Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Review Thread

Raza · Jun 24, 2019

Reviews are starting to trickle in and both Metacritic and OpenCritic have scores now, so I thought I'd make a review thread.

Metacritic: 85
OpenCritic: 84

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Eurogamer- Recommended

The wait was worth it - this spiritual successor to Castlevania is a gorgeous, accessible 2D platformer stuffed with nostalgia.

Destructoid- 8/10

Bloodstained is occasionally frustrating, refreshingly open, and as promised, wholly Castlevania. Hopefully some polish is on the way for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as to not alienate folks who are new to the genre, but as any Castlevania fan knows, partial jank comes with the territory.

Playstation Universe- 9/10

A sprawling and beautifully executed monument to the Castlevania titles of old, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night feels like a promise delivered for fans of not just the series, but intricately structured action adventures too. The king has returned.

Press Start- 8.5/10

Bloodstained is the real deal. A true successor to Castlevania that fans and newcomers will easily sink their teeth into.

MetroGamesCentral- 8/10

The best Castlevania game never made and while it adds relatively little to the formula it is the best example of its use in many years.

Hobby Consolas- 88/100

Few games have managed to be as good as Symphony of the Night; Bloodstained not only manage to do so, but also refines and improves that same old formula for a new generation, becoming the true spiritual successor of the Castlevania series.

CGMagazine- 10/10

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is everything that was great about Igarashi's Metroidvania titles all rolled into one, and feels like it will be as timeless a game as Symphony of the Night.

Just Press Start- 4.5/5

Overall, there is little wrong with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Some of the sections have a trial and error feel, meaning you might lose and that will cost you progress, though the overall game achieves what it wants. As a fan of those games, I got a similar impression of this as I did with Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. If you're up for looking around every corner, work on your moves and invest in the story, it's hard not to see the value of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

GameCrate- 9.5/10

Aside from a few script malfunctions and some odd enemy behavior at points, this is a perfect Metroidvania game. If you are a fan of the genre, a fan of Castlevania, a fan of Metroid, or just a fan of 2D platformers in general, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.

IGN Spain- 7.7/10

One more metroidvania to add to the mix. At least is a good example of the classic proposal of the genre although it's not technically perfect.

Gaming Bolt- 8/10

Bloodstained finally delivers upon the promise of a modern follow-up to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and it does so spectacularly.

IGN Italy- 9/10

An almost perfect game with just some minor flaws that don't ruin the overall experience.

The Games Machine- 6.5/10

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is not a bad game but it is disappointing, a metroidvania all too anchored in the past that doesn't really add anything new to the genre that Koji Igarashi himself contributed to create. Beyond the bland execution and the continuous plagiarism of Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, Bloodstained is plagued by too many problems, especially in terms of combat and the hitbox system, preventing an enjoyable gaming experience. It hurts to say this, but there are too many better alternatives to Bloodstained on the market. We expected a lot more than this from Igarashi-san.

Gamesblog- 8/10

If you're into post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania, you will find with Bloodstained : Ritual of the Night what you wanted. It doesn' have the name or the same setting, but the feeling and the atmosphere are the same, with some very generous content and a lot of nods to the Konami series. It could have been a lot more polished wisually speaking, felt more of like a game of this era, but how can we be frustrated to get what Koji Igarashi and his team were expected to do ?

Game Informer- 8.5/10

Ritual of the Night starts off a little too familiar, but quickly ramps up into an impressive exemplar of the genre it's retreading

DualShockers- 8.5/10

Koji Igarashi and his team have composed another exceptional symphony in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Playstation Lifestyle- 9.5/10

Aside from some minor performance issues and localization typos barely worth mentioning, Bloodstained is an incredible feat in independent video game development. I'll be coming back to this one for years to come.

GameReactor- 9/10

SantaC · Jun 24, 2019

This game deserves a lot of praise imo. Well worth it.

FiXalaS · Jun 24, 2019

8-8.5 is what I give the game too

Imitatio · Jun 24, 2019

Can we expect Switch reviews as well or were there no codes given out on that platform?

FF Seraphim · Jun 24, 2019

The game awesome and I hope we get more. Totally satisfies my itch for more SotN type gameplay/music/setting.

Phil32 · Jun 24, 2019

Really fun and excellent game from Iga and team. Has some technical issues, including some crashes and severe hitching and slowdown (particularly at a late game boss), so it's not optimal. Still, very impressed with what I've played.

sheaaaa · Jun 24, 2019

I'm liking the game quite a lot but "gorgeous" in the Eurogamer review left me shaking my head lol. Much of the game looks terrible.

Z-Beat · Jun 24, 2019

Imitatio said:
Can we expect Switch reviews as well or were there no codes given out on that platform?

