Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

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.

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.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the unofficial Castlevania spin-off!
Everything in this game is a reference to our beloved vampire video game series: from the weapons, spells and creatures, to the over-the-top story, cliché characters and campy dialogues. Bloodstained pays homage to Castlevania, and it does it brilliantly. If you are a big fan of the original series, you will very much enjoy this game!

The first 60% of the game is amazing. Great level design, mostly clear direction, memorable abilities and bosses, etc. I think most of the weapons are fun, and the bosses are generally quite good. Unfortunately, that's the extent of my praise.

The game forces you to play in normal mode on your first play through, which sucks because the game is really easy. I reckon if you don't use the food buffs or upgrade the spells it could be better, but I ended up killing most bosses in like 15 to 20 seconds because some of the spells do absurd damage and I never ran out of mana. I don't mind unbalanced single player games most of the time, but when its trivially easy to find a build that allows me to ignore the boss attack patterns I'm effectively missing out on content at that point. I'm not sure if the harder difficulties actually require you to engage with the different damage types (I would've loved to find out), but it seemed a largely arbitrary system that only meant I did like 5% more damage to some enemies.

The last part of the game is an absolute mess. Multiple times I thought "this can't be what I'm supposed to be doing" and then, lo and behold, it was in fact what I was supposed to be doing. For instance, I received a random rare item drop that allowed me to skip through an entire area, but since that CLEARLY was not what I was supposed to be doing I backtracked and searched for at least 2 hours for the intended route. Turns out the RANDOM ITEM DROP WAS THE INTENDED ROUTE, at least according to the wiki and every guide I looked up. Another example would be that a section of the game requires you to equip a certain item to progress, but the only way you would know this is if you actively went out of your way to read the item descriptions, which aren't shown to you unless you menu for thirty seconds. Funnily enough, I found an actual way to cheese that section by just damage boosting, but in my stupidity I yet again backtracked and wasted at least 3 hours searching for an item that I already had. I'm not a fan of massive hand holding in games, but I think its not that hard to avoid hand holding without wasting hours of my time by being deliberately confusing.

There are also numerous little annoyances, like overall slow menuing, the limited number of already inconveniently placed fast travel points, the shops in the hub being annoyingly far apart, forced dialogue every time you open a shop (which sometimes randomly changes to important plot/instructional dialogue, which you will often accidentally skip since the game has actively conditioned you to skip it. If steam recording wasn't a thing I wouldn't have seen most of this dialogue). None of this bothered me while I was enjoying the actual game, but once I lost patience with the main game it started to become very noticeable. The most egregious thing imo is the walk speed. You never really get any way to significantly buff your speed unless you're willing to use obnoxious techniques like spamming the dive kick over and over. The levels are quite big and you're expected to do a lot of backtracking (even if you weren't the game design would inevitably result in you backtracking out of confusion anyway), especially if you want to 100%/all achievements the game.

None of this would really be that big of a deal for a 15 to 25 hour game (single playthrough), but it costs 70$ (Australian) full price, which is absolutely ridiculous. Hollow Knight, a very similar and arguably better game with unarguably more content (and free expansions), costs 22$ full price. I have no idea how 70$ is justifiable. Do not buy this game unless its on sale for at least 70% off.

Great game, definitely play if you like Castlevania games

Fantastic game! I have sunk 100+ hours into this game and can't get enough (I have gotten Bloodstained ROTN on consoles as well, THAT'S how much I love it). The dlc Classic Modes on the other hand... ugh, I won't get started or I won't stop. Bottom line GET THIS GAME ASAP!! Just stay away from the Classic modes unless you are specifically trying to get all the achievements or sadistic. I'll leave it to the imagination which reason it was I played them.

I'm sure every other review is going to say this is a great remake of a classic. It's true. It's fun, it brings forth a sense of nostalgia for those born in those times when Konami made a legendary game. It has great easter eggs for those who can recognize them. Brings me back to those days when games were fun simply because they were made well. It's particularly good looking for PC if you have the right hardware compared to the switch version or the stadia version.

It's a good game, but it has the trappings of old Metroidvanias, for better and worse.
Personally, I love being lost with 10 hp left knowing that the next hit will delete 30 minutes of progress, but you might not.

Not a huge Castlevania person. As in, it was a boat I missed so there's no nostalgia factor for me, just gameplay.
So, considering that, I still say I had fun. There you go, that's the review. Can't make a better point than that.

Also
YOOO DAVID HAYTER

You end up where you begin, the entropy was always within. You only needed to look therein.

RotN has been a lot of fun. It has some great though not fully fleshed out RPG elements. it really embodies what I like about Metroidvania style games. The biggest problem that i had was that it was very grindy. Certain crafting materials are somewhat difficult to come by. there doesn't seem to be enough of an endgame to warrant being such a slog at times.

