Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Do you like Castlevania? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like platform games? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like exploration games? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like an incredible sondtrack? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like gothic style? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like vampires? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like horror? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like art? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like immersion? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like nostalgia? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like Metroid? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like the old Konami? BUY THIS GAME! Do you like games? Well, in this case, B-U-Y T-H-I-S G-A-M-E!

The game is solid, so why only three stars? Because it shouldn't just be a solid game, but at least at the same level as it's great predecessor. Unfortunately, it isn't. The graphics are quite nice, but often look like plastic. The animations are quite nice, but often also (especially facial animations) rather moderate. Enemy-designs and ideas are generally rather unimaginative, nothing you haven't seen before in a similar form elsewhere. One thing that really bothers me are the poses of the characters. Miriam looks and behaves like a teenager at cosplay, developed by an 15 year old pupil with weird fantasies. For the fact that the game was developed by the "inventor" of the Metroidvania genre and spent so much time and money... three stars. The "original" was way more brilliant on almost all levels at the time it came out. As a big fan of SoTN, I'm not in any way impressed. Even Order of Ecclesia was better than this.

I'd like to change my review once I've beaten the game, but after an hour of playing my first impression is that this is a lackluster game sold on fandom and hype. I've picked up seven different weapons so far and they all have a single, boring attack animation that you spam instead of a combo. The first boss is a bare-breasted, tentacle hentai monster. When attacks and elements come in from the background, they don't stand out enough to present to the player, leading to unecessary damage. Graphics and music are excellent, but overall it feels more like an Early Access title than an effort from a seasoned studio. This is all my first impression, which I feel should be stronger for an action game from Igavania himself.

ArtPlay and 505Games have scammed Linux (and MacOS) players on Kickstarter. Regardless of the "game" "quality", this and every 505Games or ArtPlay products will get the lowest score from me. They deserved it, IMO.

I bought this game out of curiosity. Unfortunately, this game relies heavily on demonic and alchemist themes and symbology. I didn't feel a good vibe playing this at all, so I stopped playing it. + the game feels low budget.