Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

If you are a fan of Castlevania or games of that nature, this is a great option! PLENTY of demon shards to acquire (Basically every single enemy), items to craft (weapons to food to potions to special shards), large map with a great amount of hidden rooms or breakable walls to boost your stats. Over all it is a win

If you love Metroidvanias, especially the GBA/DS Castlevania games, this is a must. Took a while to get into, but when you understand the systems and use a guide or two to know where to find some ingredients, then it becomes a lot of fun. It really nails the combat and drive to find that new item around every corner.

really awesome game!
I thought the art style was going to not sit right but at some point it kinda worked, it's not perfect but I think it fits the theme.
The story was alright, since it's a metroidvania most of the plot revolves around revealing backstory so I liked how we learned more about the cool worldbuilding as the game went on. Did it explain why this castle from hell looks like this? not really but the story seemed to be more character-driven than I expected.
The gameplay is really fun! This is definitely the part that is important and also what kept me playing. The whole shard system feels very fresh and was fun to experiment using the different ones for different situations. I do think all but ONE "puzzle" in the game was smartly thought of where it didn't feel to difficult to understand what the game wants me to do, the one puzzle that I hated though kind of relies on RNG and is the only one that relies on it so it felt like a cop out in design but at least the rest were good.
I also think the map/level design is awesome. Because you could easily tell if you are nearing a save point or have a gut feeling when you think a fast travel point is nearby. Plus I love how distinct each area looked so you don't get confused where you are even without looking at the full map.
The boss fights are very varied. Though I will note they range from super easy to cheese to learning difficult patterns and staying alive, almost nothing in between. All of them were fun though.
If you like Castlevania or just metroidvanias in general I think you will find a lot of fun in this game!

Yup it's Symphony of the Night but better. The art style's not as nice as the SOTN's but beyond that this is basically everything I enjoyed about SOTN but fully fleshed out and without the stupid ass upside down castle portion.

It's not doing anything new really, but it does take the knowledge of games that came before and put it all together. 40 bucks is kinda steep but ehhh I mean it's still probably the best Symphony of the Night type game so I'll let you decide.

Idk if it's better than Super Metroid, but it's easily the best Castlevania game of that style.

Use a guide if you get stuck. There's some real stupid shit that prevents you from progressing late game if you don't figure it out and ain't nobody got time for that. This is almost always the case in Metroidvanias and it's no different here. Kinda sucks but it is what it is. Doesn't help that I played half the game and then didn't play the rest of it for a year.

How many years later and we're still missing promised features?

Low quality DLC doesn't make up for it. I loved almost all of Koji's Castlevania games dearly. I have a pretty large tattoo of Alucard on my arm. Look at my steam profile. Big fan.

This entire venture has been surprisingly underwhelming. This entire experience has been exceptionally disappointing. Makes me start to wonder if Konami got rid of him because his hand of midas/lightning in a bottle just wasn't there anymore.

Seems like it. Very sad. Hopefully he can find some inspiration that snaps him back on track.

Legally distinct Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia 2, now in even more 2.5D

Pros
- plays like a more refined OoE
- has giant cats

Cons
- if you thought soul grinding in Dawn of Sorrow was bad, shard/loot grinding in this game is even worse
- the 2.5D style makes distinguishing environments really difficult at times and result in some janky hitbox issues
- you are forced to kill the giant cats

Mixed journey through the game. I hated the first 6 or so hours because the 2.5D style really threw me off, but once I got used to it, it wasn't bad, but I still wished this was in true 2D. Progression system is uneven, really weak at the start, and super strong at the end due to how the passive shards can be ranked up and stacked at the end.

In terms of difficulty relative to past Castlevania titles, I'd rank it between DoS and OoE, but lean more toward DoS on the easier side of things.

Overall 7/10. If you like Castlevania you will most likely like this as well. Game is fine, but it could've been way better.

This is not a review about the game itself, I actually really enjoyed playing this game. But I felt I had to leave a negative review to show that I'm quite pissed after recently finding out that my previous 100% achievements for this game was removed from me, all because the developers decided to not only add more to the game, but to also lock those behind paid DLC that is apparently a) not like the rest of the game, and b) not very well-made.

