JoeTheDestroyer's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night review

Really good review. I get what you say about Metroidvanias and how it's cool that they are getting a lot tougher than SotN and several of its mobile Castlevania heirs. One things I really dug about this game was how powerful some bosses were and how tough it could be to get to them due to the opposition in your way. That's a big part of why I loved Blasphemy and Hollow Knight. They were great, both in being atmospheric and in being legit challenges that I had to work my ass off to get through.

One thing about this genre is that I have the toughest time truly knowing just what makes a game click for me or not. Where it winds up being more a vibe than a situation where I can say, "Nope, this isn't working." Like, a month or so ago, I picked up FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch because it was leaving PS Plus and it was one of the many games there I had on my list of stuff I wanted to try. For a week or two, I was playing it regularly, but it was this "it's fun, but..." vibe where some times, I'd be having a great time and sometimes, I'd feel I was going through the motions. And then I just didn't play it for four or five days and realized I probably no longer had enough time to beat it before it was pulled, so I just deleted it. I could not tell you why I stopped or why I had days where I wasn't feeling; that was just how it was. It was kind of the same with GRIME farther back, but at least with that game, it was full-on with Souls-like combat, but side-scrolling, and I at least know myself enough to know that some days, I want something easier, so trying a game like that and having a time limit is a recipe for failure.

But when one of these games works, it works. This wasn't my favorite and you liked it more than I did, but I thought it was really pretty and a great love letter to SotN by the guy who made that game.

Yeah, this sub-genre was better when it was used more sparingly. Now, it's like too many of them are samey. I've played a handful that were just fine, but not much more than that. Even some of the Souls-like ones are getting a bit samey. Still, I occasionally find ones that surprise me, and though I had a feeling I would dig this one, I was not prepared to like it as much as I did.

Thanks for reading!