Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 379 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 298 out of 379
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 379
  3. Negative: 35 out of 379

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. BrutalPlayer
    Jun 4, 2023
    10
    Game is great. It has everything for everyone. Challengers and Casuals alike.
  2. Not_too
    Apr 12, 2023
    9
    One of the best in the genre from an absolute legend of the genre. One of the few metroidvanias I could not put down until I had gotten and done everything
  3. Neko2
    Mar 31, 2023
    10
    o jogo é extremamente bom, eu ja joguei varios metroidvanias mas esse une tudo que ah de bom em todos os outros e faz melhoreias. vc nunca se sente intediado e sempre é apresentado a coisas novas. o mapa é extremamente grande. (joguei mais de 16hs no momento e explorei apenas 30% dele e eu jogo bem em.)
  4. alza2
    Mar 12, 2023
    9
    I haven't been hooked to a game for a long time. I stated Bloodstained on the Switch as a successor to Sotn and I was so disappointed by the lag and the blurry graphics. The lag was supposed to be fixed but it was still tangible and ruined the experience.

    I gave it another try on PC and the problem was not the game at all. It was 100% because of the Switch port. The PC version is    I haven't been hooked to a game for a long time. I stated Bloodstained on the Switch as a successor to Sotn and I was so disappointed by the lag and the blurry graphics. The lag was supposed to be fixed but it was still tangible and ruined the experience.

    I gave it another try on PC and the problem was not the game at all. It was 100% because of the Switch port. The PC version is incomparably better than the switch one.

    I played it "portably" on my Steam Deck. The switch is still great device for Nintendo exclusives...    … Expand
  5. apeot2002
    Jan 24, 2023
    9
    I wasn’t impressed when I started up the game more than two years after it came out. I was mildly entertained when the game spewed forth its premise: My protagonist, Miriam, is a special girl who is really good at fighting demons because she is able to crystalize and absorb the souls of demons she slays and thus gain power or something, and thus she is tasked to clear out the current demonI wasn’t impressed when I started up the game more than two years after it came out. I was mildly entertained when the game spewed forth its premise: My protagonist, Miriam, is a special girl who is really good at fighting demons because she is able to crystalize and absorb the souls of demons she slays and thus gain power or something, and thus she is tasked to clear out the current demon invasion that the only other person with the same ability as her has arranged for reasons of his own. Miriam can jump, run and attack people, and with those abilities, she gets let loose on the 2D castle the demons come from.

    You can probably tell the story felt somewhat cookie-cutter to me. So do the environments: A few rooms are very beautiful, a few levels play clever tricks on the perceived two-dimensionality of the camera perspective, but most feel more like an arrangement of platforms and monsters than an actual place. The monster designs are inventive and plentiful, but not overwhelming. The characters feel flat, both in script and presentation. It’s a decent effort in all regards, nothing really stands out, but nothing fails to hold up its end either.

    It’s all here to serve king Gameplay. Long may he reign.

    At first I wasn’t impressed with it, either: Miriam can jump, attack with her current weapon, trigger three different magic spells, slide, jump back and that’s it. At first, the control scheme felt a bit sticky, but I got used to it, and the platforming demanded of Miriam is never so exacting that this became an issue. With these simple ingredients, Bloodstained crafts a satisfying, ever evolving primary gameplay loop. I mapped four distinct phases out for myself.

    At the beginning you get used to everything and the game takes it easy on you. Enemies die quick and barely scratch your life bar. Life's a breeze, jumping and striking become ingrained into the muscle memory, magic is rarely a factor, because your mana pool is very limited and you don’t have a lot of spells yet. It’s fun, but nothing special.

    The second phase starts when you hit the first difficulty spike, which was the second boss for me. Suddenly it’s no longer enough to spam attack and try the occasional dodge. So I butted my head against this boss until I improved my gameplay enough to get past him. I even used a few magic spells to beat him and thus finally engaged with the fourth button. Afterwards, the game tightened the screws quite a bit: Healing is limited and even common monsters suddenly hit like trucks. This phase lasts pretty much two thirds of the game, and it kept hitting me with difficulty spikes that forced me to engage with even more of its subsystems, like the crafting system and the permanent buffs you get from cooking dishes out of the strange stuff the monsters drop on occasion. Not all of these stopgaps are bosses either: Sometimes the challenge is getting from one save and respawn point to the next.

