WayForward Joins Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night Development Team

I'm mildly concerned about this because on top of a third party entering development this late in the release cycle, WayForward also made The Mummy Demastered, which is one of the worst Metroidvanias I've ever played.

All that time and money. Yet they can't even finish their own game without outside help. What a train wreck.

@Liam_Doolan Curse of the Moon is a bit different then Cursed Moon.

Sounds like another self-congratulatory project is about to backfire. Glad I was refunded for this while I had the opportunity.

Im actually really excited about this game. Curse of the moon was awesome imo. I think way forward can only help but who knows

Maybe, but WF swings wildly on game quality. With Shantae, for example, SatPC was fine enough (save for some unfair, archaic enemy placement and respawning). HGH made that issue WORSE (on top of being shallow and lackluster overall).
Still, if they're just doing bug testing and fixes, then yeah, that should be fine.

@nintendobynature I -really- want to play Curse of the Moon, but not when review after review complains about the controls being 8-Bit Era stiff and unresponsive. Giant turnoff.

On the one hand I'm pleased to hear that WayForward is involved since they know how to make a darn good metroidvania, but on the other hand it's super concerning to see a third party enter the project so late into development. It feels like this game will never come out at this point, and I'm worried that this will be another Kickstarter trainwreck.

It sounds like WayForward is only debugging the game and not working on level designs or such.

Thank goodness I didn't back this. The little 8-bit throwback they made is really fun, but I hope they don't botch their main game. It would be nice to get a new Castlevania, heh.

@KingBowser86 Curse of the Moon is awesome. I had zero problems with the controls.

And I like a lot of WayForward's work, so I'm not worried about their involvement. Having another experienced side-scroller team help with bug fixes should just strengthen the game.

The final product will look something like this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=g9ZVWMPuZ2c
Seriously though, I hope this project finally gets completed, since it’s the closest thing to a new Castlevania game that is done right.

WayForward knows how to make games. Hopefully they'll be able to smooth things over well. They're one of my favorite companies!

Note to self: never donate to a game project pitched with Kickstarter.

@kirbygirl I'm hoping to try it out at a friend's, at some point. Maybe. I'd want a hands-on trial, first.
And yeah, again, if WF strictly is just testing, more power to both studios.

Hmm dont know what too think about this.

Leave it to WayForward to get things going forward for the game.

I wasn't super into this game... But with WayForward joining, I am now!

Why are so many people complaining about Wayforward entering as a developer when they’re just handling debugging? Why are people concerned about farming out the debugging process? I think people are just using this to amplify their already lingering fears.

Weird story. Why are they enlisting a developer on the other side of the world? Why aren't they capable of doing this themselves?
And why is this being announced so late in the development cycle?
A lot of weirdness.

I really do hope that this game will be good in the end, but I do admit I've started having my doubts.

@TheOpponent what was it about the Mummy Demastered that you didn’t like? I’m genuinely curious. I thought it was a nice tight Metroidvania game with decent controls and art style and I really enjoyed it. My only complaint was sometimes if I died in a hard spot getting all my equipment back could be really hard. But it made me get really good at the game.

I really like WayForward. Aliens on DS and Mummy Demastered are two decent Metroidvania games IMO of course

This wil be the next mighty no 9. On the Of het hand wayforward made some amazing games including the mummy, a FANTASTIC metroidvania.

Kickstarter games don't exist until they are actually released.
They all claim to be spiritual successor to successful games but often go full Mighty No9.
Also they always lie about the release date and the game is delayed by at least 2 years every single time.

@beazlen1 Here's my review of it from when I played it in March:

Basic weapon that does very little damage, slightly (and I mean slightly) better weapons with limited ammo, a flamethrower that's barely any good and yet better than the weapons you get before it, vertical one-way roads that have you go around in circles if you miss a single jump, enemy movement patterns and hitboxes designed to get around the huge gaps in the eight angles you can aim your weapons which themselves have very small hitboxes, a distressingly huge amount of situations where you're surrounded by enemies leaving you feeling like you can't get them all because your bullets are so small, enemies that appear and fire extremely fast bullets at you in less than a second, bosses that take far too long to kill without enough variety in their attack patterns to justify it, vertical one-way roads that have you go around in circles if you miss a single jump, that gimmick where when you die you lose all of your upgrades (including your health upgrades?!?) and you have to go back to the point of death and kill your reanimated corpse with no upgrades whatsoever to get your materials back, no means to refill your life to maximum at all outside of finding health upgrades, vertical one-way roads that have you go around in circles if you miss a single jump, a maximum of two special weapons at once that can only be changed at specific points on the map, very limited secondary bombs that will likely only be used to break the doors that they're designed for, jumps with seemingly mandatory pixel perfection, jumps that can only be made with a large horizontal clearance so you can get a running start (and will often have an enemy or two spawn just because to make sure it's a challenge), and worst of all, vertical one-way roads that have you go around in circles if you miss a single jump.

At least the art's real nice though. Great use of limited palettes that takes care to distinguish every area, which is good because none of them are named or labeled or anything.

@TheOpponent I'm curious - did you play The Mummy Demastered before or after all the game balancing updates. It did sound like it had some substantial issues at launch - but I'd love someone to do a updated review because it sounds like they fixed all the main issues. It could be pretty dope now – and I love the art style.

@brunojenso I played it in March 2018, after that big update. I was especially sour on it because I was streaming it for a themed month and I just came off Mega Man ZX, which wasn't without its own issues but at least knew how to balance enemy strength against the player.

@TheOpponent Fair play mate – and such a shame, it could have be a hidden classic like Aliens DS.

