Description

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a Metroidvania video game developed by ArtPlay and published by 505 Games. The game’s development was led by former Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi, and is considered a spiritual successor to the series. The game follows the post-Metroidvania-style gameplay of the Symphony of the Night and the Order of Ecclesia games of the Castlevania series. As Miriam, the player explores a labyrinthine series of rooms presented as a platform game, fighting monsters and bosses, and gaining keys or powers that let them explore previous areas that were previously impossible to reach. Miriam is able to use various weapons to perform melee or ranged attacks to defeat monsters, or special abilities granted by the shards she possesses from monsters to perform magical attacks.

Among the maze of rooms include save rooms, allowing the player to save their game and fully regenerate Miriam’s health and magic power. Additionally, warp rooms allow the player to quick jump from one region of the map to another previously-discovered warp room. Following the game’s prelude, the player also gains access to a set of non-playable characters located at the start of the map that provide stores to buy and sell weapons, shards and ingredients, and crafting services to make new weapons or upgrade shards. The game is presented in a 2.5D style, presenting the game in three-dimensional graphics but restricting movement to a 2D system.