Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Release: 2019
Platform: PC
Developer: ArtPlay, Koji Igarashi
Publisher: 505 Games
Genre: Metroidvania, 2D, Action, Platformer
Gameplay Stats: 30 hours, Complete beastiary, 100% shards, 43/45 achievements

I waited a little long to do this write-up so it might be a little less detailed than some of my others. I guess you do get my longer term opinions for the game? I find that my opinions about a game usually soften a bit with time though, so I may be more generous than I would have been otherwise. Disclaimer: I backed this game on Kickstarter so I may be biased. Also, I'm sure it's evident that I love this genre of games. I didn't play SOTN when it came out, but I can definitely appreciate the changes it made in the genre.

Visuals: I'm not really a fan of using the 3D models to make a 2D game. I think it feels weird. Like, they went through all the trouble to make the characters 3D and the environments 3D, but we're kind of pigeonholed into exploring in only 2 dimensions. I think a 3D Metroidvania game can be wonderful! I have lovely memories of Metroid Prime in particular, and collectathons are always a lot of fun too. I think they did a good job making the character models and environments though. Everything has some detail, but not a ton which is nice. They decided ona  style and stuck with it. It really does feel like the logical extension of where Symphony of the Night was headed.

Audio: I really like the music in this game! I doubt I will revisit the soundtrack, but they nailed each area with their score. I like that they did some voice acting, but holy crap is it stilted. I wish they had translated some more normal sounding dialogue and that it was presented a bit smoother. I think that they overdid Miriam's sound effects a bit. Thankfully they had separate volume sliders for everything and I was able to tone down the sound effects to a great deal. I really don't need to hear the same "HYUP!" sound effect every time I jump in a vertical scrolling room. It's a bit obnoxious. Enemies make sounds when they attack too, but I can't help but feel like there was some missing potential with the soundscape. Maybe it's because I had one section of the sound turned so low, but there was definitely some more space to explore the world with sound design. Maybe ambient noise for enemies still left in a room?

Plot: I thought the plot could have been a bit better. It was interesting, I liked the world that was built with the alchemists and (minor spoilers) the crystals taking over some people's bodies. They could have done something more with it though. There was dialogue speaking to Miriam being taken over and even why it was that she was being taken over. They missed an opportunity to have that meaningfully impact the gameplay. They could have made the crystals on Miriam expand over the course of the game. I guess what I'm saying is that this game opted to tell, not show, the plot. This is one of my pet peeves when it comes to game design and it kind of bugs me when there were such obvious and relatively subtle tweaks they could have done to vastly improve the experience. There was a nice twist if you decide to go for the true ending, just like in SOTN. I didn't think it was foreshadowed much in my first playthrough which made it a pretty solid twist. I'm not sure if I will play again while paying attention to the plot, but if I do I'll update this.

Gameplay: The bread and butter of any metroidvania! This game feels an awful lot like a mashup of Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon, two Castlevania games. They feel good to this day, but a bit dated. The game plays a bit slower than I would like until you get some movement speed upgrades about 80% of the way through. I get that being mildly annoying in the beginning of these games and everything being better later on if part of the appeal of the genre, but I don't think they had the upgrades appear in the order I would have liked. Overall, this game plays a little slower than I would have liked. It very much feels like a old-school game in it's gameplay which seems a bit at odds with the new-school visuals and sound design. I like the variation in the weapons and the shards, but I think they played it a bit safe. I can't think of anything new that this game really brought to the table and I think that was a missed opportunity.

Overall I really likes this game! It felt like a really nice return to form in terms of what a Castlevania game could look like in 2019. I liked the basic game that was delivered and I am excited to return to it when the DLC has finished being released. I think we have 1 more playable character and a randomly generated castle mode that should be fun. I can't help but feel like this game was a little bit of a missed opportunity though. What made SOTN so great was that it pushed the genre and made some really nice improvements. I think that the lack of  anything new will be what keeps ROTN from being looked on with that same reverence. I hope they they do make another game so they they can expand and explore more into this space. There have been lots of developments in the genre since the early 2000's that I'm excited to see them embrace and I'm hopeful they will keep building upon them. [7/10]