IGN's is a switch review iirc

Gestault · Jun 24, 2019

It's funny how this has been in the works for so long, but the final release really snuck up on me. I'm pretty stoked by the reactions so far.

Shift Breaker · Jun 24, 2019

85 seems about right, I was worried about the game at first when it was riding on the waves of negativity from Mighty No. 9 but it turned out to be a great exoerience. Lacking a bit of polish, some slowdown in areas and it's crashed once for me , but those can be fixed. At its heart it's a proper Igarashi Castlevania game.

hey it's that dog · Jun 24, 2019

I was a huge skeptic all throughout development but I took the risk and I'm glad I did. The game feels right and is beyond fully fleshed out. I still think the game is pretty ugly at times but it's easily overlooked.

Strings · Jun 24, 2019

sheaaaa said:
I'm liking the game quite a lot but "gorgeous" in the Eurogamer review left me shaking my head lol. Much of the game looks terrible.

Some of the castle backgrounds are shockingly good / have some really interesting depth to them. Gets rough whenever you venture outside of it though.

It's fucked, but I already can't wait for a sequel. I just love how these games feel. The flow of exploration and combat is so goddamn satisfying. The sense of humour is also fab.

NotLiquid · Jun 24, 2019

The mad man did it.

Can't imagine how vindicating it must feel.

RobFox64tm · Jun 24, 2019

Hopefully, there will be Switch specific reviews, because from what I've seen, it needs some good, old-fashioned and constructive criticism. It should not be lumped in with any review using the word "beautiful" at all, and making it low priority when so many backers opted for that version was not a good call. I'm sure some review outlets are just waiting for that day-one patch though. Maybe it'll make a big difference.

Ardiloso · Jun 24, 2019

I am so happy with the praise. Still waiting for my backer physical copy to arrive. ☹

BlueManifest · Jun 24, 2019

Opencritic is 85 not 84

MarcelRguez · Jun 24, 2019

I feel horrible for having this opinion, but I just cannot get over how the game looks. It could be the best metroidvania of all time, I still have the feeling I won't enjoy it based solely on its presentation.

DrDeckard · Jun 24, 2019

Do I buy xbox or switch?

sheaaaa · Jun 24, 2019

Strings said:
Some of the castle backgrounds are shockingly good / have some really interesting depth to them. Gets rough whenever you venture outside of it though.

It's fucked, but I already can't wait for a sequel. I just love how these games feel. The flow of exploration and combat is so goddamn satisfying. The sense of humour is also fab.

Some areas are actually nice, like you said especially castle, but so many really are hideous lol. Hope the sequel gets upgraded aesthetically!

Kismet · Jun 24, 2019

I will continue playing after a stability update.
Loved the game from what I've played.

Miker · Jun 24, 2019

MarcelRguez said:
I feel horrible for having this opinion, but I just cannot get over how the game looks. It could be the best metroidvania of all time, I still have the feeling I won't enjoy it based solely on its presentation.

I'm not a fan either. I think the character design is kind of awful (Miriam seems like a bad rough draft of Shanoa), and many of the environments I've seen are somewhat garish. Kind of reminds me of the clashing overbloomed and oversaturated look of Trine. That said, I've played 5 Igavanias so far, and I'll play this and enjoy it.

TheDinoman · Jun 24, 2019

There can only be one

ZeroX · Jun 24, 2019

I'm glad and relieved that it's good

I basically thought it would be terrible this whole time, feels nice to be wrong

r3n4ud · Jun 24, 2019

Really considering allocating some of my Steam sale monies for this sucker

Lynchian Anomaly · Jun 24, 2019

My copy arrived a few days ago. I'll get stuck in tomorrow. I'm glad Castlevania is back.

ioriyagami · Jun 24, 2019

I am curious if the Switch version will be reviewed that well. Not having 60fps gameplay will definitely have some negative impact.

rusty chrome · Jun 24, 2019

DrDeckard said:
Do I buy xbox or switch?

If those are the only two consoles you have just buy on whichever platform you feel like playing it on?

Khrol · Jun 24, 2019

DrDeckard said:
Do I buy xbox or switch?

Really boils down to 60fps vs 30fps

I double dipped though.

bane833 · Jun 24, 2019

Bought. Switch or PS4 is the question.

eXistor · Jun 24, 2019

Miker said:
I'm not a fan either. I think the character design is kind of awful (Miriam seems like a bad rough draft of Shanoa), and many of the environments I've seen are somewhat garish. Kind of reminds me of the clashing overbloomed and oversaturated look of Trine.

Gaudy is the word that was constantly swimming around in my head while playing. It's probably one of my bigger issues with the game, it just looks off. I hope the game does well though as it's a really fun game, but they really have to fix the look.

I was also constantly annoyed by the many, many fonts they keep using. Just the menu alone has like 5 different fonts going on at once.

LiK · Jun 24, 2019

Happy to be a backer of another well reviewed game.