You can call me petty all you want, but it's not often I actually beat games these days, let alone go for 100% in them. And to get it for this game I had to do some pretty damn grindy things that were not that enjoyable for hours at a time, given the sheer amount of collectibles there are in this game. So me losing that status for this game is not something I'm happy with at all and, to be completely honest, should not be something that's allowed to happen. Steam really needs to do what they do on consoles and add separate categories for base game achievements and post-launch/DLC achievements. Until then, devs need to not be stupid like this and sour on players who put the effort in to get all achievements.

Superb game in every regard. Looks, sounds, and most importantly, PLAYS unreal. Maps design is amazing, atmosphere is dripping, and when you finish the game you'll want to play again. Metroid-vania done by the man himself...

Truly a worthy spiritual successor, love the music and gameplay. Quality wise some character seems unpolished but other than that it is a great game, a masterpiece in my own opinion.

One of the best Metroidvanias out there. Is it better than Aria of Sorrow? Unsure. It is longer, and consequently less tight, but that the comparison can be made at all is great news. Bloodstained is absolutely a worthy successor to the legacy.

Had avoided buying Bloodstained all these years because screenshots and videos of its gameplay simply looked ugly to me. Finally caved in after looking at 94% positive reviews and bought it with a 75% discount.

Maybe i'm simply so spoiled by all those wonderful indie metroidvanias from more recent years that my desire for comfort (common QOL features like auto/custom map markers and at least some kind of progression route clues) now greatly outweighs my nostalgia for Castlevania, but i regret spending even that little money on this one. Bloodstained is a 2019 game that somehow plays (and looks) so much worse than the ~early 2000s games that it tries so hard to replicate, not to mention various metroidvanias released around the same time as it did.

Movement feels clunky. Miriam moves slowly and her backstep is useless because its distance is way shorter than most of enemies and bosses' attack range. Combined with messy hitboxes and contact damage it turns combat into a chore. Bosses are entirely unmemorable. The castle's layout is boring. Map is barely any help when it comes to backtracking - there are no auto markers other than save rooms and portals, and a single type of custom marker which you get a limited number of. Visuals, on top of being unpleasant in general (everything looks like it's covered in a thick layer of grease), are very inconsistent in style and quality between areas, some of them straight up look unfinished. Character designs - which look very good in hand-drawn promotional artwork! - look horrendous as 3D models, with the single exception being the protagonist. At some point story progression gets locked behind rng - a spell that has a 10% chance to drop from a random enemy - and there are no clues given about this, none whatsoever.

Plus there are more Castlevania references and annoying, out-of-place easter eggs for kickstarter backers packed into this thing than there's original plot and lore. It's like a checkbox of various features copied from the franchise as-is, with absolutely nothing new or unique added to the mix, which makes it feel even more like an inferior imitation rather than a proper spiritual successor.

Figured i'd try getting all achievements anyway just because eh why not, Bloodstained is mediocre but it's not the worst game i've ever played (definitely one of the ugliest though, the contrast between its promotional artwork and the real ingame graphics is unreal), but later discovered that 100%ing Bloodstained requires purchasing a DLC of a separate campaign that costs almost as much as what i already paid and yeah, no, i'm not spending any more money or time on this.

Bloodstained is a tricky one. It feels very, very old - even for an OG crowdsourcing game. Truthfully, I'd only recommend this one to the bigger fans of Metroidvanias as it leans more into the '-Vania' side of things. You'll find a lot of things missing in Bloodstained vs. it's 2019 contemporaries.

The good: The game has a lot of style and many of the biomes feel very different from each other. Combat versus standard enemies can be satisfying as there are many different play styles accommodated through a variety of weapons, gear and magic. Powering up in Bloodstained also scratches that itch that only few other games can - you're almost always boosting some sort of stat, either through levelling yourself up, your summon, your gear or your magic. It can get very addictive very fast - I've even noted out loud how some of the feedback loop feels on par with gambling or gacha gaming.

The bad: Combat against bosses boils down to two modes - either you crush them because you're vastly more powerful or it's a matter of having enough healing items on hand to win. There is no middle ground here. Miriam feels like molasses for most of the game - slow movement speed, an imprecise jump due to the 2.5D rendering style and a perpetual lack of navigation unlocks. No matter what boss you just beat, what shard you just got... it's not long until you slam into another obstacle you just aren't equipped to tackle. This feels super frustrating, as the map is no help and you just run around aimlessly trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. As I mentioned up front, this is more of a -Vania title, so you don't get a forward dodge, just a backstep that avoids fuck all. I've eaten tons of damage trying to dodge on reflex and Miriam just does a pathetic hop backwards. Input / hit detection also seems to be an issue, as multiple times Miriam hasn't jumped or attacked when prompted alongside many instances of my weapon going through objects or enemies with no damage. The story isn't great, but it's serviceable. Now that I'm on NG+, I definitely don't feel bad mashing skip to get back to the gameplay.

