Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Review

Growing up I largely sucked at video games. In all fairness this wasn't an uncommon phenomenon among kids. Old-School games used difficulty as a means of creating length, turning something forty minutes long into a project that could take a gamer weeks, months, or even years to complete. Even with such insurmountable odds there were some titles you could excel at, had me some wicked Mario 3 skills, and others you could never master, lord how I stink at Mega Man.

One series that often made this gamer sad was Castlevania. I mean the core concept was pure joy, giving us a chance to essentially play through a classic Universal Monster movie. Problem was I could never beat one to save my life. Even as my gaming skills improved, I still wasn't all that great at the series. Sure I could handle Symphony of the Night, a blessing seeing as it's an incredible game, but give me Circle of the Moon and things won't go so well. Still the dream was always there that I could try another and another until I found one I wasn't so terrible at. Until Konami tossed the franchise aside.

A few years back, former Konami employees including the main producer of the Castlevania games launched a Kickstarter for Bloodstained; Ritual of the Night. While that title has yet to be released, it's Kickstarter included one very important detail many people forgot about, a side project of an 8-bit entry in this new franchise. That little aside became reality just a couple weeks ago in the form of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. I gotta tell you guys, this is just a fantastic little gem of a game.

A key factor in making this game so playable are the difficulty options. Not only can you unlock more challenging modes with each completion of the game, but you can always choose between veteran and casual styles. Veteran sticks you with limited lives and the handicap of being knocked back by every hit. Casual give you infinite lives and allows the characters to take a hit like a man. Personally I would have preferred a mixed option with the challenge of limited lives while maintaining the ability to stand my ground. Even so, I love having the choice.

Beyond those settings are multiple ways to play through the adventure which can make it more or less challening. You begin as Zengetsu, a stoic samurai on a mission to slay demons. At the end of each of the first three levels he can recruit additional characters and switch between them on the fly to access their innate abilities. Miriam plays a bit more like a traditional Castlevania hero with added attack range from her whip and a slide that lets her gets under obstacles. Alfred the wizard has a pathetic amount of health and terrible attack but his secondary weapons are crazy useful spells, the best of which is a protective barrier. Lastly is Gebel the vampire. His attack is terrible for low-ground enemies and he lacks secondary items but he's gifted with decent strength and the ability to change into bat form and fly over pesky platforming sections.

Let's say building a motley crew of adventurers isn't you bag. If that's the case you can kill these characters in order to grant Zangetsu new abilities like a double-jump, and airborne slash in order to play more like Ninja Gaiden. Perhaps you want to play the really hardcore way, well just bypass each character rather than killing them and continue on as the basic, wimpy version of Zangetsu. Or maybe just find your own mix.

As you can see the variety offered by the different difficulties, damage modes, and character options allows a player to shape the game to their skill level. If you recruit every character on casual mode, you're almost guaranteed to make it through with a little patience. Sticking with Zangetsu and veteran mode offers that old-school trial by fire. This opens up the game for anyone.

The levels hit a good amount of classic tropes such as a train, stormy ghost ship, and you'd better believe there's a castle. Each one has a little something that makes it stand out, be it the forceful winds of the ship, or the shifting stacks of books in the library. Nice and spooky as these areas are I was a little disappointed in some of the enemies contained therein. Some of them are classic horror fodder like rats and bats, while others like smiley-face squid men are a bit too esoteric for my liking. There's something to be said for the simplicity of werewolves and skeletons.

On the flip-side the bosses are awesome all the way through. Each functions via classic pattern attacks but in a manner that allows for multiple strategies, more so when factoring in secondary weapons. For instance a boss that may normally require lots of jump attacks becomes far less of a problem if you bring in the chain or Miriam's daggers. Projectile attacks getting you down? No problem if you've got Alfred's barrier. The only boss who's pattern is perhaps a bit too unpredictable is the last one, and I mean the real final boss, not the one you face the first time through.

There are a couple of issues with these battles however. One is that the difficulty curve is not balanced at all. The boss for stage five is significantly nastier than the two that follow. In fact, stage seven's boss has one of the easiest to remember patterns I've ever encountered. Each of these villains also has a last ditch attack to try and take out the player with them. Some are perfectly balanced giving the player just enough opportunity to obverse and react. Some of these attacks however are more challenging mostly due to vague design. There's one in particular that I have made multiple attempts at dodging and still haven't found the proper method.

Even with those slight blemishes, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a special sort of surprise that is far too rare these days. A complete, thoughtful, and totally sincere production. There's no bloat or corporate nonsense. Everything a player needs to have a great monster slaying adventure is right here for only ten bucks. It's an even better experience for those of us who miss those old NES games but enjoy some modern convenience in our gaming. If you feel the need for a solid quick adventure to spice up your Summer nights, absolutely give this a try.