Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019) was developed by ArtPlay
and published by 505 Games

Out of all possible ratings: Terrible, Bad, Average, Good, Great....

My rating, based upon my playthrough experience, is: Good!

Ok, normally I am not interested in 2D side scrollers. But, in this case, I knew what game this was a spiritual successor to; Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which was a great title from the PSone era. Needless to say, I had to check it out.

As it would turn out, this played a lot like Castlevania of the old 2D says, but modernized enough so that it almost feels like a 2D Souls-like game. I really wasn't expecting to get sucked into this game like I did. While I didn't complete everything, I did play for about 30 hours and enjoyed most of it. The Master Carpenter fight had me raging.

There is enough versatility in magic and combat to find something that suits you and then play it your way. The maps are pretty varied in look and feel although some maps are recycled. Inverting the map and turning into a beam of light to get into tight spaces are fun mechanics that really set the game apart from others I've played. If anyone is bored with the typical modern game, I highly suggest you try this, or, even if you aren't bored with the status quo, you should still try it. Because DHG say's so!

Onto the review breakdown:

Graphics: Probably as good as you can make a 2D game look. The visuals have a crisp touch which leads me to believe they aren't using blurring anti-aliasing post processing, and MSAA instead, which is always good. What struck me most was the color; this game is VERY colorful, and it plays to the game's strengths well! The only think I would have liked to see to flesh out the visuals more is High Dynamic Range lighting (HDR)

Controls: A strange bag of basic and advanced. It would have been nice to be able to swing my weapon in specific directions but it's simply not there. Being heavy on platforming, the jumping mechanics and pulling off landings works very well. The combat doesn't change much from beginning to end, it's all about what weapons and magic you use that provides variance. The additional features you unlock later on could be easy to forget if you don't play for a while.

Gameplay: Kill creatures, fight bosses, get new shit that allows you to access previously inaccessible areas to get even more shit, and level up whilst doing all this. It's very much along the lines of an RPG than a straightforward 2D side scroller in that aspect.

Sound: The original Solid Snake voice actor is present (David Hayter)! Besides that awesome note, the voice acting is solid, and the games numerous sounds are very well done. During my 30 hours nothing made me cringe. Good stuff!

Music: Probably the games strongest suit. The music is phenomenal and will likely get stuck in your head, or you may linger in an area just to listen to the music. I did.

Story: What you get depends on if you play to completion as there are multiple endings. If you play towards the true ending, the story is well done. The narrative unfolds in cutscene format along with some tidbits you gain from reading books, which is optional. You can skip it all if you like but having a good story is a plus.

Stability/Bugs: I didn't have any. That being said, it's pretty solid on the integrity front.

Opinions: I'd like to see this become a franchise. They got something special going on here!

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

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DHG played Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on PC

Part 1