The ugly: The game's greatest sin is it is BEYOND obtuse. You WILL be looking up guides for what to do next. This is a game that tried to do the Dark Souls 'item description' runaround but then... patched out the items' effects and didn't change the description. Fucking why? Many times the way forward is beyond counter-intuitive. Even worse, you'll be given an item and told it's important... but zero context on when and where to use it. Then there are items you're supposed to pick up in the environment in order to progress in the game at all... but ZERO prompts or hints on what to do or where to look for them. It's infuriating and an absolute waste of the player's time. Hell, the number of times I got a Game Over for killing a boss when it seemed like the only step left for me to do made me want to uninstall the game. Don't even get me started about the fucking enemy they make you sit and wait around for 2 minutes to show up to grind shards. Finally, the endgame is all about endless grinding. It got to the point I was worried I was going to ruin my Steam Deck's d-pad from running left and right to refresh rooms. For a game about alchemy, it's incredibly stingy until you power up and then it completely falls apart. The game doesn't have a middle ground at all.

All that to say... For every flaw I mentioned, the game had it's hooks in me. I couldn't put it down. Once you reach that threshold where you feel powerful / have your movement abilities and get into the swing of boosting your shards into stat bonuses, the world starts to open up. I knew I was stuck grinding shit out, but the flashing lights and colours for every little thing really hits that dopamine rush.

I'd say this is a good game if you like Castlevania, a maybe if you like Metroid and an avoid unless on deep discount for anybody else curious.

Solid gameplay and filled with content with just decent QoL. I am not very experienced in metroidvanias but this is very much doable and enjoyable even so. The biggest highlight is being able to gain new abilities from shard drops you get from most enemies which have something for everyone, including things like summoning enemies, shooting magic bolts and even converting blood on the map into health. Enemy designs and their voices can look a bit over the top or downright silly but that feels like what the devs were going for.

You get a bunch of extra modes and 2 other playable characters that have their own campaigns. Overall the value for money is very good, though I'd still wait for the frequent -75% discounts unless you're feeling generous.

There are some quality of life issues like the low drop rates of shards and materials so some players choose to install mods that improve it. It does get frustrating if you play it unmodded and want to upgrade certain abilities, make weapons or food. Character customisation is here but it's basic stuff like changing colours and some hairstyles that I find to be worse than the default. Some equipment modify your looks but those are not the norm. Healing items are expensive and not that good but that is part of the experience. Minor gripes but still thought I'd mention them.

Its just Symphony of the night if it was bad. Final areas were miserable and combat was mediocre at best

If a game looks like Castlevania, plays like a NDS Castlevania, has a story like Castlevania, and sounds like Castlevania—then it's Castlevania!

This action game is a love letter to the classic series, capturing its essence in visuals, gameplay, story, and music. Fans will feel right at home. I am starting to think about have a Handheld game consoles to play those kinds.

If you love Castlevania, this game is a must-play. While it doesn’t bear the name, everything about it pays homage to the classic.

Score: 9/10

P:

As you seen on the store page

Tight, challenging combat system

Excellent soundtrack and atmosphere

Classic exploration and puzzle elements

S:

Predictable story with little innovation

Some levels may be tough for newcomers

constant fatal error crashing. Super frustrating that I can run high end modern games but cant play a 5 year old game for more than like 5 minutes without crash.

This game is good and I recommend it if you're a fan of the Castlevania side of the genre, but it really feels like the game is really, really trying to get you to remember that this is the guy who made Symphony of the Night, often to it's own detriment. Hopefully if RotN2 actually comes around then it'll decide to shoot for it's own identity instead of just making SotN again,

Amo Castlevania quando descobri que Bloodstained era do criador de um dos meus castlevania favorito
O sorrow of dissonance (Do GBA). Me surpreendi o jogo realmente é bom O esquema de colecionar Almas no caso de Bloodstained é Fragmentos é muito divertido. Vale a pena As DLC são boas para quem gosta dos primeiro castlevania em especial Simon quest (que era um jogo dificil na epoca kkk) O Modo classico II é tao dificil quanto

Fun metroidvania with an emphasis of build crafting and farming for your build. Boss are not that rememberable but the map itself was.

