Yeah... I said Castlevania... Oh, it isn't? Are you sure? No! It cannot be! Wraaagh!
So it's Bloodstained. Actually a game Kickstarted by the director and mastermind of Castlevania - Symphony of the Night and later Metroid style Castlevania games. Hence the term and genre Metroidvania.
This game has nothing to do with Konami, IGA thought... Konami doesn't care about Castlevania? I'll make my own then! That's how Bloodstained born. After a successful Kickstarter campaing, several delays, hiring more and more developers. Have at you!
It's a great game! It IS Castlevania. Combined with elements of Symphony of the Night, the Sorrow duology, Order of Ecclesia. It has all the goodness of those former Metroidvania games. But it's an even bigger project.
Surprisingly nice 3D graphics! I really doubted it'll look this good especially seeing earlier builds. But the listened to criticism. That's how you do it! That how it should be! Yes, looking at you, some AAA game devs!
Gameplay is just like the previous Metroidvania games. Big map, looking for stuffs to progress, fight against epic bosses, explore various areas, fight bunch of nicely designed and somewhat familiar enemies.
It has different difficulty settings, boss rush, speed run mode, and there will be free DLCs in the future!
It has the Sorrow' soul system, except called as Shards. Exactly the same thing! You can level up, get new gears. Familiars are here too! So many possibilies! Loot galore! There is crafting, shopping, all kind of fun!
Sound effects are nice but the main character is yelling too much. Typical of these kind of games. Yelling "Take this", calling the special abilities' name all the time. Other than that, nice!
Music is fantastic! Michiru Yamane and Ippo Yamada and a few more was involved!
Controls are super fluid and intuitive.
Bonus: has lots of JoJo references.
There was another Kickstarter goal, a retro style game by Inti Creates, Curse of the Moon. Also fantastic and recommended!
