Koji Igarashi knows why people are still in love with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night more than 20 years after its release. It not only changed the direction of the series but also defined an entire genre of gaming. The journey that began with the launch of the Kickstarter back in 2015, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a modern, side-scrolling action RPG experience that will satisfy long-time fans of Iga’s previous work, as well as entice players new to his legacy.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is set in 18th century England – a paranormal force has summoned a demon-infested castle, revealing crystal shards infused with tremendous magical power.layers take on the role of Miriam, an orphan scarred by an alchemist curse which slowly crystallizes her body. To save humanity and herself, Miriam must fight through the castle while collecting, crafting and unlocking a vast array of weapons, equipment and loot to defeat.
I am a few hours into it and well…It’s not early game easy. The first boss almost killed me, but in the end between using magic to deal more damage (got the “Ghost” shard, which dealt 30hp damage twice, while my attacks did 6 each) and learning the patterns, it went down before I lost. Afterwards, I went exploring the castle, and almost got killed by normal enemies, mostly bats, before deciding to go back to town and go to sleep. I’ve had 2 other game overs since. Its much more forgiving than Dark Souls, I’ll give it that. But like all traditional RPGS you can grind levels. Igavanias just hit the sweet spot of RPG-like depth without feeling like they weigh the game down.
In addition to the sprawling single-player story experience with alternate endings, more than a dozen DLCs will be released post-launch as free updates, including Online and Local Co-op and VS. mode, Roguelike mode, Boss Rush, Chaos mode and Nightmare Difficulty. Secret playable characters are also awaiting discovery, increasing the replay value even further.
It’s exactly what I wanted it to be. There was no need to reinvent the wheel here, this particular wheel works great. More wheels please. Get this game, it’s fantastic.
Throwback interview with Koji Igarashi from Pax West 2017 right here: https://soundcloud.com/poppundits/interview-with-koji-igarashi
-Dagobot
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