Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

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Review:

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a Metroidvania designed by one of the fathers of the genre, Koji Igarashi, whose Castlevania: Symphony of the Night still stands tall as not only one of the foundational games of the Metroidvania genre, but also still to this day one of its greatest. With Igarashi now split off from Konami, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is his attempt to return to that style of game, with a title that is unashamedly directly inspired by that game and its successors.

To say that Bloodstained has had a rough start on the Switch would be an understatement. Early adopters complained about terrible graphics compared to other versions, horrible input lag, and game-breaking glitches. I unfortunately do not have the luxury of comparing the Switch version of the game to other versions, nor can I say how much it has improved from post-launch patches. I can only describe what I’m playing now, today, on the Switch.

Not knowing any of that stuff, I can say that many of these complaints are still very valid now. The graphics here are really rough, with a lot of aliasing and flicker in the backgrounds, and frustratingly common pauses for loading during transitions from one room to the next. In some areas, the graphical issues become downright distracting, in what would otherwise be a pretty good-looking game.

Also, I definitely detect some sluggishness in this game’s controls and movement, though I’m not sure how much of that is due to input lag, and how much is due to the player character simply feeling sluggish compared to other Metroidvanias. Also, the extensive use of 3D graphics often makes it difficult to judge where things are, and players will undoubtedly find themselves thinking they are out of range of an enemy, or that they’re going to be making a jump, only to find that the game’s visuals have screwed up their gameplay.

Underneath it all is gameplay that still feels very much like Symphony of the Night, and in a way that’s part of the problem. So much of what’s here seems like it directly pulls from that game and its successors, and not in a nice, nostalgic way, but in a tired, “oh, they’re doing that thing again” way.

Areas in the game are separated by “loading” rooms, even though there’s not much reason for them to be here and as I said pauses to load still exist within the area itself. Players gain abilities directly from enemies much like in the DS Castlevania games. The game is loaded with cut-scenes for the new lore that has the same ham-fisted dialogue of the Castlevania games, without the charm of being… you know, Castlevania.

That’s one of the things that hurts this game the most. It constantly invites or even demands comparisons to the Castlevania series, and often it is found wanting in these comparisons. This game’s demons simply don’t have the personality of Castlevania’s army of skeletons, fishmen, and Medusa heads, nor do its characters hold a candle to the likes of Simon Belmont, Alucard, Soma Cruz, or Dracula.

All of this isn’t to say that there’s not good gameplay to be found here – there certainly is. At the end of the day, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is still curbing all its best ideas directly from one of the greatest games of all time. However, the combination of this game’s distracting and frustrating technical flaws alongside its lack of a strong personality of its own means that while it’s an enjoyable game, it’s one that will constantly be making you want to play the much better one it’s clearly copying.

tl;dr – Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a Metroidvania designed by the creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and it shows… for better or worse. This game’s lack of its own distinct identity combined with serious technical flaws that still plague it a half a year after launch make it difficult to appreciate the good gameplay that’s buried underneath. Fans of the genre will still likely want to check it out, but absolutely do not expect the second coming of Symphony.

Grade: B-

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