    The third phase I call the revenge phase: One has quite a bit of work ahead to enter it: At one point the cumulative stat boosts and upgraded equipment finally break the difficulty curve: Enemies die in one hit and can no longer keep up with your healing spells. At this point you also have all the traversal powers unlocked, and your travels through the castle transform from a harrowing crusade to a mop up operation. The challenge now is finding all the little nooks and crannies the game had kept hidden from you before you wrap up the gameplay. That is usually the end for games like this. But Bloodstained has a little surprise left for the dedicated gamer.

    There are two items only available in the endgame that dramatically increase Miriam’s movement speed and jump range and no joke transformed the entire primary gameplay loop for me, from a Jump and Slash kind of game to a form of parkour simulation: I glide and float through the rooms at amazing speed and hammer out the rhythm the room imposes on me to keep moving: run, slash, run jump slash jump jump slash dive run. It is hypnotic and fantastically flow-inducing. I had not been expecting it.

    All four phases, with the exception of the early part of phase one, were great fun to play through. The craftsmanship that went into optimising everything to support gameplay is astounding, too. The vast amount of weapons and equipment you can find or craft, and the dozens of magic spells you can get from the monsters make sure boredom will never be a problem. The layout of the map is excellent, too. Just one example: Every boss has a respawn point that is at most two rooms away. Everything bends over backwards to challenge and swaddle the player in sweet sweet endorphins at the same time.

    So that’s Bloodstained: Not the greatest looker, not an engrossing storyteller, but if you give it a chance, it’ll take you on a wonderful ride.    … Expand
  6. 3a21
    Aug 28, 2022
    8
    There 're many things to do
    Exploring the castle with many hidden room, grinding to get all item, techniques, monsters, shards, customize appearance and still can play endgame for collect achievement and item things.
    Controlling still problem about jumping and directions, It's more accuracy when use arrow button but when you use L stick it's would be hard for attack direction and use    There 're many things to do
    Exploring the castle with many hidden room, grinding to get all item, techniques, monsters, shards, customize appearance and still can play endgame for collect achievement and item things.
    Controlling still problem about jumping and directions, It's more accuracy when use arrow button but when you use L stick it's would be hard for attack direction and use some skills.    … Expand
  7. Leontorres7
    Mar 8, 2022
    9
    Amazing game! For me it felt like playing Symphony of the Night 2, while the story is not as good and the characters are not near as cool as SotN, the game stands as an incredible Castlevania game and all the exploration and combat elements are there, so much to discover and enjoy, this game is a success while the story is not the best it is ok and the gameplay more than makes up for it.
  8. Volphied
    Jan 31, 2022
    9
    Este juego ha sido el título que he querido que Konami lanzara durante muchos años (y no han hecho). Se nota que los creativos de los Castlevania: Symphony of the Night han hecho este juego, porque la calidad emana de todos los costados, tanto a nivel técnico, visual, OST y con una historia interesante.
    Un juego pensado en su rejugabilidad, con muchos DLC's y contenido extra gratuitos    Este juego ha sido el título que he querido que Konami lanzara durante muchos años (y no han hecho). Se nota que los creativos de los Castlevania: Symphony of the Night han hecho este juego, porque la calidad emana de todos los costados, tanto a nivel técnico, visual, OST y con una historia interesante.
    Un juego pensado en su rejugabilidad, con muchos DLC's y contenido extra gratuitos (que viendo el mundillo sorprende ver contenido gratuito) los cuales nos harán cambiar la experiencia original que tiene el título para poderlo experimentar de distintas maneras.
    Si tenéis la espina de que Konami tiene secuestrada la IP de Castlevania y con ganas de jugar nuevos títulos como los clásicos de la empresa, recomiendo esclarecidamente Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, ya que es claramente un sucesor espiritual a la serie de Castlevania.    … Expand
  9. MohakAoki
    Jul 5, 2021
    8
    a good game. good gameplay and graphic. good dub and characters. the only thing that I think it could be better, is storyline. also final boss difficulty was very higher than previous boss fights.
  10. Luigichief
    Jun 7, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Castlevania Spiritual Sequence by Koji Igarashi.