It was pretty good. Not normally a fan of the 3D animated feel (almost feels like a PS1 or PS2 game at times), but I do like a good Metroidvania and this was a good Metroidvania.

Fantastic igavania.

A bit much to collect for completion, but I honestly believe that connects well to the intended audience.
The build variety is nuts, and the amount of loadout slots is there to match it.

I'm a bit of a swabbie, so I tend to grind mobs for their drops and shards- real g's will go straight to the next boss always (and miss like 50% of the game lol).

Liked this game so much I bought it twice! (Nintendo Switch and Steam)

This game is amazing and still holds up several years later. I originally tried playing this on PS4 back in 2020 and got about halfway through before stopping for some reason I can't remember. I had been wanting to get back and finish it eventually and bought it on PC as part of a bundle with another game a few days ago.

There's just so much put into this game. It feels very much like castlevania in that it's side scrolling and you have rather simple weapon attacks, but it's much more than castlevania because there's stats, weapons to find, abilities to unlock and upgrade, items to create and food to cook and all that to get buffs after buffs after buffs.

Secret rooms? Check
Optional Bosses? Check
Plot Twists? Check

You could easily spend 20 hours on your first playthough - at least if you're someone who wants to see and do everything you can and be as strong as possible for the final showdown... Of course... I think I pretty much got so strong that after the first 3 or 4 bosses, everything was trivial, but I mean... that's just part of the beauty of this game I suppose. Of course, I played on Normal, but still... I'm not usually one to play these games and it was fun to get stronger every time I unlocked something.

1 Word: Durandal.

On top of everything I already mentioned, there's like.... two extra characters to play in a heavily modified version of the main game and even a secret character to play as, too. Then there's at least half a dozen Side Modes (one of which is a $10 DLC). Two of the modes (including the DLC one) play like old school castlevania and are rather frustrating because of it, but still... It's so cool to just play anyway.

Ok, so it took a few years to get around to playing this game. I've played Igarashi's previous efforts with Castlevania so I'm well versed in what he's capable of. The truth is, despite RotN having a ton of hype and high expectations, there's a lot to love and hate respectively.

In true metroidvania fashion, exploration is a big deal here. There's a giant sprawling map with plenty of secret areas and breakable walls. You know the drill. There's also a lot of content to miss out on if you aren't completing the map, such as secret bosses and gear. I can't really complain, it leaves the player with plenty to do and come back to.

Weapon variety is good. A lot of stuff you'll probably just use for a second or two and then vendor, but the weapons that shine truly shine. It's up to you to decide which ones that is other than this games version of the crissaegrim. It's busted and no one will judge you for using it late game. They also added techniques and masteries for certain weapons and I can't say I care too much about it.

The shard system is interesting but incredibly grindy and this is sort of where my criticism starts. Grinding out the best passive shards, which you should be doing, takes hours upon hours of wiki searching, finding the mobs that drop them, hoping they drop the shards and so on. Then actually upgrading it to have stronger effects is often times a late game venture just due to the materials required. Overall I really don't enjoy this aspect of the game and see it as missed potential

There's also a lot of jank in the game. And that can be ok. Symphony of the Night is janky in a very endearing way that a lot of players have come to love. There's just something off about Bloodstained. For me it's the abyssal movement speed, hitboxes and mobs just walking into your character. You can backdash cancel to make up for the slow movement but even that doesn't always feel great.

The graphics straight up suck. I hate 2.5D or whatever it is. It would have been better in 2D and be way better optimized. The game doesn't necessarily run bad but why does a game like this need cinematic and epic graphics options. Most computers from the time this game came out won't be running those presets

Boss fights are pretty boring. I guess the secret bosses are sort of interesting but none really stick out as fun or mechanically satisfying. Most can be jumped over and cut from the back until it turns around, rinse repeat.

The most fun I had with RotN is just going through and seeing the older Castlevania callbacks and fan service. I really hope that if Koji does a sequel for this game, he trims a lot of the fat and sticks with what will actually improve gameplay. Also I didn't bother with the DLC because I don't care.

