Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

[Nester the Lark]

Anyone remember that Inti Creates was working on an NES-styled Bloodstained minigame?

Well, it's been unveiled as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, and it's coming out on May 24 for Switch, 3DS, PS4, Vita, XB1 and PC.

curseofthemoon.com

Trailer:

[Nester the Lark]

So, anyone else been playing Curse of the Moon?

I've been playing it for the past week. It's a good faux NES-style game that captures the pace and gameplay of classic Castlevania pretty well (maybe too well in some ways). At first, it seemed a little insubstantial, but it was when I started replaying it in the extra game modes that it started to sink in exactly what it was going for, and it just got better from there.

My concern is that Bloodstained, as a series, may stick a little too closely to Castlevania. If it's truly going to be a spiritual successor, then it needs to stand on its own, otherwise it'll be nothing more than an imitation that never escapes Castlevania's shadow. Additionally, there are already many other indie games that put their own unique spins on the metroidvania formula.

That said, I understand that mimicking NES Castlevania is kind of the whole point of Curse of the Moon, and satisfies fans that are mainly looking for nostalgia.

I think maybe it also does a good job of establishing some point of reference for the main game. It's a little strange that the debut of Bloodstained is a small side-game that may not even be canon, but as a jumping off point, maybe it can help diffuse some of the expectations people form in their heads about what Bloodstained will be. Maybe it'll feel natural going from an 8-bit Castlevania clone to a modern metroidvania with a setting and characters people are already familiar with.

[nocturnal YL]

I'm fairly certain that we don't have many overlaps in this forum, especially when it comes to third party games.

I can't say anything regarding something I haven't even looked into before, but I do agree that it's generally not a good idea of indie games imitating abother series too closely. Besides the problem of establishing identity, I also found it very disrespectful towards the owners of the original series. There's also the problem of games imitating in form only without really understanding what made the original great, although I have yet to hear about that with Bloodstained.

[Nester the Lark]

I realize no one else is playing it, but I at least wanted to give the illusion of discussion.

As for spiritual successors, Bloodstained is being worked on by some former Castlevania staff, notably producer Koji Igarashi and composer Michiru Yamane, so I think they understand the style and gameplay of Castlevania. But the problem is that Bloodstained, as a brand new IP, doesn't have a legacy to lean on. With Castlevania, you could expect connections and references to other games through lore, characters, or music. Those are things that keep fans invested in the series. But with Bloodstained, even though, for example, it has the same music composer, we're not going to hear new versions of classic music. It'll just be similarly styled.

Curse of the Moon can help alleviate the problem slightly by introducing the basic beginning of a legacy before the main game comes out, but it's impossible for it to provide what Castlevania had build up over the years.

And that's why it's important for Bloodstained to stand on its own. It needs its own hook, or some way to stand apart from Castlevania, otherwise it's just a copy that's harder to get invested in.

I suppose the silver lining, though, in this case, is that Castlevania was built on a lot of public domain material. Konami does not own Dracula, vampires, castles, werewolves, demons, Frankenstein's monster, etc., and Bloodstained can make as much use of that as it wants. It just has to use it in a different context.

[Nester the Lark]

Curse of the Moon has sold 100,000 downloads, and is one of Inti Creates most successful releases ever. They celebrated by posting this piece of artwork:

Also, the Switch version apparently sold more than all other platforms combined:

[Nester the Lark]

Well, Ritual of the Night is officially delayed to 2019 (apparently to address feedback from the recent backer beta demo). Also, Vita version is cancelled. Backers who chose the Vita are given the option to either change platforms or get a refund.

[Leon]

It's probably for the best. They offered way too much stuff in the kickstarter to get this out in a reasonable time.

[Nester the Lark]

So, Ritual of the Night is looking good. I like the "inversion" mechanic. It's a good nod to Symphony of the Night, as well as a unique gimmick to help give the game its own identity. A metroidvania has to be more than just a metroidvania to stand out among today's indie games, even if it's by one of the people who helped define the genre.

Also, the box art is done by Mana Ikeda.

[Nester the Lark]

Ritual of the Night is officially launching June 25 on Switch (June 18 on all other platforms).

Here's a funny new trailer comparing the new and improved visuals to the old, uh, "poop" graphics.



I'm not really a stickler for graphics, but I hope the game runs well on Switch. There were reports of severe performance problems with the Switch version at PAX East. It was later said that it was affected by the demo units overheating, combined with the game not being fully optimized yet.

As it is, the Switch version runs at 30 fps (compared with 60 fps for the other versions).

[Nester the Lark]

The latest Kickstarter update addresses something I was wondering about: how many of the extra modes from the original stretch goals actually made it into the final game?

As it turns out, all of them, but they're being released post-launch as free DLC. The Boss Mode and Speedrun Mode are planned for release day one.

Also, some of the backer-exclusive content is being made available to everyone as paid DLC. (Based on feedback, most backers were OK with this.)

[Leon]

Downloading my game, we'll see how this one goes.

[Nester the Lark]

I've held off on getting it until I hear more about the Switch version. So far, what I've heard hasn't been very encouraging, but that could just be nitpicking.

I look forward to your impressions.

EDIT: They're already working on performance patches for the Switch version.

[Leon]

It's pretty crap right now and I've only played docked. I even got a bug which crashed the game just exploring the castle. Everything also looks really muddy, the character models in cutscenes just look off, it almost feels like a Wii game ported to Switch. I certainly will NOT be supporting any Kickstarters in the future after this.

In hindsight, I think they delayed the Switch version specifically to bury this news.

[Nester the Lark]

That's disappointing. Reviews for the game, in general, have been positive so far.

If they actually are able to salvage the Switch version at some point, then maybe it'll be worth picking up later for a cheaper price.

EDIT: GoNintendo has a video discussing some of the issues.

[Nester the Lark]

The first major patch for the Switch version has just been released. (Cheeky releasing it on Halloween.) Version 1.0.3 purports to fix input lag, crashes, loading times, and visual fidelity. Version 1.0.4 is due out by the end of November, but it sounds more like it will just be for extra polish (and possibly address any issues with 1.0.3.)

I'm still waiting for a proper comparison video. What I've seen so far does show vastly improved loading times, but you can't really tell much else from a video. Hopefully Gamexplain will do one.

I still want to pick this up. It's a pretty good price right now. Just gonna wait for some more impressions.