Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Reviews
Despite its issues, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has had me hooked like no other game released this year.
Koji Igarashi returns on his Kickstarter promise with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a beautiful and feature rich game that is a must-buy.
Want to play an old-school action/exploration game the likes of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Well, you can't get more old-school, or more... Symphony of the Night than Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. This offers a vast castle to explore, full of monsters to slay, and with lots of ways to slay them, be it the many weapons that your Shardbinder can use, or the demonic powers that she can absorb. If you are in need for something that's NOT an exact copy of late '90s metroidvanias, though, better look elsewhere.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a wonderful love letter to Castlevania fans. It's gothy, camp, and unabashedly old school. But it's also a meticulously crafted game that constantly rewards players for exploration and offers unbridled options in combat. For long-time Metroidvania fans, Ritual of the Night is an unmissable celebration of the genre from the mind of one if its chief architects, while for newcomers it's an accessible entry-point that's easy to pick up and oh so difficult to put down. Let's hope the next one doesn't take quite as long.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night could be one of the biggest surprises this year. For Castlevania fans, this represents the best chance you'll ever have to experience that franchise's golden days. For everyone else, this game is a tightly paced and engaging explore-'em-up that will devour your attention span and reward you appropriately.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been a long time coming, but now that it's here, fans of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night have everything to gain. Playing through Bloodstained feels great if you're already a fan of Koji Igarashi's work—and if you're a fan of action-adventure games in general. There are some unfortunate bugs, hitches, and glitches, but once you download the 1.02 patch, you should be through the worst of them.
A neat world, Beautiful music, A fun adventure, I truly believe Bloodstained Ritual the Night one of the best Side scrolling games in this generation
Review in Arabic | Read full review
While it ain’t trully perfect, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is an excelente action game that mixes classic and nostalgic action with RPG mechanics, while focusing heavily on exploration.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Given that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a crowdfunded game, the amount of love and attention evident in its production comes as no surprise. The level of quality that is present in this package is truly astounding, and the appreciation grows even more when considering the free content promised for the coming months. Perfection should not be expected from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. However, the result is exactly what was promised by the developers, and fans could not ask for more. Throughout its development, Igarashi-san provided continual assurance that he desired to make the game a product of its fans. By listening to criticism and acting on it, he fulfilled his promise with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Old-school Castlevania fans should pick up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night right away. So should anyone with an interest in Metroidvanias, action/RPGs or high-quality side-scrollers in general.
The wait was worth it. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a whole new castle to crash full of unexpected monsters and mysteries in the vein of classic Castlevania.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the game that Castlevania series' fans have been waiting for so long - with an interesting world to explore, well-developed locations, great and very atmospheric music, thoughtful progression and a diverse combat system. Small bugs and some design mistakes may disappoint, but if you have long dreamed of getting the spiritual heir to Symphony of the Night, just buy this game. But on on Switch. This version as of now is absolutely unplayable.
Review in Russian | Read full review
As varied and intriguing as the game can get on a conceptual level, it outdoes itself in the minutiae of traversal and combat.
While it's crammed full of fan-service alongside good core combat and exploration, Ritual of the Night's technical instability and some discomforting design decisions keep it from rivaling its influences. It was clearly made for the fans, so those without an already-established fondness may find it hard to enjoy.
Bloodstained was made to satisfy fans demands for a new Castlevania Symphony of the Night, and Ritual of the Night is an excellent spiritual sucessor and a great starting point for a new series.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the outstanding game that Iga promised us, currently blighted with several game-breaking bugs.
After years of development and a handful of delays, Koji Igarashi’s highly anticipated return to gaming is perfection personified, or close to it. It is one of the finest side-scrolling action-RPGs that you’ll play, with beautifully stylistic and colorful visuals that work wonderfully with the 2.5D presentation. The endgame grind may be too much of an investment, but I love every moment of it, especially considering how much I enjoy the hack-and-slash gameplay and being able to swap between my customized presets at any moment. It may feel quite familiar to his previous work but sets the bar for the series moving forward.
While gameplay on the Switch is poorly optimized, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is (to steal a Symphony of the Night meme) more than a "miserable pile of secrets." In its purest form, it is worthy of Koji Igarashi's legacy and will live on as a strong representation of the genre he helped birth. With matured mechanics with the shards system, options for varied play styles, and the edition of quests, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will join the ranks of high quality Metroidvania titles worth replaying over and over again.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a comfortable return for Koji Igarashi. It doesn't push any boundaries, but it's a fluid, well-crafted labor of love with tons of content and a satisfying core gameplay loop.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night may have shipped with a nasty bug, and it definitely has some rage inducing boss battles, but in the end its challenges and homages to the Metroidvania genre keep it feeling rewarding and very fun to play. Just prepare to be flustered.