Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been one of my most anticipated titles since its original announcement in 2015. Symphony of the Night is one of my all-time favorite games, as it introduced me to the incredibly rewarding and challenging Igavania/Metroidvania genre. For the unaware, “Igavania” refers to exploration-based hack-and-slash platformers, a genre that was revolutionized by gaming industry legend Koji Igarashi. The genre has fallen slightly to the wayside since the Nintendo DS Castlevania titles, so Bloodstained has always struck me as the perfect revival for a genre that I’ve missed so dearly.
And Bloodstained is, somehow, everything I wanted and more. Perfectly balancing a load of loving Igavania references with new and exciting features, Bloodstained was so engrossing that I could hardly pull myself away when the demo period ended. After experimenting with different weapons, playstyles, and exploration methods, I needed to do more. I needed to explore, to kill ghouls, to obtain new powers. I had a thirst for exploration that I haven’t felt since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the original Nintendo DS, and good lord, was it addictive.
The demo began with a cutscene that had Miriam, the main protagonist, arguing with Gebel, an old friend who wears a mysterious half-mask. After a bit of dialogue, Gebel bails and leaves Miriam to fight a fearsome Kraken, as all good friends do. As an enormous and fairly static target, the Kraken was the perfect boss to test Bloodstained’s many, many weapons on.
Spears, swords, rapiers, guns, knives, and boots are just some of the seemingly endless weapons in Miriam’s arsenal, all of which are immensely different from one another. Different players will certainly find their own weapons that match their playstyles, whether they love up-close whip smacks or far-off gunshots. I found a number of new and improved weapons all throughout the demo as well, which means Miriam’s arsenal will likely expand even further throughout the entirety of Bloodstained.
Complimenting weapons is the “Shard System,” a type of magic obtainable through slaying enemies and bosses. Each foe you slay has a chance of dropping their “Shard,” which gives you the ability to use that enemy’s signature attack at will. This is likely a familiar concept to anyone who played the Sorrow titles from the Castlevania franchise, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. I was quite excited with every new Shard I obtained, as each gave me additional abilities to broaden my violent horizons. The sheer amount of different weapons and attacks in Bloodstained’s demo made me feel incredibly confident in the full game, as it’s definitely keeping what works from Iga’s legendary classics.
The art and audio in Bloodstained’s demo was even more assuring, as it all felt just like Symphony of the Night. The different themed areas are full of morbid and grotesque scenes, from blood fountains to the impaled remains of lycans scattered around. The subtly energetic gothic tracks in each area made exploring even better, as I found a few songs getting stuck in my head after only a few listens. The voice acting, in both English and Japanese, seems to be exceptional as well, though I only saw a few cutscenes overall.
I’m far too excited for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It captured my excitement at E3 last year, while playing it again today enraptured any idle thoughts I may have had in the time since. Iga’s clearly still at the top of his game, as Bloodstained has me more excited than most of the AAA titles that are set to come out this year.
