AVAILABLE ON: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, 3DS, PS Vita
Xbox One version out on June 6th
Let me just start by saying Blood Stained Curse Of The Moon was a real treat for me. This brought me right back to my childhood with with such games as Castlevania, Metroid and other well crafted 2D platformers. Lets be honest, it should! This game developed by Into Creates is part of the same universe as the upcoming Bloodstained title Being directed from Castlevania's veteran director Koji Igarashi.
As a companion game to the upcoming "Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night" Curse of the Moon goes down the route of a more 8 bit style NES title. It does however use effects such as parallax scrolling and some slightly higher end sprites "enemies in particular" that we typically didn't see on the NES. For retro enthusiasts and sprite lovers, this game seriously delivers in the visual department.
Gameplay wise this also has had a ton of work into finely crafting a perfect, tight 2D platforming/adventure experience. It makes no attempt to hide the fact that this game is meant to be the next Castlevania. Having sub-weapons, requiring potions AKA hearts to use such sub-weapons. One of the secondary characters you unlock also uses a whip as her primary attack. I literally forgot on occasion that I wasn't playing a Castlevania title and that was a very good thing!
On that topic however, this is an 8bit style title with a great modern coat of paint. The speed of movement is roughly in the middle of the original Castlevania titles and Symphony Of The Night. You get multiple characters to switch out on the fly with their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Your arsenal as well has been painfully fleshed out with a ton of options depending on the stage and scenario. Every challenge I felt I found the perfect character and weapon to tackle it with. It was a fun trial and error which never made me feel frustrated or hopeless that I could never proceed. I throughly enjoyed learning each bosses' attack patterns and each level's paths to tailor my play style on the fly. It's fast, tight and incredibly responsive. When I died, it felt like it was my fault.
On the topic of difficulty. There are two of them to choose from: Veteran and Casual.
Veteran with give you a number of lives to complete each stage. Casual will provide you with an infinite number for you to keep trying even after death. You can still die "trust me you will" but you can have unlimited re-spawns back to the nearest checkpoint. I didn't notice too much other differences regarding enemy health or overall play difficulty in other areas.
As well, Let me just say this game is hard. Its fair but still quite difficult. Newcomers to the genre might be slightly turned off by its challenge. However, I highly encourage anyone who gives it a shot to stick with it. The road to victory isn't always clear at first. You will catch on to what it requires from you quite quickly though. There's nothing like the rush of getting bested by a tough boss or tough stage over and over. Then you discover this tiny opening or weakness and prevail. Curse Of The Moon is full of those awesome moments and it doesn't take long to get hooked into it's amazingly well crafted jaws.
It's pretty safe to say that I adored Curse Of The Moon through and through. If I had one criticism it would just be the length. I clocked in about 2 hours total from start to finish. Now that doesn't mean there still isn't a ton left for me to do. There's still some locked trophies and a ton of alternate paths I missed the first time through. But, I was hoping for a few more stages when I reached the conclusion. On that note though, you can look at it that I just wanted MORE of this fantastically developed game. To some, 2 hours might just be the perfect length.
If you like Castlevania or even enjoy 2D platforms. Bloodstained is one of the finest to be released in recent years. I highly, highly recommend it this wonderful throwback to a genre that seemingly won't quit.
All images belong to their respected owners
Score: 9.5/10
Playtime: About 2 hours
Difficulty: completed on veteran
Platform: Playstation Vita