    The story's premise is very interesting and original. But thanks to the few cutscenes the story is generally just mediocre, with the Dominique twist being pretty good. And that's okay since the focus of the game is not that.
    This Bad Ending thing about killing Gebel, it got a lot a little meh, but the real problem is later, because you're pretty way out of the way dude and the backtracking you need to do isn't obvious at all. And wow, the phase inversion system was a genius move, and the boss was fun too. And the moon puzzle is really interesting, especially after the boss fight with Gebel you need to remember the red moon you passed it at the beginning of the game.

    Combat and exploration are the game's charms, and both really don't disappoint.

    But NO DUDE, you have to get a shard of water to be able to move forward, what a bloody slut, besides that later to find out where to go is awesome, too many areas open up.

    I really liked the graphics and the highlight goes to the great scenes.

    The soundtrack is good, there are 2 in particular that are really solid, the castle entrance and the Twins Dragon Towers.    … Expand
  11. Poopoobutter
    Jan 28, 2021
    9
    This is a great game. I don't understand the points that people made who gave this game a low score. This game craps all over hollow knight.
  12. donnifeb
    Dec 23, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. for those who does not like this game and give it poor review.. certainly never played symphony of the night ... bloodstained is the medicine for those who longing for the exact same feel of the SOTN ... ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️… Expand
  13. NoIdeaName
    Nov 13, 2020
    8
    Bloodstained is a good metroidvania that will make you revive the glory days of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. However, if you are looking fr something surprising or new, this is not your game.
  14. Drabolik
    Aug 11, 2020
    8
    Buen juego, buenas mecánicas, banda sonora, variedad de armas... me mantuvo segregando dopamina por unas 25 hrs... ahh y una historia regular (aunque nada del otro mundo)
  15. Babutto
    Jul 21, 2020
    9
    Pros.:
    - Castlevania fans will love the game.
    - The game is user friendly.
    - Metroidvania.
    - Characters.
    - Easter eggs.
    - Encourages to explore the castle and craft.

    Cons.:
    - Can't find any except maybe difficulty at the beginning.
  16. DJKrimson
    Jul 15, 2020
    8
    A good metroidvania game. Fun combat with and amazing music. Definitely worth a go if you're into this genre. Some minus points to the character models that look terrible (when in conversations) and it being way too cryptic at times.
  17. Drakilliam
    Jul 7, 2020
    10
    Fun awesome game!! Best indie game I have ever played. Plays like old school Castlevania with beautiful graphics.
  18. ironviv66v
    Jun 21, 2020
    9
    Me la pase genial un gran homenaje a castlevania, único defecto, creo se me hizo un poco corto
  19. MVMOFFICIAL
    Apr 1, 2020
    8
    IGA finally gives us back his creativity after a long time... without Konami's brand on it. A metroidvania experience that delivers us great boss battles, majestic soundtrack and many weapons to use. Although, i have to talk about the level design... even though the castle is VERY big, levels just didn't feel too linked like in Symphony of the Night for example.. and sometimes the gameIGA finally gives us back his creativity after a long time... without Konami's brand on it. A metroidvania experience that delivers us great boss battles, majestic soundtrack and many weapons to use. Although, i have to talk about the level design... even though the castle is VERY big, levels just didn't feel too linked like in Symphony of the Night for example.. and sometimes the game pretended you to understand were to go and how to go in certain locations. Like in that water area where i had to use a shard of a certain monster to propel Miriam into the water to reach an opening. How were you supposed to know that? Did i miss some indications? Also i never actually used any food and MOST demon shards. There just seemed to be too many of them. Again, the game is not perfect, but it is a great take on metroidvanias by a forefather of the genre. The game also has many cool secrets to find. Here's my take on this great game.… Expand
  20. Relkad
    Mar 23, 2020
    8
    Definitely takes you back to good old castlevania days.
    Fighting,story,mechanics,visuals are pretty good overall.
    It can be pretty irritating when you find yourself saying "where do i go now?" because game the doesn't really help you with that.
    Don't expect a masterpiece,just some good 20 hours.
  21. PHDIKOULAS
    Feb 7, 2020
    9
    so you liked symphony of the night and waited in praying some time it would come, while konami was knee deep in slot machines.Pray no more and go buy this game quick fast and in a hurry. This Is symphony of the nights sequel!

