Credit: Inti CreatesThe name, Castlevania, has lost much of its lustre over the years when compared with the weight of its import in its 8 and 16-bit heyday. These days, it doesn’t demand the same respect, doesn’t evoke the same sorts of feelings -- hell, it isn’t even the same kind of game. I’m reminded of the way Darth Vader has become toothless, innocuous, child-friendly (Rogue One badassery, notwithstanding). Where has the edge gone, the menace?
There was a time when a new Castlevania project was announced and nothing short of punishing, sonically singular excellence was expected. Those days are over. And yet: thank goodness for indie developers and their tools. Their passion projects provide for us the answers to countless old-school-inspired what-ifs, hearken back and resuscitate long dead bloodlines that The Big Guys, themselves slaves to bean counters, have long ago deemed unprofitable.
Koji Igarashi and Inti Creates have continued that trend with Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, a game that answers the question: What would a spiritual sequel to Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse look like in 2018? Their answer proves that truly excellent gameplay is timeless; their answer is a game that feels like Castlevania III in all of the most important ways, yet caters to modern sensibilities and manages the difficult dual accomplishments of making you want to replay it multiple times through its various modes, and making you also want to go back and (re)play the fantastic source material (which has held up better than I could have imagined). Bloodstained seems set to be a new, modern day classic, even while it elevates an old one.
Credit: Inti CreatesWe take control of Zangetsu, a demon hunter as sturdy as any Belmont, and guide him through eight challenging levels en route to slaying the demon who has brought darkness to the land while he sleeps waiting, like Cthulhu. On the way, Zangetsu will cross paths with three skilled fighters who decide to team up with him, each with their own grudge against the demon that permits them to put their differences with Zangetsu aside for the greater good.
Zangetsu himself is the stoutest of the group; employing his sword reminds us of Ryu from the NES Ninja Gaiden titles, and while his anti-air and demon essence subweapons won’t look familiar, his holy water-inspired attack should. Playing as Miriam makes Bloodstained feel the most like a Castlevania game -- she bears a whip, after all -- but like a Castlevania game on steroids, as she is much fleeter of foot than Simon ever was, can leap higher than him, and her whip is longer than his was, right out of the gate.
Alfred is our Sypha Belnades, and Gebel is our Alucard. If you know those names, you know that the former is physically weak but casts powerful magic, and the latter’s greatest asset is his ability to turn into a bat (no subweapons here) and soar.
Switching among the characters on the fly is crucial in Bloodstained -- more so than it ever was in Castlevania III. Not only will character management allow you to take different routes (Gebel’s bat form will open up areas that initially seem out of reach) but it will allow you to feast on enemy formations that initially seemed insurmountable (Alfred’s burning sphere ability will see you through the most intractable of enemy gauntlets).
Credit: Inti CreatesBut the greatest influence that the characters effect on the gameplay hasn’t anything to do with their unique abilities. It’s simply this: once you have your team of four assembled, you essentially have four lives for every life. Once you have all of your allies in tow, how you manage their lives, their unique energy bars, is key to your success further on in the game when things get significantly more difficult. Some of the later bosses will have you lashing out with your most offensively potent character of choice at the onset, before switching in a panic to your defensive standout when the boss switches tactics. If any character should fall to his death or succumb to his wounds, you’ll be sent back to the last checkpoint, but as long as you switch off from the characters with failing health to someone fitter, you’ll effectively be extending your lifeline nearly four-fold. How efficiently you go about doing this while also making your selections based on offense and defense, is the difference between success and failure.
The faster moving characters and vitality meter swapping makes Bloodstained easier than the game that inspired it. And if it’s still too difficult for the uninitiated, you can choose to play it in Casual mode which offers unlimited lives and turns off the old school “knockback” effect when you take damage. Or, in the event that you’re an 80s gaming guru and it’s too easy, you’ll be in for a rude awakening once you beat the original mode and explore subsequent runs. Many of them involve not assembling your team of four, which obviously takes away from (or outright eliminates if you bring along no one) the energy bar-stacking. Every combination yields a different ending, and if you’ve been starved for 8-bit platformer excellence, this will seem like an absolute feast.
Bloodstained isn't perfect. Its highs aren't quite as high as those of its source material, its awesome tunes not quite as awesome, and it shows off a few rather luridly coloured later levels. But it was ostensibly released as a stopgap while Castlevania true believers continue to await the highly anticipated Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the new IP’s tribute to the most celebrated of all Castlevania games, Symphony of the Night. And to consider this first instalment as a checkpoint en route to a greater destination is to sell it criminally short. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon compares itself to what is arguably the best pure experience in the Belmont canon and comes out of that comparison none the worse for wear. That’s no easy feat.