Por fin un metroidvania normal que no intenta forzar elementos de Souls en su gameplay, super recomendado

Pros:
- Refined Castlevania Gameplay
- Equipment & Shard System
- Exploration
- Enemy Variety
- Bosses & General Difficulty

Mixed:
- Graphics
- Music
- Weapon Abilities (way to restrictive/hidden as I hardly ever used them)
- Crafting System
- Basic Quest System

Cons:
-Cutscenes (Very rough looking)
- Character Models (They just look bad besides Miriam)
- Guide is practically required to beat the game (although this is unfortunately a series staple)

Overall, with me not having played any of the DS Castlevania games yet but having played the rest, I was hoping for a bigger evolution from Aria of Sorrow to this since this is clearly trying to be like that style of Castlevania game that started with Symphony of the Night. Still, it does add a few things like familiars and directional magic which I really like. However, the graphics, cutscenes, and character models look very rough compared to the stellar 2D sprite work used in older style games. Frankly look better despite being 20 years older than this title due to the pixel art. Additionally, I do think this game could have benefited from a map marker like the Ori series on where to go next, particularly for finding the final section of the game. Had this game combined all of the best ideas, similar to what Aria of Sorrow did but modernized, I feel like it could have been the best one. Still, it's a great title and I gotta hand it to the devs on supporting the title for years. I also played the dlc and I was pleasantly surprised by that as it is literally Castlevania 2 but fixed and plays very well. I'm interested to see how the sequel goes as it could fix many of the criticisms I had with this. 8.0 with base game but 8.5/10 w Dominique dlc.

Good story, gorgeous art style, good gameplay (until i touch classic)

The game is what a new Symphony of the Night should be under K. Igarashi and the studio envisioned. Lots of the themes is a HUGE homage to the good old Konami game. The pacing is good, the exploration isn't tiring, farming gets easier once you get items that support you to collect more items. The game throw hints here and there on where to go, but not in a way that feel convoluted or diminishing to the player intelligence. My wish would be to inclue in a future relaase the armor sprite change, as you have with all other items and even cosmetic customization. thanks for the great work and looking forward to another chapter of this history to unfold.

Pretty much the best Metroidvania around. The developers have been tirelessly working on finishing their Kickstarter goals ever since the game released. The best gameplay with a lot of unique spells and items to pick up around one of the largest castles ever made in one of these games. The music is also great and never gets old or same-y.

The only bad thing I can say is its a shame getting all the achievements is now locked behind having the paid DLC. With all the free updates you can probably get anywhere from 50-80 hours of total playtime before even thinking of getting the DLCs, which is a good ratio for the playtime to game price. I'm pretty sure all crashes and major bugs have been long gone for a while now making the PC version the definitive one to play (has unofficial mod support too, which is always a plus).

Its the only game I have on Steam I'd seriously consider giving a 10/10.

Ritual of the Night is good Metroidvania game, blending classic gameplay with modern enhancements. The detailed environments, from gothic castles to eerie dungeons, are visually stunning. The combat the combat however feels a little stiff, having a vast array of weapons and magical shards that cater to diverse playstyles helps it a lot but by the end you will most likely find a wepon/spells that you prefer and never use any other.

Just like SotN, it's a beautiful and fun game with gorgeous scenery, interesting monster design, incredible music, etc.

Also just like SotN, most of the equipment and spells are useless and it's very easy to become OP early on

Absolute fucking banger of a game though

Bought this game when reviews were over 90%. This is not a bad game but by no means a masterpiece. Game experience will vary, for me it was not my cup of cape and became very frustrating quickly. Lack of proper block/parry was a dealbreaker along with constantly respawning enemies. I 100% get the nostalgia feel with the game being faithful to castlevania mechanics - if you are a souls/sekiro fan, keep away from this game, you will absolutely despise it.

I personally have tried getting into it several times and I just couldn't beat it, BUT tho my experience with it is negative, I can say that it is really good for being a Castlevania spiritual successor and an easy recommend to anyone who loves Metroidvania's, Castlevania, and/or someone to the genre!

I love this game. This straight up feels & plays like a modern day Castlevania game. Even though the game has a brilliant artstyle and music, there are some problems which need to be addressed that doesn't make the game pixel perfect.

- 1. The Bosses: You won't be having a fun & memorable time fighting these bosses as they suck @ss. The only engaging boss in the game is probably Zangetsu as he has some interesting and good movesets that you need to study, in order to defeat him. And for some reason, the big monsters are soo boring to fight as compared to human size bosses which is such a shame. Also, the BloodLess fight was the worst & unfair at times.

-2. The Dlc Costume Integration: I think the developers missed a huge oppurtunity here to make character skins and armour sets different entities as now, after owning the Succubus skin dlc I cannot equip her skin without changing my armour which is quite annoying.

-3. I wished there was a quick access item section in the game just like any Souls game which allowed me to use any item on the go. The repetitive nature of opening the inventory, search for the item, and use it gets quite exhausting when you're half through the game.

Other than that, it's quite a fun & engaging game with a ginormous map with unique locations that will take you hours to complete. Also, if you're not a big story driven game guy, you're in for a treat as the story is linear and doesn't diverge into several plotlines. Would recommend.