Mars People · Jun 24, 2019

bane833 said:
Bought. Switch or PS4 is the question.

I wouldn't get the Switch version.
Its quite bad compared to the others.

Xater · Jun 24, 2019

I've been playing since launch. It's really good. Hope it also does well sales wise, just so Konami can see how wrong they were.

bane833 said:
Bought. Switch or PS4 is the question.

I'd take 60 fps over 30fps any day.

lazygecko · Jun 24, 2019

All in all it's a welcome return to form for a proper Igavania after just over a decade since the last Konami one. Though its impact is dulled considerably when you take into account how the subgenre has really exploded on the market over the last 5 years and that Metroidvanias are now pretty dime a dozen.

I consider it an alright 3/5 game mostly elevated above average by the fantastic sense of control and playability which the competition doesn't quite live up to yet. It's mainly the presentation, atmosphere and music that I don't think quite lives up to the pedigree set by Symphony of the Night and to an extent even the GBA games. I replayed most of the Igavania games back to back last year so they're all still pretty fresh in my mind which colors my perspective on Bloodstained.

For the sequel I hope they really try to iterate on the design in actually meaningful ways rather than retreading the same ground. I can give it a pass this time seeing as Iga and his team hadn't really gotten a momentum yet after the years long break after Konami. I'd rather see a new protagonist and that they move on from the shard system to something markedly different. This is the third game where the souls/shards (I guess 4th depending on how you count Ecclesia's system) system features prominently and it's starting to feel a bit like a design crutch too easy to fall back on.

Mugman · Jun 24, 2019

Backed day one and my Switch copy should be arriving today. The reviews and impressions are way better than I had expected, so I'm pretty pumped. Just played Timespinner on my Switch too, which was great but just made me even hungrier for one of these.

Deleted member 8852 · Jun 24, 2019

The art direction is a bit all over the place, but the gameplay is excellent. I'm happy with it.

bane833 · Jun 24, 2019

Xater said:
I'd take 60 fps over 30fps any day.

Didn't know there was a framerate difference. PS4 it is then.

Imitatio · Jun 24, 2019

Khrol said:
Really boils down to 60fps vs portability

I double dipped though.

Fixed. ;-)

Yuuber · Jun 24, 2019

Colour me surprised. I was really pessimistic about the game, but it seems it's a worthy SoTN successor.

TheMan · Jun 24, 2019

Even though the artstyle still turns me off, I'm glad to see this project has done well. Too often kickstarter games end up in the shitter. Hopefully, the next game will have the gameplay AND the graphics to do the series justice.

Barry Sandwich · Jun 24, 2019

TatteredHat said:
The art direction is a bit all over the place, but the gameplay is excellent. I'm happy with it.

The art direction throws back to SOTN.
It's the same 90's style in terms of colour schemes, rolling cloud textures etc.

On a different note, I hope they add more trophies for the DLC modes and other characters.

Datrael · Jun 24, 2019

I have 20 hours poured into this game already. I loved SoTN and the similar Castlevanias that followed. This game is all the good stuff from those times.

Sagroth · Jun 24, 2019

These days I tend to get bored with most games fairly easily, but I find it extremely difficult to put Bloodstained down. There's some jank here and there (been playing it unpatched on Xbone), but the overall experience is sublime.

antonio · Jun 24, 2019

I had confidence that it will be a great game, I backed it immediately..I think they should put more work in the Switch version because it will sell the most.

JoeyJungle · Jun 24, 2019

Barry Sandwich said:
The art direction throws back to SOTN.
It's the same 90's style in terms of colour schemes, rolling cloud textures etc.

There's a few art choices that really throw me off sometimes with just not knowing whether something's in the background or forefront as a platform/enemy. It was mostly just the ship in the very beginning though, even when i backtracked there after playing for ~6 hours I had the same issues. Haven't had too many problems like that in the castle, although i wish I could shift the camera up/down just to see where I would fall or jump options.

LaTasse · Jun 24, 2019

I loved the game despite its many flaws.

It could have used some prerelease reviews to increase the hype, though. I hope the game is going to sell well enough to allow the team to make a sequel.

Braaier · Jun 24, 2019

Hmm...I'm surprised this turned out well. May pick this up on Switch. But Mario Maker 2 is coming. Decisions....

gdt · Jun 24, 2019

How long is it? On average?

Can't deal with another long game at the moment.

Deleted member 33515 · Jun 24, 2019

Destructoid said:
as any Castlevania fan knows, partial jank comes with the territory

honestly in my mind Castlevania is the opposite of "jank", they're always polished experiences (at least the 2D games).

Pancracio17 · Jun 24, 2019

Glad this wasnt another Might No. 9 type situation, but I had faith the moment Curse of the Moon turned out to be a good game.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Review Thread

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