Ten years have passed since the demons tried to invade England in 1783 (what, you were not aware?), and just when we thought peace had returned, suddenly a sinister castle appears from nowhere leaves, a sign that the ugly creatures are back. It's up to Miriam, Crystalliser by trade, to go clean it all up. We'll spare you the details of what a Crystallizer is (basically, a human linked to demons) because the scenario is obviously only a pretext to go and survey levels typically castlevaniesque, or metroidvaniesque if you prefer. As Miriam gains abilities, it will be possible for her to enter rooms that were previously inaccessible to her, in order to fight ever more enemies, and thus advance the scenario. Anyway, you know the song. Obviously, with Koji Igarashi at the controls, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is not just any Metroidvania. Whether in terms of level design, graphic atmosphere or game mechanics, anyone who enjoyed Castlevania from the beginning of the millennium will instantly find their bearings. The novelties are rare, but it must be recognized that the recipe has proven itself. So, in the same way that Soma could absorb the souls of monsters in Aria of Sorrow, it happens that Miriam extracts a fragment of demonic power from their corpses. These fragments give him access to various magic powers, whether instant spells, aimed spells, passive spells or calls for familiars. The palette is extremely varied since any enemy encountered in the adventure is likely to provide us with an additional capacity. And the more fragments of the same type you collect, the stronger the power becomes. Weapons are also plentiful, which can take the form of, among other things, swords, whips, shoes, clubs, and even pistols. And you can add to this several types of clothing and armor elements.
CASTLE MANIA
To tell the truth, Bloodstained does not hesitate to play the card of craftsmanship thoroughly. Because in addition to Dominique and her supply post (a saleswoman), you can regularly visit the alchemist Johannes. His workshop allows you to improve fragments, dismantle objects, make new ones, and even cook! Food is not to be neglected because it does not just provide temporary bonuses. The first time you taste a new recipe, you are also entitled to a permanent statistics bonus. Whether it's food, weapons, powers, nothing is to be neglected because the bosses are very tough. If we roll without too many problems on the standard enemies, the champions generally require several tries before being defeated. To get out of it, it is important to prepare according to their types of attacks and their weaknesses. An interesting aspect... that can possibly be zapped by an artificially acquired level increase by killing the basic monsters in a loop, since the latter reappear ad infinitum. Just walk out of a room and back in to see them standing up again. Yes, since Bloodstained respects the principles of Castlevania to the letter, it suffers from a little old school side which may annoy some players. For example, you have to go through the menus to drink a simple potion of life, no sound or visual signal warns us frankly when the health bar approaches zero, and if you die when you have not crossed a save room for twenty minutes, you will have to start all over again. Fans wanted a Symphony of the Night 2.0, they got it!
Fortunately, the graphics have progressed well over the past twenty years, and the 2,5D displayed by the game is much higher than what the 1997 hit offered. Technically, we are still far from the standards of 2019, and we feels that the cel-shading that dresses the characters is a bit of a hide-and-seek. The artistic direction tends to go all over the place, for better or for worse. The gothic architecture is great fun, but some enemies look a little too Pokémon-like to be taken seriously. And if being attacked by a giant cat with horns is worth its weight in peanuts, it must be recognized that the whole thing is sorely lacking in coherence. In addition, the game is not impervious to bugs, which can range from the totally immobile boss to the heroine's movements which suddenly and irremediably become slow. And the French localization can also be singled out since we are entitled to a few spelling mistakes, systematically misplaced ellipsis, a double or even triple space after each apostrophe or, on the contrary, missing spaces between certain words or after certain punctuation marks. This is not very serious. Obviously, Castlevania fans will be able to overcome the various flaws of this Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, because basically, it's unquestionably the game they've been waiting for!