Pretty good. Expect to spend a lot of time killing those murderers dead.

The first time I played Bloodstained, I wasn't well versed in more "classic" metroidvanias ala "Igavanias". I wrote the game off and decried it as slow, janky, weird, and boring.

I was dumb. I was wrong.

Bloodstained is a love letter to a bygone era of metroidvanias. Where a lot of modern entries are more focused on speed and increasingly more hardcore and complex combat, Bloodstained keeps it simple with the basics of an era of metroidvanias I myself, have never experienced.

I hadn't played many metroidvanias with the shard/enemy-skill capture system, so my initial try of the game, it just felt reductive. I expected to get more complex gameplay with 1-3 weapons, but instead the game has dozens if not over a hundred different spells, weapons, summons, etc.

There's so much room to play the game however you want that it was actually more refreshing and felt more complex than many modern metroidvanias. The shortcut system, of saving multiple loadouts was definitely a fantastic addition to the game. It allows the player to set up 1-8 complete loadouts to change on the fly, which lets the player change armor, weapons, shards, and entire skillsets with a simple input.

The story wasn't anything groundbreaking, but I enjoyed what was there. There were a few twists and story moments that I didn't see coming that were definitely cool to experience.

All in all Bloodstained is a fantastic game. The gameplay is phenomenal. Its extremely polished. At $40, this game is a steal! If you like metroidvanias, you owe it to yourself to play Bloodstained.

Amazing game. At first I dropped it since I'm used to the newer mechanics in metroidvanias such as parries and rolls. Decided "Aahh why not" when I didn't have anything and beat the game and it ended up becoming one of my all time favourites. 10/10 Would HIGHHHHLY recommend it if you'd like a challenging metroid game

A very poor imitation of Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Doesn't controll, look, sound or play as well. There are many better metroidvania games out there. Don't waste your time.

Pretty good game, but it so easily be better. Lots to praise about it, such as the exploration and the amount of effort that went into it, but being locked out of progress by a single item that is obscure is hard to swallow. Do this literally four times, with the one time being RNG based change of getting the item or not, and the thumb goes down. Worth it on a sale and if you like castlevania or anime type gayms, but not worth it at full price I rate. Also, google progression as soon as you feel stuck. literally nothing to gain in this game by wasting the amount of time I did forcing myself to look for clues (they do not exist, you must be lucky or extremely thorough in uncovering the map).

Terrible Content and Support.
I bought this game in 2021. Enjoyed playing it and beat game and got some achievements. I bought all the DLC end of December of 2024. I still cannot even access Dominique's Curse, among other things. Support has been useless. I've tried everything they've asked, and still nothing. I absorbed the blood today and should have gotten a new achievement. Nothing. Search results show this achievement bug was an issue three years ago.

It's a direct downgrade from Castlevania SOTN, so it is very VERY similar but it is not a GOAT. I'm still loving it.

same love as Castlevania Symphony of the night, very diverse game

Platinumed this on my PS4, gonna 100% it again here. Absolutely fantastic game and well worth it.

The base game (+ IGA's Backpack DLC) is an alright Metroidvania with good music, memorable enemies and a (in a good way) broken combat system. However, hitboxes in this game can be painful from beginning to end. Overall, the attention to detail makes it worth it. The Dominique's Curse DLC is an extra mode that has its moments, but plays far worse than the base game.

Completionist's note: 100% achievement completion requires DLC. Base game achievements boil down to grinding enemies for hours on end, DLC achievements boil down to dealing with janky controls and looking up guides. Also, the DLC contains missable achievements.

Review after getting 100% completion and all non-dlc achievements:

This is the second time I've 100% completed Bloodstained now, the first time was in 2019 when the game first released on the Switch.
Needless to say I love this game and I really hope to one day see a sequel.
If you are even remotely interested in Metroid and/or Castelvania (or metroidvanias in general) then this is a must play and is a really good game to play on a handheld (I played this mostly on the Legion GO)

This game has a ton of weapons, armour, enemies, secrets to find, lots to collect and it took me about 50 hours to get 100% and see everything the game has to offer including the secret bosses.

