Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is an Action-Platformer that was originally created as a stretch goal for the Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Where that game was a 3D Metroidvania that looked to reproduce the legendary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, this game is a sprite-based Action-Platformer that tries to recapture the magic of the old-school NES Castlevania games, specifically Castlevania III.

Graphically, this game looks spot-on for an old NES game, albeit with graphics that are better than anything we saw on the NES. This game has a superb style to it that really captures the feel of what the game’s creators were going for, although in one place I feel like the presentation goes a bit too far – I didn’t really need to have the sprite flickering to get nostalgia from this game, guys.

As for the gameplay, I am genuinely surprised and delighted by what I find here. They really did a good job of recapturing that old-school magic while updating the formula to be a bit more in line with modern sensibilities.

As with Castlevania III, players can swap between characters encountered early in the game. However, this time they don’t have to pick one to be stuck with for the rest of the game, they can swap between the four main characters at will. The game is designed around this concept too, with enemies and challenges that may be easier to take on as one of the four protagonists than the others.

The challenge levels here have been reworked, too. While this game is still damn challenging in areas, it isn’t quite “Nintendo Hard” like the old Castlevania games were. Part of this is thanks to the game’s swappable characters allowing for more ways players can deal with obstacles and enemies, and part is due to a “Casual” mode that removes some of the controller-tossing challenges those earlier games posed (like enemies knocking you off of ledges).

The characters here are all pretty enjoyable to play too. The main character plays like the old Belmonts, but with a sword and a different array of power-ups, there’s a whip-user with high jumps, a wizard-type with delightfully overpowered spells but low health and terrible melee attacks, and a Vampire-esque character who can transform into a bat. While these characters will undoubtedly seem very familiar to those who played Castlevania III, I’m happy to say that each of them feels distinctly their own unique character, albeit one that would not be out-of-place in a Castlevania game.

One other place this game shines is in its well-designed levels and especially its excellent bosses, which are really inspired and clever, with most of them playing almost like a puzzle to be solved – which character do you use to avoid their attacks and strike back, and how do you go about it?

With these great qualities going for it, the game does have a few things going against it. Firstly, the game isn’t terribly long, taking just a few hours to beat. Secondly, while the game’s bosses are fantastic, the standard enemies you fight aren’t quite as memorable and iconic as those you see in the Castlevania series. Also, while this game does a good amount to modernize the Castlevania III formula, I wish it did more in that regard. This game still has some archaic holdovers from that game, such as bonuses that disappear within seconds of enemies dropping them, and your inability to swap back if you accidentally grab a sub-weapon you don’t want.

However, these are minor complaints about what is, on the whole, a delightful throwback to a golden era of gaming. While Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon may have began its life as a bonus little nostalgia trip for supporters of Ritual of the Night, it has actually turned out to be a solid game in its own right. I wish it were longer, and I wish it did more to utilize the progress the genre has made in the last few decades, but overall this is a superb game that fans of classic Castlevania should consider a must-have.

tl;dr – Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is an Action-Platformer that was clearly inspired by Castlevania III, and it does a fantastic job of honoring the legacy of that game while updating the gameplay to be better-suited to modern sensibilities. I wish the game were longer, and I wish it went even farther in updating the classic Castlevania formula to suit the modern day, but largely this game succeeds and fans of the genre, especially old-school Castlevania fans, should consider this a must-have.

Grade: B+

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