Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Reviews

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is ranked in the 91st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Jul 28, 2019

"Blood diamond with rough edges."

Review in Finnish | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Jul 4, 2019

So, what we've got in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a well-designed game that's poorly developed. A championship-caliber team that needs another few months (or perhaps another year) of training camp. 505 Games has promised to fix the glaring problems, but I can't review a game based on promises. There's still some fun to be had here, but it shouldn't have been released in its current state. Wait for the updates. If they don't come, wait for a sale…and stay away from the bookshelves.

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6 / 10.0
Jun 27, 2019

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.

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6 / 10
Jul 30, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a Metroidvania title that features many of the ideas that could make one of the finest games in this genre, with its challenging structure and gameplay mechanics. Where Ritual of the Night falls short is mostly on its technical performance, with long loading times, inconsistencies and formatting problems and some incomprehensible framerate drops. This game might be a fan service effort but it still needs to have its flaws addressed.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

GameSpot
Top Critic
6 / 10
Jul 3, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night suffers on Nintendo Switch due to distracting technical issues.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jun 26, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the outstanding game that Iga promised us, currently blighted with several game-breaking bugs.

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65 / 100
Jun 26, 2019

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.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jun 22, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is not a bad game but it is disappointing, a metroidvania all too anchored in the past that doesn't really add anything new to the genre that Koji Igarashi himself contributed to create. Beyond the bland execution and the continuous plagiarism of Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, Bloodstained is plagued by too many problems, especially in terms of combat and the hitbox system, preventing an enjoyable gaming experience. It hurts to say this, but there are too many better alternatives to Bloodstained on the market. We expected a lot more than this from Igarashi-san.

Review in Italian | Read full review

6.8 / 10.0
Jul 16, 2019

I think that overall Ritual of the Night will satisfy longtime Castlevania fans. Despite the game’s performance hangups, there is a lot to love in this game. Yet, I am keeping my eyes towards the future, as this particular version is less than ideal

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7 / 10.0
Aug 19, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a fantastic game and is a sequel to Koji Igarashi’s Castlevania games in all but name. There’s enough familiarity there but also many new ideas which will please newcomers and veterans alike. It may have been a long time coming but Koji Igarashi’s return has been well worth the wait.

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Nov 4, 2019

The fact that I chose to finish it anyway says a lot. For one thing, it proves that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is more than just a spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. After all, I’ve never played that game (nor any other Castlevania in any meaningful amount). It also speaks to how excellent the mechanics are when the pacing holds up, because there are hourlong sections where you have no idea where to go or what to do but wander in search of something you missed.

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Ofisil
Top Critic
7 / 10
Jun 25, 2019

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.

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7 / 10
Jul 1, 2019

Despite the fact that this is unquestionably a very fine video game, there's no escaping the fact that the Switch version has some serious issues

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TheSixthAxis
Steve C
Top Critic
7 / 10
Jun 25, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is not the perfect Iga-vania, but it is a worthy entry in the genre. It's clearly Castlevania in all but name and long term fans will find much to enjoy here, but it's lacking in polish and refinement with a few niggles with the controls and too many unwelcome bugs at launch. With a few more patches, Bloodstained should be the game all us fans wanted it to be.

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7.4 / 10.0
Jul 1, 2019

Despite this score appearing low. I freaking love this game. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out the flaws that felt more common than the shard drops in the game's early going. I'm really hopeful for the future of this title, because I don't think Iga would be willing to let this game (Blood)stain his legacy.

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7.5 / 10.0
Jul 8, 2019

Despite the huge parity of performance on different platforms (especially the Switch version) and its long list of bugs and issues, not to mention its lack of polish, Bloodstained is a very decent game that just proves that Igarashi rightfully earned his mark on the Metroidvania genre. It's not in any way a classic, especially compared to Symphony of the Night and its other contemporaries - but its a good, highly enjoyable and replayable, albeit flawed title nonetheless.

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8 / 10
Jun 22, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a good, standard Metroidvania that can be very fun especially for those who are looking for a fresh Iga-Vania experience, though some shortcomings like weak story and bad character design prevent it from getting level with some recent Meteoidvania titles.

Review in Persian | Read full review

7.7 / 10.0
Jun 24, 2019

One more metroidvania to add to the mix. At least is a good example of the classic proposal of the genre although it's not technically perfect.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

PC Gamer
Top Critic
77 / 100
Jun 25, 2019

Bloodstained: ROTN faithfully recreates the metroidvania experience of the 2000s—a feast for fans of a very specific experience; a bit too old-fashioned for anyone else.

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7.9 / 10.0
Jun 29, 2019

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a well-made kickstarterproject, which manages to redeem his promises in terms of gameplay, but don`t go any new ways and has a few technical issues. Even with its problems, the game makes a lot of fun thanks to its good flow. Fans of Metroidvania and especially Castlevania should set this title on their list.

Review in German | Read full review