As Miriam venture into the would bound by a curse of an alchemist to bring down demons and save herself and others in this very stylish Metroidvania 2.5D game.
General Gameplay
Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is a 2.5D action RPG Metroidvania style of game. It is all about collecting items, power ups and revisiting levels to better explore the locations with the upgrades and power ups that you obtain throughout the game. Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night offers online and local co-op, a rarity for a game like this and different characters playthrough after completing the game. The Game Visuals are beautiful for a game like this. The game is presented in a 2.5D style where the game in nature is in 2D but the background is in a parallax style of movement to the background, so it seems that your in a 3D environment. The game does a great job of showcasing the game characters, enemies in very detail anime style. The characters are drawn very much in detail and even down to equipment and item changes are shown on the main characters. The enemies and objects and even bosses are in very colorful detail where even down to the shading of each character. This is one of most detail games that have come out in this style in a while. The game does a great job with colors that even those that suffer with some type of colorblindness will be able to see and make out most of the colors in the game. The game moves very fluidly, however we had some issues with gameplay on the Nintendo Switch version of the game (we will cover this and the fix in our Family Friendly section) The game is presented in 4K and it plays very well on a 4K monitor or even a 1080p setting. We recommend playing the game on a larger monitor as the game does present a lot of information in the menu settings. In our playtesting, we did not encounter any issues with the game graphics or content for gamers over the age of 10. Audio in Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is very detailed. Each area of the gameplay has a different orchestra style of music that gives life during gameplay. The game has spoken dialog for each of the characters and the voice acting is done very well where the actors and actress bring dept to the game story. The game has very details sounds effects from enemies’ banter to weapons and even environmental sounds, so at every turn you know what is going on in the game. The game is presented in a surround sounds style where anyone that has a 5.1 surround sounds can take advantage of the sound, where the game on the Nintendo Switch is in a 2.0 stereo. The game sounds great in either environment, however we recommend if you are playing the game to use a gaming headset to truly enjoy the audio in the game. In our playtesting, we did not hear anything offensive in the audio and feel that the game audio is well done and appropriate for all ages. Controls in Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is a little complex and takes some time to get use to. As the game nature to be an Action/RPG there are many commands that the game offers. There is your primary attack button, a jump/slide button, two special attack buttons, and a passive/action button assigned to the controller. You can pause the game and go into your inventory and manage your weapons, items, equipment, shards, and other items. The game is an RPG so managing your items is important, and the game does a great job of simplifying the menus. We recommend that for gamers that are not Action/RPG gameplay to get use to the menu as it can get overwhelming at first. The game does a great job of making the game easy to control as the game is very sharp with its controls. As a game like this complicated with its controller setting, there is no need for a special controller to play the game and in our playtesting the standard controller is fine to use for the game.
“With beautiful graphics, sound and overall gameplay, Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is a must have game for any Action/RPG fans out there”
Family Friendly
We will say this, if you are a fan of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night then you will love this game! If anything, we here at the office feel that Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is the spiritual successor to the Castlevania game. What makes Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night such a great game is balance that the game creates in the gameplay. There is everything for any type of action and role-playing game to have. The story alone is worth the playthrough as it is a great story for the game and very easy to follow. Playing as Miriam is a pure joy and you get to see her progression in the game from being a weak character to becoming a total boss. The game itself is fun to play and when you are progressing in the game it makes you feel that you have done something to better your character and be more prepared to take on more challenging bosses and enemies. All of the levels are fresh and feel right for the gameplay. No two levels ever feel repetitive and that includes the enemies on the levels. The NPC characters are not just in the game as filler, they have quests and vital information to help you throughout the game. The quest are great as they give you more things to do to get special items. In most games, quest feel like “fetch this, or kill that” but in Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night they feel more like the progression of the story. Also balance of the weapons, items, equipment and other shards that you collect help and helps players cater to their playstyle that they like to play. The boss battles are fantastic and also feel challenging where they are not to tough or easy but the balance is just right. One of the biggest gripes of Metroidvania games are going back to earlier levels to get to parts that were not accessible, and some players were turned off by this, but in Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night they made it more interesting as inaccessible locations have gear, items or something else that is needed or useful later in the game. Save points are very accessible and easy to reach during the gameplay, another thing that makes it easy is that fast travel points are in key locations throughout the level. This makes it easier to travel to locations once visited to get to new areas. The voice acting is top notch and brings the game to life. All the characters are interesting and feel fresh during gameplay. The level of depth that the voice acting makes the game feel more like watching an anime movie and you can’t wait to see what happens next in the story. Overall Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is a fun game to play weather you’re an action/rpg fan or not. Everything is done so well that the game is so enjoyable to play and the best parts of the game are that there is a couch and online co-op so another player can play the game with you! Most games like this are single player, so having the ability to play co-op is a new change of pace. The only complaint that we had during the review was that some parts the game can get hard real quick but if you are better prepared for the level then you should be fine. In our special needs game testing, we did not encounter any issues with the game visuals, audio, controls, or even gameplay. The game is very special needs friendly and our special needs gamers had a great time playing the game.
During our review of the Nintendo Switch version of the game. On our Nintendo Switch we encounter some framerate issues as well audio that was not syncing to the game. We spoke to the developers and they said that this will be fixed via patch to the game. So if you own the game on the Nintendo Switch and experience these issues, look for the patch for the game via the Nintendo Switch menu.
Closing
With fantastic gameplay, graphics, controls and audio, Bloodstain: Ritual of the Night is a must have game for any Metroidvania fans, or Action/RPG fans in your gaming family.
