Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Koji Igarashi is renowned for developing the Castlevania series in the years 2001-2010 (however, he started his work on the series much earlier), who left Konami in 2014 to start creating games on his own. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the first independent game coming from this developer taking heavy inspiration from his critically acclaimed Castlevania series. The game is an action-adventure 2.5D platform game (also known as Metroidvania or Igavania games) set in the gothic horror setting. The studio behind the development of the game is Inti Creates, which is known for many games from the Mega Man series.

Story

The players assume the role of Miriam, a young orphan bearing a curse, which causes her skin to be partially transformed into crystal. After a 10-year long slumber, the girl wakes up in a castle roaming with demonic forces and heads out to meet the builder of the place, who was formerly her friend. Earlier, he succumbed to the same curse as she did, which resulted in him turning into the lord of darkness.

Mechanics

As with the Castlevania games, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night features a rather open world, which makes exploration an important part of the gameplay. Fighting demons and completing quests lets the players develop their character’s skills and gather various items. The latter include all manner of materials, which can be used to unlock new artifacts and skills, thanks to the included crafting system.

Game modes

Aside from the single-player mode, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night features a local co-op mode for two players. It is also possible to duel each other in the versus mode.

Technical aspects

The game features a relatively dark, cartoon style that refers to the classic Castlevania series. The game makes use of the Unreal Engine 4 technology. The music composed by Michiru Yamane, a composer who previously worked on games from the Castlevania series, is also very reminiscent of the original games. The involvement of David Hayter (the actor known primarily form the role of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series), who voices the main antagonist in Bloodstained is also worth noting.

Last updated on 08 March 2019