- [Daemon] The thriving subgenre of Metroidvania games
exists to to try to recreate the magic
of classic Metroid and Castlevania games.
Bloostained: Ritual of the Night achieves this goal
better than most because it plays and feels
almost exactly like the legendary
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Not all attempts at crowdfunded spiritual successors
to beloved games end up successful,
but the stars have aligned for Bloodstained.
Ritual of the Night is a game worthy of its heritage.
(dramatic music)
While Bloodstained's gameplay is familiar,
an interesting new world has been created
with its own heroes, villains, and stakes,
and not the vampire-killing kind.
You play as Miriam, an orphan girl
with the ability to absorb and wield
a ridiculous number of demon powers.
A lot of care was put into her design,
and she's cosmetically customizable as well.
As luck would have it, this evil castle just popped up,
and it's filled with demons.
So in you go,
to methodically expose the enormous castle map,
fight cool monsters, gain experience,
and craft increasingly powerful weapons
with all the loot you find.
We've done this a dozen times in Castlevanias,
but not since Symphony have we been able to do it
with the power and real estate of a home console or PC
on a television.
(sinister music)
It's clear Castlevania veteran Koji Igarashi and his team
put as much content as they could into Bloodstained
to make sure the return to genre was a triumphant one.
My adventure took about 20 hours
to track down the real ending,
which is quite a bit longer than the 12 or so hours
you might spend with Symphony.
Even after all of that, I'm excited to get back to it,
because exploring the castle is so much fun,
and I still have 2% of the map to uncover
and more demon powers to unlock.
There are some expected and unexpected
movement abilities to find
that really let you master the terrain.
The locations gradually expand
from typical haunted castle areas,
like cathedrals and secret labs,
to some surprisingly environments
you wouldn't normally expect to find indoors.
There are also darkly beautiful sights in the castle
that showcase impressive lighting effects
and moonlit vistas.
Even the save rooms and fast-travel locations look great.
(sinister music)
The enormous wealth of powers and weapons to find
means there is a lot of room
to customize your own playstyle.
I had a lot of success with a good one-handed sword
combined with a shield of portraits
that float around my body, an arrow attack
for when I needed to take out an enemy at range,
and a familiar I could summon to help fight.
But if you're more comfortable with slower
and more powerful weapons, guns, or kung fu,
there are options for you to hack, shoot,
or kick your way through the castle.
The randomness of loot drops
means it's not always straightforward
getting the tools you want,
but Bloodstained never feels like too much of a chore,
because simply running around slashing monsters is fun.
Of course, that randomness is one of the key features
that separates these Iga-vanias from similar games.
The monsters are some of the best parts of Bloodstained.
From giant cats with demon horns,
to horses that can swim underwater,
to shredding guitar players,
there's always something fun to kill
while exploring the castle.
Some of the bosses will be familiar to people
who played the 8-bit prequel game
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon last year.
Having played that spinoff, it was pretty cool
seeing those characters return as gigantic 3D models.
All the characters are capably voice-acted,
and they even got Solid Snake himself, David Hayter,
to voice a significant role.
- [Zangetsu] If we are to come to an understanding,
this is how we do it.
- [Reviewer] Both English and Japanese voice tracks
are included, something I always appreciate
for Japanese-made games.
(speaking foreign language)
The soundtrack was composed by Castlevania veteran
Michiru Yamane and Mega Man veteran Ippo Yamata.
It's a very nice score
that evokes classic Castlevania adventures,
but I don't think it matches the mastery
of Symphony of the Night.
I'm still humming that game's tunes 22 years later,
and I don't see Bloodstained's music
sticking with me the same way.
(dramatic music)
There is no shortage of good Metroidvanias these days,
but Bloodstained does show
that Koji Igarashi's particular brand of Iga-vania
still has teeth.
Exploring the castle's many secrets is a delight,
and there is a dizzying array of weapons and powers
waiting to be bent to your will.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,
one of the greatest games ever made,
finally has a worthy successor on consoles,
and now on PC.
Quick heads up.
The Switch version is having major performance issues
at launch, so maybe hold off for a few patches
before diving in on that one.
For more on Bloodstained,
check out the first minutes of gameplay,
plus our review of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection
or Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.
And for everything else, keep it right here at IGN.
(clanging)