Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

One of the nasty bits about the hype cycle surrounding a video game release is that by the time we finally get our grubby paws on it… we have effectively lived with the image of the game in our heads for one to two years. This gives our brain a lot of time to construct the game that we want to see, so that by the time we get the actual product the two rarely match. So I feel like it is worth taking note of the times when the final product meets or exceeds the mental image that I created for it. This is absolutely the case with Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, which released yesterday as what I can only assume was a purposefully timed birthday present.

When someone asks me what my favorite video game is, I have replied for some time Castlevania Symphony of the Night. It was this perfect vessel that concentrated so many things that I love about video games… RPG Progression, non-linear exploration, rock infused soundtracks, brooding gothic mood, and what was at the time the penultimate evolution of pixel based graphics. It was sort of a master class in how to make a game that Bel liked, and while there have been successors on other platforms… that was the last great non-handheld console Castlevania game. That is until now.

We are in this modern era of nostalgic games, that go back to the roots of something we loved from our past and painstakingly create that feeling. Bloodstained is something completely different because it not only brings everything that I loved about SoTN but also manages to push the genre along a very familiar path and in so creates a new experience. Firstly Bloodstained manages to take what I loved about the 16/32 bit pixel graphics era and creates that same look and feel with 3D models, which allows the game to go in a bunch of different places than would have been possible with 2D graphics. There are these jawdropping sequences where you are walking what appears to be a 2D path and then the game itself warps around you showing that you are moving in different ways than a strictly X/Y plane.

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So often times the final product is lacking in some small way because compromises had to be made to meet a deadline. However Bloodstained is a weird example of the final release of the game going above and beyond and applying a sheen of polish to what already felt like a pretty great product. I have three copies of this game installed on my machine.. the first being a demo copy that just shows off the first level of the game that was released shortly after the Kickstarter campaign came to a conclusion. The second is an E3 Demo that they released in April showing what was effectively what I thought the final state of the game represented by the image on the left above. The last version is the release client represented by the image on the right above… which takes what I thought was already a great product and tweaks so many things to present amazing results. I tweeted about this yesterday and I was super happy to have similar screenshots to show off the tweaks that were made.

An aspect of Castlevania Symphony of the Night that was barely explored is the interactions you have with various NPCs that happen across your path. There are a few of these moments but they never seem to go very far and it always seemed like they were maybe experimenting. Bloodstained digs into this aspect hard and presents a lot of the common RPG tropes… like this woman who wants something to eat but cannot remember what she wants giving you hints and showing you the icon for the food she wants you to make for her. I cannot believe I have farmed mobs to get drops to feed this lady that always seems to be hungry. The game is filled with several of these little minigames including farming, avenging fallen villagers or collecting mementos to let other villagers rest in peace. There is a full crafting and cooking system in the game, and most items seem to be obtainable through drops, crafting, quests or through outright sale on the vendor at the town hub of sorts.

The game has a series of stained glass doorways that can be found as you explore and these rapidly become something you seek out along with the nearest save room so you can travel freely back to your makeshift base of operations. You can see the doorway rooms marked in green on the map, and there is the familiar heal and save room marked in red. This freedom of traversal is extremely nice and allows you to move around without worrying too much about backtracking the entire way between where you are and the destination that you really need to be at. I realize that Symphony of the Night had this functionality as well, but the placement seemed way less handy than they are in Bloodstained with almost every area of the castle having its own portal room.

Previously I wrote a piece about the E3 demo and spent a lot of time talking about the combat in the game and very little of that functionality has changed. You are given so much free reign over how you want to approach the game be it with weapon choices that feel absolutely unique. They also all have their own hidden special moves that you find out about by reading the various bookcases scattered through the castle… or through experimentation with fighting game style inputs. Additionally the shards that you pick up through killing monsters give you a wide range of attacks that can be improved over time by collecting materials and visiting the Alchemist in town. Then there is also the layer of gear customization which seems to be wide and plentiful… giving you a ton of different methods of tweaking your game play to suit your own needs at the time.

Last night I go far enough to collect my very first Familiar, which is a sort of summoned battle pet creature that follows you around. They are not extremely effective and have their own leveling system, but the floating ghost knight for example randomly stabs things with that spear. I’ve seen others like a disembodied weapon that randomly slashes at things, and that I am likely going to farm until I get it tonight. That is another aspect of this game is the ability to farm monsters over and over until they finally drop a shard for you as it seems like most everything has the capability of dropping something. This absolutely tweaks the center of my brain that used to farm the Colosseum in Final Fantasy VI just to see what all I could get from it.

Another great mini game is Todd the Killer Barber who can only be freed if he gives 666 unique makeovers. So this introduces the player customization system and you can visit him at any point to tweak your hairstyles, hair color, skin color, primary and secondary outfit colors and it looks like maybe other items later on. He asks you to collect books for him that will teach him new hairstyles to use, and late last night I managed to get one of these. Tonight one of the very first things I plan on doing is making my way back to him and seeing what happens when I turn in a book. This however is a perfect example of the quirky systems in the game that I find so damned charming.

This game just nails everything that I want in a Castlevania game, right up to the weird monster types that you end up fighting. This is some sort of a demon cat, that I feel is likely based on someone on the teams cat. There is a similar giant disembodied dog head that likely probably represents a dog from the team as well. Hidden somewhere in the game is apparently a monster type that is exactly Shovel Knight, that has the ability to drop a shovel that you can then use as a weapon. There are rumors that Shovel Knight will be added as a playable character at some point, and I have a feeling that the Save Rooms are a bit of an homage to Hollow Knight with their insectoid appearance. This game is just too perfect for words at times.

