NYCC 2017 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Hands-On Impressions – Reminiscent of Another Famous Metroidvania

Castlevania creator, Koji Igarashi, was present at New York Comic Con and with him standing 10 feet away from me while I play his upcoming Castlevania spiritual successor – Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, I couldn’t help but think how surreal all of it was.

Famed developer Iga was actually creating a new Metroidvania title, that would be a spiritual successor to the iconic series Castlevania. For those who don’t know this game is fully funded by Kickstarter, so you know what that could mean. We saw that happen to another hopeful and promising Kickstarter title that was a spiritual successor to another iconic series *cough* Mighty No 9 *cough*.

There’s not enough to say that this won’t turn out to be a dumpster fire like that, but the game is definitely showing promise. It had its own unique style, art style, and general tone. We on the show floor had a small little demo that showed off an array of things such as a variety of enemy types, new locations, and even a boss battle.

The game is decently difficult, giving enough challenge to keep the player focused on the task at hand. Thankfully the demo wasn’t dulled down to ensure everyone had an easy run. A couple of my other colleagues actually died before the boss battle. Luckily I managed to see the demo to the end.

I would say the game is shaping out to pretty good. We’re still a ways off from the actual release, but what we have already is pretty component work. If I had to say personally, I would like a graphics update as the game sort of feels a little on the cheaper side. Perhaps it’s the way the art style and gameplay mash together, but something was not sitting right with me. Hopefully, there aren’t any delays, or at least many of them, before the game actually launches.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is set to release on mostly all platforms in 2018. What do you think of the game so far? Hoping for anything in specific? Let us know in the comments below!