"If you would like to experience Bloodstained right now, there's an 8-bit spin-off titled Curse of the Moon, which was released on the Switch eShop earlier this year."
Sigh. And 3DS.

@TheOpponent The Mummy Demastered certainly lacked soul, and had issues, but WayForward still got us the Shantae games, which are very fun (and they have their own set of issues too). I'm sure they'll be a strong asset to the IGA team, with he right guidance. They're real big fans of Catlevania, they won't want to mess that chance up!

Also, Shantae cameo anywhere? XD

Just give Way Forward the Project so they can make it in glorious hi def 2d with fantastic animation because the current style sucks.

@brunojenso I picked up this by pure chance a few years ago on holiday (£10, still shrink wrapped). Only played a bit but its a bit like a 2D classic resident evil.

@TheOpponent Still better than the film.

Noice that means the game will actually come out then...

@TheOpponent thanks for the reply. Ive hearted your reply for the level of detail. I agree with most of them except the weapons. The last weapon in particular obliterates everything and makes travelling around a lot easier. I think I enjoyed the game because it is hard and I’m a sucker for a challenge. It’s the only game so far on Switch that has made me physically sweat a lot while playing (except the last Super Mario Odyssey level). But I totally get your issues with it.

@beazlen1 I ran out of patience with the game's basic systems long before I could reach any worthwhile weapons. And I get the feeling that the limited ammo and loadouts would have mitigated their usefulness anyway...

@TheOpponent you are joking right now right ? That game took everyone by surprise regarding how good it was lol

@vitelus I found it overly tedious with level designs that serve only to pad game length. I explained it in full above. To be sure, I'd have much less reservations about WayForward being on board if it weren't the most recent game of theirs I played and I didn't hate it so much.

Here's hoping everything comes together for a tight package (as they say)!

I do not doubt this man's ability to design a great gameplay experience, but the visual side of this project has been a bit chaotic since the beginning.

@TheOpponent Pure curiosity, what are the problem you've found in MM:ZX ?

This is taking to long.. :/

Is it just me or was there someone rummaging around off camera during that video? I could hear various bumping sounds, as if furniture was being moved around. Perhaps they’re packing up and feeling the country.

@KingBowser86 I think it's worth a flyer for $10. The controls are definitely true to the 8bit era but it's intentional. It plays like a true nes castlevania game. It's only a few hours long of a campaign so you wont be struggling with the controls too long. Maybe wait til it goes on sale again and give it a shot. It's a fun little adventure 😆

Take your time. I could build a cabin out of my backlog.

~

Well now, hmm. A bit concerning they are having some bugs delaying this game when I thought they were polishing the game, although maybe this bug stamping "is" the polishing, I dunno. So one of my top favs, and quality devs, Wayforward joins the Bloodstained team, eh? Looking forward to them lending their talents to this game, bug squashing or more. I do still have to curb my enthusiasm as another extremely talented developer by the name of Inti-Creates couldn't save Mighty No. 9 unfortunately. Long story short, I am not going to start preaching doom and gloom. I just know that I need this game to come out sooner than later.

@PolarExperience There’s nothing funny about that at all. Give me my Count Duckula game!!!

@Robzilla That was definitely not the response I expected. Guess these are the faults of being a 2000s kid.

@Zuljaras IMHO, the true successor of Castlevania already exists. It was released in 2015 exclusivly on PS4. And it's called Bloodborne.

This is what Castlevania should be today.

Before more people start claiming Bloodstained is becoming another Mighty No. 9, need I remind you that IGA was the creative director of Castlevania, not just a mere concept artist for Simon Belmont(do you see what I did there? ).

MN9 had no chance in the first place, because the core idea behind it wasn't even rooted in good game design. I have no doubts about Bloodstained's core designs. Maybe WF was brought on board because they have successfully fused 2D with 3D in a metroidvania setting, so their experience will be of good use to iron out technical kinks in a game with similar design philosophies. Ultimately, here's hoping that's all this is for.

Can i get my curse of the moon digital switch code yet? Was promised one months ago when i had to change my Vita order to Switch for RotN

@nintendobynature "The controls are definitely true to the 8bit era but it's intentional. It plays like a true nes castlevania game."
See, that's why I didn't buy it when it was even cheaper.

@KingBowser86 hahah I feel you man. It's not for everyone.

Contra 4 and Aliens: Infestation on DS are both excellent games IMO.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories on Vita is also good, although it's not really a survival horror game, but more a good Diablo clone.
Way Forward is a relatively small niche developer, but they know what they are doing in my opinion.

@Zuljaras I don't say that just because it's gothic. I say that because the whole universe and gameplay should have evolve in this direction.

I still love Castlevania but when I see Bloodstained, they try to make the same game than 20-25 years ago. Imagine if Mario today would still look like Super Mario Bros 3...

If Way Forward is involved, then I might have to stop referring to this train wreck as Bloodstained No. 9 . . . . NAH!!

Well "WayForward" being involved tells us this is a real product, and a serious product now that it has external extablished commercial development engaged. OTOH, I've never heard of a game going through such weird outside developer handovers so late in development except for Aliens: Colonial Marines. That's something to worry about.

What happened to Comcept I thought they were involved in some way after the buyout?

I didn't even know that this game was still in development lol

i think this is just polish, the game already had a beta that looked alright, made me look forward to the game.

I missed the kickstarter extended support but considering this is getting longer and longer timeline isn't looking good.

@VinylCreep Likely because nobody bothered reading beyond the headline.

As long as it is a fun game, they can take all the time they need.