I am not really sure what else I can say at this point. Bloodstained has delivered on everything I had hoped it would be, and now I am just hoping it does well enough to be able to fund further games in this series. The point where it absolutely shines is the fact that this universe is already way more intricate and interesting than the Castlevania mythos ever was. Castlevania was effectively cramming as many Transylvanian/Dracula themed tropes into one game as humanly possible. Bloodstained presents a similar feeling universe but one with a way more subtle storyline about the Alchemists guild unleashing a horde of demons on the world, and you as a Shardbinder… one of their experiments are trying your best to right the wrong they created. There are interesting characters that you get to know through the course of the gameplay, and a direction that the game seems to be going as various story paths will likely eventually collide.

I would highly recommend picking the game up and giving it a shot for yourself. However I feel a little odd in doing so given that I have ulterior motive of wanting the game to do well. I may or may not have purchased it on Switch as well as the backer copy that I got on Steam. I’ve additionally picked up the PS4 copy in a physical form because I think this is something that I really want to have a physical edition for. The game is presently available on those three platforms along with Xbox One, so if anything I have said sounds like something you might enjoy then you can get a copy on your gaming destination of choice. Bloodstained was an amazing birthday present… thanks Koji Igarashi (and team of course)!

Another game that I have been messing around with a bit this week is Bloodstained Ritual of the Night Backer E3 Demo. I am assuming this will be the version of the game shown on the E3 floor starting in two weeks. I only know about this existing because I got curious because I could not quite remember which version of the game I had pre-ordered as part of the Kickstarter. When I got to the key redemption page it informed me that I had a yet to be redeemed steam key, which turned out to be for what appears to be a largely finished version of the game.

If you have read this blog for very long you will likely know that possibly my favorite game of all time is Castlevania Symphony of the Night. The very similarly named Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is effectively a spiritual successor designed by the same person, Koji Igarashi. Konami losing their mind ended up stranding a bunch of really excellent properties and we have already seen several of the creators going out and creating new intellectual property. So far I am super on board with the path that Koji has taken in resurrecting the spiritual core of Castlevania in a brand new universe… that quite frankly has a way better story.

In Bloodstained you play as Miriam a Shardbinder, or a human being who has been experimented on with Alchemy to allow them to infuse into themselves the abilities of the enemies that they defeat. Warning this may contain spoilers to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon the 8 bit honorific title that released before Ritual of the Night as a kickstarter stretch goal. The setting is one of magic blended with burgeoning technology, and one where up until the industrial age the alchemists were treated with almost god like reverence. However with the influx of technology, the common people started relying less and less on Alchemy and more on machinery.

In an act of desperation the Alchemist flung wide the gates of hell letting loose demons and all manner of other creatures. The reasoning here is a little thin but at the same time there was a hunting down of the Shardbinders so that you as Miriam represent one of the last ones. Which makes it super convenient that you now have to kill all of these demons that will ultimately allow you to steal their powers. If you have played Casltevania Circle of the Moon this entire process will feel really familiar. At some point while killing a monster a shard of their energy will infuse itself rather violently with Miriam and from that point on you get a new ability to play with in the menu system. These serve as both attacks and ways to grant new abilities that will help you traverse new areas metroidvania style.

Your character also has a wide variety of weapons available to them, which give you a slew of different ways you can tweak the gameplay to fit your desired style. I’m personally playing a lot with the “katana” style family of blades which have a wide blade flourish and are pretty hard hitting… but also very slow give the extra flourish animation. These are great for taking down bigger monsters, but pure hell for chains of bats or any of the other tiny annoying enemies. Something like the Rapier which hits extremely rapidly would be far better suited for the modern equivalent of the medusa heads. If you want to just feel like a Martial Arts bad ass, you can always stick with the Kung Fu shoes family of weapons which are essentially just boots that you equip and then kick literal ass with.

I am not certain I could be more on board with this game. Sure there is some weirdness at times with it effectively being a 2D parallax side-scroller built in a 3D engine… but this also lets the game do some really nifty things. There is a point I encountered in the third area where you are effectively walking along the base of the castle… and then to denote that you are turning a corner the scenery in the background begins to rotate as your character shifts heading slightly still following what is a 2D path. I have a feeling as I get deeper into the game they are going to do more interesting things with this same sort of mechanic.

The fidelity of the gameplay experience so far feels perfect. It is immediately comfortable and recognizable to someone who has played a lot of Symphony of the Night and it feels like they have taken all of those RPG element aspects that I loved so much and cranked them up to eleven. In SOTN it takes awhile before you reach the library… the area that effectively allows you to manipulate a lot of things about your character. In Bloodstained you are introduced to this aspect after the very first intro level on the ship. Everything about the game feels deeply familiar but also new at the same time.

My backer copy of the game is on Steam, but I fully expect to pick this up for every platform it is available on if for no reason other than supporting the team. I mean I do own a copy of Symphony of the Night for pretty much every platform it was available on. I think this is going to be awesome on the switch, as I think it will be another excellent pick and play intermittently experience given the game has scattered a generous number of save points throughout the game. If you were a fan of Symphony of the Night or any of the modern GBA and DS tittles that were in that same metroidvania style… then I highly suggest you check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night when it releases in June.