I'm not going to say this is a perfect game as I do have my small nitpicks.
To start, breaking down weapons, armour, items etc for crafting resources (you'll be doing this a lot if you want 100%) requires you to have multiple alkahest (between 10 and 15) in your inventory that cost 750g each.
This is genuinely infuriating as very quickly you'll find you'll run out of gold buying this potions and grinding for them takes forever even with tier 9 passive shards and max luck.
There is really good gold farming methods post game with the shard accelerate but it's literally just running back and forth for like 15 minutes and it's just boring.
It would be better if the cost of alkahest was halved or there was a secret post game item that reduces the dismantle cost of all items to 1-5 alkahest.

There's a lot of materials in the game that have a super low drop rate of 5% and even some materials that can only be obtained by dismantling weapons/equipment or from blue chests that respawn every time the entire area is reloaded, such as gold (the material not currency) which you'll need a lot of to max level all shards and get all equipment among other materials but I use gold as an example as it was for me the worst material to get a lot of.
It would be cool if the devs made it so once you get 100% of all items in the game your reward is every item becomes available for purchase in the shop, that would be a really good reward for completing the item log.

Apart from those main points I really don't have any complaints with this game, I really enjoyed my time with it on the Switch and I've loved replaying it again on Steam (my Legion Go)

I wanted to talk about the story of Bloodstained but I'll be real with you I don't play these games for the story and I have no idea what is happening

This game has a randomizer built in which needless to say adds so much replayability to the game and I really can't wait to actually get stuck into a full run as I am a huge fan of metroid/zelda/Pokemon randomizers they are too much fun and I think more metroidvanias should have a randomizer built in but sadly they don't.

Iga is still the GOAT and I can't express how much I would LOVE to see Bloodstained 2 get announced, I love this game!

This is meant to be played on Nightmare difficulty. And without DLC in the early game.
Early on, you have 2 simple weapons and 2 magic. 3 enemy hits will kill you.
You plan around your limited mana & weapon range to progressively get to each safe room.
Then slowly you find more weapons and random magic, making each discovery impactful.
The first boss has unique mechanics on Nightmare, which makes it feel impossible.
You learn a hidden mechanic to tackle the first boss, but it is never easy.
The game really opens up after that. Lots of unique weapons with their own nuances.
You randomly learn magic from each monster. Very fun and challenging game.
The DLC is fun using in the mid game.

Been a long time I have played a Castlevania game and this sure scratch the itch. This is pretty much a Castlevania game along the lines of Aria/Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. I'm not sure if it's just me but I find the Normal difficulty seem kinda easy with regards to the boss fights.

Overall, I had significant fun playing this game that I grind to Level 99 with 100% Map, Demons and Items which this could have been a Completed game but DLC achievements blocked that smh. Hope this game gets a sequel even if not a story continuation.

First off, let me say that I really WANT to like this game. The story is good (what I've seen so far), and the art direction is GREAT. I mean the game just LOOKS cool. However, actually playing the game is often more frustrating than fun. And don't get me wrong, I like Blasphemous, Salt & Sanctuary, Hollow Knight and other similar games. But I've tried to play this game several times over the past year and after a few hours, I just stop every time. I will give a few details why.

1) Dodging is unintuitive. There is one dodge button and it makes you jump backward from the direction you are facing. So, if you are trying to back away from an attack and hit the dodge button, you will actually jump into the attack instead of further away from it.

2) Weapons don't aim up or down. Something right below you? You can't hit it. Something right above you? You can't hit it. Facing the wrong direction but close to the enemy? Turning around will make you run into the enemy and get hit.

3) Loot drops are random and pretty low. If you like running around farming areas you've already been to for low drop-rate stuff, this is the game for you. If you don't, well you are out of luck, because that's what you have to do.

4) Weapons are weak sauce and a lot of the spells are more weird than useful. At least in the early game (as far as I've made it), the weapons hit like wet noodles and especially on bosses you will be relying on spells. However, most of the spells are just plain useless and if you didn't get lucky and unlock the actually good ones, you will be slamming your head against the wall wondering why the bosses are so hard until you go back and farm enemies (see point #3)

Looks nice good storytelling but only for hardcore players. Played on normal got backside handed to me on the first boss and its permadeath forcing you to start from the beginning, Shame as I really wanted to like this.

Honestly phenomenal game. I'm not a huge fan of the Metoridvania genre, never have been, never grew up playing any of the originals either. But something about this game is just amazing. (No its not 100% because of pretty anime girls)
I love the shard and "Magic" system, the boss fights are fun, I LOVE the music, the character customization is fantastic as well, the lore, and the weapons are all fun. Oh and the easter eggs, there are so many, so many cross overs, "Secondary" stories you can do as other characters and its all just great.
Still trying to find the last .5% of the map im missing.

