Red Stewart with his first impressions of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night…
For the past few years now, I have noticed a retro-revival trend in the video game market. Yes, there have always been fan remakes/sequels/homages like AM2R, but I am talking about official ones done by developers who no doubt grew up in that era of gaming and are trying to hearken back to it. Games like Yooka-Laylee, Shovel Knight, and Hollow Knight all come to mind when considering this revival, but there are plenty more out there and even more set to come out as future generations age.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is another one of those nostalgic entries, with this one being targeted at audiences who grew up loving the Castlevania series back when it was 2D side-scroller. Developed by the Italian company 505 Games and produced by former Castlevania writer/programmer Koji Igarashi, Bloodstained is a title interested in injecting that old-school Castlevania DNA into a graphically-modern game, while still giving newer players something worth discovering. Having played the demo, I can safely say that it mostly succeeds, though a few minor problems linger.
Like most video games released these days, the first thing to jump into is the story. Bloodstained is amusing in that it opens up with a long text crawl narrated by one of the characters, detailing the world’s history, mythology, and character backstories. I say it’s humorous because, during the whole thing, I couldn’t help but be reminded of those older arcade games that would do a Star Wars-esque exposition dump at the beginning to hide the fact that the game itself was nothing deep: just a good old-fashioned popcorn action title pretending it took place under a larger sociopolitical pretext.
To be fair on Bloodstained’s part, the narrative is actually delved into as you progress further in the game. In particular, the relationship between the main character and (presumably) main antagonist serves as the platform for a couple of good emotional beats, so keep in mind that that introduction, and any subsequent conversations, are things you can’t skip if you plan on becoming invested in this game world.
From there, let’s talk about Bloodstained’s contemporary graphics; this game is absolutely gorgeous. It settles for a creative art style that meshes darkly Gothic character models with hyperrealistic backdrops. This might seem like a strange combination at first, but because both aesthetics are based in morbid themes, it actually works out in the end. Whether you’re jumping on wooden planks, stone pillars, or a carpeted ground, it all looks good. Alongside that, shadows have also been incorporated by the programmers, and they actually move perfectly with your character, regardless of whether you’re jumping, attacking, or running.
That being said, there was one disappointment in this area, and that concerned the model of the main character Miriam. She’s depicted as wearing a low-cut dress, which seemed like lazy fan service considering you’ll have to fight all kinds of creatures in the game. And yes, it is true that Simon was also exposed back in the day, but at least what he did have on was armor, not cloth.
Moving on, we come to music and sound. Music-wise, the demo was a little bit of a letdown here since each level tended to have only one tune played on a loop, with the exception of certain places like save areas. It’s good for what it’s worth, but with four credited composers I was expecting a little more variety here. Luckily, the sound design is much more on point, with creature grunts, Miriam’s battle cries, and environmental cues like shattered lanterns and puddle splashes all sounding as good as you would expect in a AAA game.
The voice acting, however, is where I have to give the most recognition. Usually in smaller games (with the exception of episodic titles) voice acting tends to be where budgetary cuts are made as the developers need to allocate most of their money towards the gameplay and visuals. Here, however, all the voice artists (at least as far as the demo was concerned) were on point, with I having to give props especially to Erica Lindbeck for her performance as Miriam. To add more sugar to the pie, the lip-syncing is great as well: whenever two characters are having a conversation, we get close-up flat models of them like in visual novels. With all that on the table, I did have one complaint here, and that is that the animators decided to add some weird movements to the vector drawings, which made them off-putting to look at at times.
From there, we move onto what most people are interested in, which is the gameplay. As I said before, this is a true spiritual sequel to the first five Castlevania games, with Miriam using a variety of weapons to destroy enemies all around her in true beat’em up fashion. These armaments range from the classic whip to swords, daggers, pistols, and even boots, though a setback is you can only equip one at once. The best part is none of them are reskinned items: they each offer their own advantages, ranging from damage to speed to range. A variation of magic is also introduced, allowing you to cast spells in quick succession so long as you have enough Mana, which is determined by a meter that slowly replenishes itself over time. Unlike weapons, multiple spells can be utilized at once, though you do need to strategize given the limited Mana power.
Sadly, the gameplay isn’t completely efficient because of a couple of things: the lack of features popularized in modern games and some design flaws. First off, there are respawning enemies, a facet that I know some fans won’t have a problem with given its presence in Symphony of the Night, but as someone who grew up with older Castlevania titles like Super Castlevania IV where the goal was to keep progressing through a level rather than revisit prior areas Metroidvania-style, it was annoying to deal with. Plus, it is a seemingly bad design choice given that there is an experience system that can be exploited since you can easily earn a few extra levels by exiting and entering the same area and re-killing their enemies over and over and over again. Exploring itself doesn’t yield much in the way of cool loot; there are your typical potions and some extra weapons, but nothing special like in La-Mulana.
I was also disappointed that you couldn’t do basic things like hit up or down with a weapon. You’re instead forced to do crazy jump shots that put you at a larger risk of getting struck by a monster. It’s not that I don’t mind a challenge, but said challenges should not come from poor gameplay.
Overall, though, my criticisms were minor. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a worthy successor to the original Castlevania games, with beautiful visuals, solid voice acting, and gameplay that is consistently fun. I personally can’t wait for the full game!
Red Stewart