    Bravo Iga and thank you
  22. Cyber_Angel
    Jan 11, 2020
    9
    Excellent metroidvania all-around. A true spiritual successor to the Symphony of the Night.
  23. TheHambro
    Nov 16, 2019
    9
    Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is what I consider to be the true successor to the Castlevania series; a love letter and homage to Symphony of the Night. There is so much passion, care, and attention to detail making this one of the best Metroidvania titles out there.

    Everything from the graphics, music, gameplay, items, bosses, areas and enemies are all so incredibly well done and    Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is what I consider to be the true successor to the Castlevania series; a love letter and homage to Symphony of the Night. There is so much passion, care, and attention to detail making this one of the best Metroidvania titles out there.

    Everything from the graphics, music, gameplay, items, bosses, areas and enemies are all so incredibly well done and really captures that feeling of past Castlevania games. The music, more specifically, captures that feeling the most and gives off that sense of nostalgia and is just so good to listen to. Areas are distinct and varied, and enemies/bosses are fantastically weird. The amount of different weapons and shards (spells) you can find and collect offers so many different ways to play. To the completionist, this is a dream come true: weapons, armor, accessories, shards, upgrades, ingredients, enemies, and more to collect and achieve that 100%.

    My critiques are really only very small complaints, and in no way takes away from the core game. My first one is that you can toggle the mini-map on and off, but every time you die or restart the game, you have to re-toggle, which can be annoying. My second one are the cutscenes; they’re very lackluster and not of the same quality as the rest of the game.

    Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is such a fantastic game, and I had an incredible time with it. I simply can’t rant and rave about it enough. This is a quintessential Metroidvania, and any fan of the genre would be remiss not to get this.    … Expand
  24. nitorita
    Oct 12, 2019
    9
    Bloodstained is a breath of fresh air from modern AAA titles. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began playing since I've never played an Igavania game before; I expected it to be some sort of JRPG. Clearly, I was wrong. After what I experienced, I'm officially an Igavania fan now.

    This game feels like a 2.5D version of NieR: Automata. You know, like those side view scenes in the game.    Bloodstained is a breath of fresh air from modern AAA titles. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began playing since I've never played an Igavania game before; I expected it to be some sort of JRPG. Clearly, I was wrong. After what I experienced, I'm officially an Igavania fan now.

    This game feels like a 2.5D version of NieR: Automata. You know, like those side view scenes in the game. Really, it does. For people like me who have never played an Igavania game before, this is the closest comparison I can make to a modern game. If you've played Automata, you'll have an idea for how this game plays out.

    It's hard to describe my experience playing this game. There's just something really special about it. The compelling exploration, the deep story, the extra bosses, the stuff available for you to collect, etc. The most mysterious feeling is when you're starting to near the end of the game, and there's a part of you that just doesn't want the journey to end so it keeps finding reasons to stay involved.

    I can't rate this game less than a 9 because of the effort and passion put into it and its ability to keep me hooked. The map is absolutely exquisite and detailed too. Personally, I would give this game a 9.5 if I could, because it's not absolutely perfect, but it's damn near perfect. It just has some minor balancing issues which are largely negligible.