MF just buy this S***! if you like Castlevanias like Symphony of the Night and the one with that Soma Guy collecting souls Iga is the one who was pretty much made those and this one. It's better than I expected it to be if i knew it was gonna be this i probably would have bought it full price preorder kickstarter whatever but i didn't really hear about it till after it hit steam i was probably playing Elderscrolls or Fallout or one of the other 200+ games i have after you buy this maybe there will be another one out.

Great game. A bit visually janky but everything else outweighs that. One of the better crowd funded games out there.

It's Symphony of the Night but modern and with a different art style.

It has been entertaining for a few hours. I decided to drop it because I was getting bored and it was more of the same thing, and the game just kept going. I think most games are too long, especially metroidvanias, and this one definitely is too long. The game mechanics or narrative don't justify its length. But I know a lot of people disagree with me about the length of games.

Regardless, it's a competent game with SotN-like exploration, and interesting bosses to beat.

Ritual of the Night is way more interesting than my own night ritual, which is taking a massive poo and going to bed

Great game overall.

I initially played this game on switch but after the first hour I just gave up as I couldn't stand the blurry graphics and low fps. Didn't get a chance to play the PC version until recently and it made me realized how much I enjoyed the Castlevania games on GBA.

This game on PC looks great and plays so smoothly. I would recommend playing this game with the vertical sync off that way it doesn't cap fps at 60. What got me hooked early on was how quickly I felt I was progressing and growing in the game. There is also an amazing diversity of the weapons and skills (shards) in this game. Choose your play style and you can't really go wrong with any weapons or shards you like.

A couple of down sides:
-Game is too short. Really wished the game was longer as some of the really cool weapons and shards did not become available until late in the game. I played slow as I farmed a lot and took a lot of time cooking and crafting. I heard people usually beat the game in 20 hours. I beat in 40.
-Farming for materials can be repetitive.
-There is a lack of diversity of demons.

I heard there is a sequel to ROTN which got me really pumped. Can't wait to play it.

Would recommend the game to anyone.

Igavanias were getting stale back when Dawn Of Sorrow was new. Like many other has-been game producers that like to slap their name on everything they touch, Igarashi is incapable of coming up with anything but worse and worse copies of his one claim to fame.

I knew that much, and still wanted to try it, out of morbid curiosity, if nothing else. What I didn't know is that this game (made on Unreal Engine, btw) would crash to desktop with no warning ten minutes in. Without saving any progress. At least in this one aspect it truly is a modern game.

I'll pass.

Very similar to Symphony of the Night, which is both a blessing and a curse. But mostly a blessing - no reason to change stuff up when it works. It's a bit longer than the game it's heavily inspired by, but not by a whole lot and the non-sale price seems a tad exccessive given the (for me personally) low replay value outside of challenge runs or other characters. There's also no way to buy a complete edition of the game with all DLCs included, which is always a bummer when a game has multiple.

This is a cut and dry copypaste of Castlevania (which makes sense, since the devs of Symphony of the Night worked on this one).

My biggest gripe is that it's forgettable. The game doesn't pushes the genre forward and it's nowhere near as good/unique to replay it but I had fun with it.

I wish it was different tho, because it feels like a merge of SOTN with Aria/Dawn of Sorrows.

I tried really hard to like this game. I'm a huge fan of metroidvania games and sidescrollers in general but sadly I couldn't bring myself to keep at it after about 10 hours. I love SOTN and games like it but the most important part in games like these comes down to how good the controls and the mechanics feel. For me none of it felt right, especially the controls. Every movement felt delayed and floaty compared to other sidescrollers.

there is definetly a good game hiding underneath it. I played the 8-bit game they released as a fundraiser goal and it is fantastic. If you are looking for a "retro-feeling" Castlevania game then get that!

Absolutely fantastic metroidvania. 10/10: It let me start the game with a GameSack power strip sword.

It's alright. I was one of the original backers. I backed the game before there was even any gameplay. I really wish they had gone with pixel art rather than the 2.5D look. Symphony Of The Night was one of the most beautiful games ever made, & I'm still hoping it will get a PC release one day.