abilities to mix&match works well for me. * Solid combat gameplay, there's varied enemies with different attack patterns, open rooms vs small corridors, different weapon types with their own hitboxes, there's even Street Fighter style special attacks. * Final boss is boring but it's just the "win more" second phase. The actually difficult final boss, the first phase of the fight, wow that's damn well done! * The game is very pretty all in all, and plays with its engine well, including 3D sections like walking around a tower or inverting the screen. * Interesting takes on many classic movement skills. Not going to spoiler anything here but I was surprised by how they can incorporate a laser into Castlevania. <3 What could be better: * As many weapons, abilities and items as there are, balance is all over the place. That's par for the course for the genre, but still a bit weird in 2019. * There's a section which makes the graphics look bad near the end. * The voicework is annoying in parts since there's so many repetitions. Should have recorded 2-5 voice lines to alternate for the same thing. * The menu/inventory system isn't optimized for how often you need to change some abilities for movement purposes. But really, very enjoyable game. Quite worth the money, too!

Within the first five minutes, I was feeling all the warm feelings of nostalgia I could ask for as a fan of the Castlevania series since my early childhood days playing Dracula's Curse on the NES. IGA delivered the golden age of Castlevania, and he proves here that if Konami diesn't want to tend the needs of the Castlevania faithful, then he and his team will. The game plays beautifully, looks absolutely gorgeous, and with Michiru Yamane at work as only she can be, it sounds like only Castlevania can sound. If you're a Castlevania fan, you owe it to yourself to play this.