    Again, the issue with Bloodstained is balancing. You can play the game in a simple manner, and this is probably recommended. There's a lot you can ignore like combat moves and non-restorative items and so on. There's also a lot you can abuse to cheese the game. This kept the game from being too complex, and I would've preferred a bit more micromanaging to be necessary. The game started off difficult in the beginning (just like Automata), but once I got past the first boss, the rest of the game wasn't that difficult.    … Expand
  25. mr-NachoMen
    Oct 12, 2019
    8
    I really like Bloodstained, I like the Metroidvania classic gameplay style reminiscence from Castlevania from which this game is a spiritual successor and the combat, but some other aspects like the visual style was a little mixed... there are some areas and enemies that fit perfectly in a shared universe with Castlevania and some other enemies like a dog head, a big cat and some girlsI really like Bloodstained, I like the Metroidvania classic gameplay style reminiscence from Castlevania from which this game is a spiritual successor and the combat, but some other aspects like the visual style was a little mixed... there are some areas and enemies that fit perfectly in a shared universe with Castlevania and some other enemies like a dog head, a big cat and some girls with electric guitars felt out of place with the game.
    I still believe that the game need a bit more polish or detail... I know that it looks better than it looked back when the first trailer drop but still... i really had times were i doubt that the game was built in the Unreal 4 engine.
    The game relies a lot from exploration, which is mandatory, you cannot just go and beat the game doing little exploration because there will be areas that you need to go if you want to progress into the story line, you will need to collect shards that are like powers to reach the areas you need to keep progressing the story, and this affects the ending.
    Bloodstained has like...4 endings or so... i haven't seen them all, but, the more areas you explore the more chances you'll get to see the good ending, that and do some specific stuff to not altered the ending as well... and that is something i really personally don't like about the game.
    Bloodstained is a hard game like, well,a Castlevania game, and it can be as long or short as you wan't depending at how good you'll get into combat during the game and how often you die.
    Probably i will not play it again, but overall is a good game and if you read this and haven't play it yet... well, go now and try it.    … Expand
  26. DuduSantosBSB
    Oct 12, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It,s a magnifc game! For me a perfect game like castlevania symphony of the night.… Expand
  27. abdominal
    Oct 2, 2019
    10
    one of best games in 2019 great art style great sound track deep gameplay it'sgame of the year material
  28. NotContra
    Oct 1, 2019
    9
    Thankfully not another Mighty no. 9.
    The delays sucked but it was worth waiting for..
    Buy it, if you love Metroidvania, Castlevania, IgaVania, side scroller, action rpg games games with tight controls. When the game launched there was an annoying day 1 patch that messed up your completion so a lot of people had to start over and lose their progress if they played it before    Thankfully not another Mighty no. 9.
    The delays sucked but it was worth waiting for..

    Buy it, if you love Metroidvania, Castlevania, IgaVania, side scroller, action rpg games games with tight controls.

    When the game launched there was an annoying day 1 patch that messed up your completion so a lot of people had to start over and lose their progress if they played it before downloading the patch but that's not a problem anymore. I'm struggling to find something negative about the game and that was all I could come up with so I think it's fair to say this game is a brand new classic.

    Great music, great controls, great game play, fun story, nice graphics etc
    It's all the right things you expect from an IgaVania.    … Expand
  29. Gamemeister
    Sep 23, 2019
    10
    successor to a beloved game from the good old days.
    gameplay 10/10
    soundtrack 10/10
  30. Aaargh
    Sep 21, 2019
    9
    This is the second Bloodstained game. The first was considered an 8-bit gem much alike Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Both those games were made by Koji Igarashi. It seems he reached a new level with this masterpiece. Respect. True master of the genre.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PC Game of 2019
44
#44 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
42
#42 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. RPGamer
    Oct 1, 2019
    80
    Anyone who never liked the Metroidvania entries in the Castlevania series is extremely unlikely to be enthralled by Bloodstained. Koji Igarashi made no intimations of reinventing the wheel in Ritual of the Night, and the game is recognizably from the creator of Symphony of the Night. Playing this game nevertheless reminded me of how much fun a quality Metroidvania can be, and Konami is certainly in no mood to use its own intellectual property for anything other than Pachinko machines lately – plus if it had, something like paying money for additional save slots might have been introduced. Kickstarter-funded games have a decidedly mixed record, but Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is fortunately one of the success stories.
    Read full review
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Aug 2, 2019
    75
    Iga promised to make a spiritual successor to all but defunct Castlevania series – and that’s exactly what he did. Not only that, but he managed to successfully expand upon the familiar formula with nifty additions like skill shards. [Issue#239, p.74]
  3. Eurogamer Italy
    Jul 11, 2019
    90
    Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the best love letter to Castlevania addicted. Created by the programmer, director and producer from titles like Simon’s Quest, Vampire’s Kiss and Symphony of the Night, Koji Igarashi, the game finally arrives to home consoles and PC after a successful crowdfunding campaign, but also a troubled development. Thankfully, the wait was definitely worth and we finally have a huge game, with deep combat and craft systems and loads of game modes. This is without any doubts one of the best Metroidvania of the year and a great Castlevania spiritual successor.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »