Wake up, sleeping beauty! – review of the game “Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night”

I do not believe that I completely avoid platform games. Sometimes I get caught up in a scroller just to try something different for a change. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a kind of experiment for me, but in order not to enter it without any preparation, I allowed myself to do a little research. The fact that Koji Igarashi, a man with his fingers in Castlevania , is responsible for the game . This particular title was well known to me. So I sat down to production with a certain amount of optimism – maybe it will be okay? Let’s find out.

Darkness, darkness and darkness again. Are you sure?

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night throws us into an alternative history of the eighteenth century, when humanity stands at the gates of the industrial revolution, which is to completely revise the values ​​and views of the entire population of the earth. Unfortunately, not everyone likes this, and the Alchemists’ Guild is among those who do not like the change of the current order. Its representatives, in order to stop further development, decide on a blasphemous, ritualistic act of bonding a group of people with crystals of power. As a result, demons appear on the ground, wreaking total havoc, and most of the people marked by the alchemists die. Fortunately, however, two would-be victims manage to survive. One of them is our protégé, Miriam, who falls asleep as the plague is under control. Years later, when the forces of hell return, Miriam also awakens, to fight the invader, the source of which is the ominous castle. In a nutshell, this is the background that the producers throw us into. I admit that for a platformer (yes, I underestimate this genre a bit), the story looks really good. It fits well with the aesthetics that Art Play studio serves us from the very menu.

Jump and chop

Our adventure begins a bit further, on a ship that falls victim to demons. After a short dialogue, which is thoroughly Japanese, we throw ourselves into the fight using the items found along the way. In this respect, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night  is a typical Metroidvania platformer. Fans of this type of production will be delighted, but I am not a layman. Although Miriam can perform more or less complex combinations of blows, the fight and completing the next levels are nothing new. The situation changes when we encounter a boss, only then it gets quite fast. The element that unexpectedly chained me to this game was the simple loot system at first glance. Searching for more chests and equipping my protégé with better and better equipment was a kind of pleasure for me. Perhaps it was just the magic of numbers, but it was nice to see the opponents falling faster. In addition to acquiring the items themselves, the game has a leveling system . Over time, our heroine gains new skills (including sucking power stones from enemies), which makes the game even more enjoyable. Character development and crafting are  definitely a plus. As for the demon models, they look interesting and at times unconventional. I admit that sometimes I was surprised by their possibilities. The locations we visit also deserve attention. The gothic levels, straight from the dark horror movie, appealed to me the most of all the elementsBloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Wake up, princess

The sound from the Japanese production is at a good level. The symphonic soundtrack is the responsibility of Michiru Yamane – a composer who has been associated with the Konami studio and the Castlevania series for many years . Her experience and knowledge of the atmosphere of this type of games is reflected in the songs that accompany us in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.  This makes the production even more reliable and complete. The sounds of fighting and dubbing are rather flawless.

Although I did not expect it at all,  I even liked Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night .

We would like to thank the CDP publisher for making the review copy available on PS4.