Video game review: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019)

Finished this a few days ago so I'm beating the iron while it's still hot. In case you don't know about it, this is basically a spiritual sequel to Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow Kickstarted by one of the men who originally worked on these.

While I'm definitely the target market for these (i.e. people who think of these titles as Castlevania's golden age), I can criticise it without my rose-tinted glasses.

But first, praise. Yes, it succeeds in its goal of continuing the eye candy focus, inspired (if sometimes bizarre) graphical/sound design and crisp Metroidvania gameplay of its references. Castle exploration is still very fun, abilities unlocking portions of it doesn't feel tedious from too much mandatory backtracking and I generally had a lot of fun.

While I do praise the design, I don't think it's as consistent as the deeply gothic Castlevanias.

Now for the criticism:

• Story: basically as deep as in a cheap porn movie. It's only a prop.
• Difficulty:
  • Baseline: the game is BABY easy in "Normal", and needs a trick to unlock "Hard" from the start (name your character "NIGHTMARE").
  • Temporal: beginning of the game is punishing, some bosses (Vepar, Zangetsu #1 and Alfred) are hardcore without spamming healing items while the others are basically a walk in the park. The mobs quickly become steamroll fodder once you get an okay soulshard too.
• Balance: (kinda related to difficulty) some shards are just way too strong. Particularly guilty are True Arrow and Void Ray. I did the whole game using those and Draconic Rage in the first slot. I also found weapons too weak compared to shards, but it's apparently not that bad, according to the Interweb.

Note that all of these more or less (maybe less) apply to the two aforementioned Castlevanias. Yes, even without any grinding (spending a few minutes gathering craft material/shards isn't "grinding" in my books) or looking up builds/strategies.

The difficulty curve should really be the focus, in my opinion. A hard limit on the healing item stash, some more dangerous mobs (esp. skills) with level scaling to give them more HP/stats would really help here; and I don't mean the usual "hit sponge" lazy design crap.

All things being said, it's a decent discount SotN: artistic showcase + a bonus game marred by its lack of balance for anyone with a modicum of skill. Fortunately, I'm a sucker for good design.

PS: heard that Order of Ecclesia was better balanced.