Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is finally with us, and what a wait it has been. The game was crowdfunded back in 2015 and endured a major delay last year, but it's finally in our hands and on our Switches. While Nintendo fans have unquestionably been given the worst version of the game (hopefully that will change a little soon), Bloodstained is still packed with enough Koji Igarashi magic to be worth a look.
Given that the game has been out for almost a week, we feel it's safe to talk about one of its coolest features – but before we proceed...
This is your final warning: major spoilers for both Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Bloodstained are featured below, so please read at you own risk!
With that said, here's another piece of amazing Mana Ikeda Bloodstained artwork, and we'll continue after the break.
Still with us? Then we can assume you've finished both games and are ready to discuss one of the coolest features of Igarashi's latest Metroidvania epic.
Remember in Symphony of the Night, when the final battle with a possessed Richter seemed to spell the end of the game? As we all know, this was merely a bluff; killing Richter would give you the bad ending and leave around half of the game still undiscovered. That's because Symphony of the Night quite literally flipped things over by giving you a 'reverse' or 'inverted' castle to explore, effectively doubling the size of the game.
A similar trick is played in Bloodstained; should you slay Gebel in the Hall of Termination, then you'll get the 'bad' ending and a lot of the fortress will remain unseen. Instead, you need to resist the urge to end Gebel's tyranny and explore other parts of the castle to find the items needed to gain the game's true ending.
One of those items is the 'Invert' shard, which is Igarashi's way of paying tribute to the amazing inverted castle seen in Symphony of the Night. However, the really cool thing about this shard is that instead of taking you to an alternate version of the fortress, it allows you to alter gravity itself and flip the screen 180-degrees; all enemies and items continue to behave as normal, but Miriam's gravity is reversed.
So, instead of having a separate version of the building, you're exploring the same building upside down. This is a trick that wouldn't be difficult to perform on the PlayStation back in 1997, but in a 2.5D game in 2019 – where the entire environment is 3D – it's a piece of cake.
It's only natural that Igarashi would include references to his previous work in Bloodstained – in fact, the game is packed with them – but this one really did make us smile when we first saw it. Let us know your thoughts with a comment below.
Comments 25
No you may not!!! I do still want articles on this game, but not spoilers! I'm waiting for the software updates before i play it.
Edited to remove reference to a mistake in the article that's been corrected.
Sure the title of this article in itself is a heavy spoiler as now people will definitely be expecting something to happen at a certain point in the game
Why the hype for a game that needs (nobody knows how much) patches to run satisfying?
This game was rushed out on Switch and does not deserve this hype until it's programming is finished.
Just my 2 cents.
This moment, of turning things upside down, also made me smile, while thinking "can't believe they did it in their own way!"
Also, I must say it is not a Igavania if you can't sit down on a chair. And Bloodstained is full of them, in many styles and desgins. Including a musical piece with a certain familiar. Lovely!
It is attention to detail that makes the experience more fun, without changing anything in the aspects of the game.
Ah its a shard that does that trick. Cool I saw a vid that had a section upside down n was like waaaaaaa. Then I remembered its Symphonytooie and relaxed...
@BacklogBlues also the title of the article feels like a spoiler in itself.
After playing through this 2x’s on PC I found myself still wanting to play more so picked it up on Switch. I was curious how bad the port was and well, it’s bad. The input lag is the main thing that ruins the Switch version for me and almost makes it unplayable. I’ll be holding off on playing this version until it’s patched.
The only thing I was missing was an amazing OST that matches Symphony of the Night. But it doesn't. None of the OST sticks in my mind. Next time instead 5 milion they should wait till they have 10 million so we can also have a great OST that we will remember. Medicore at best. But I do love the game though. It has even more futures than Symphony of the Night. You do have to do some grinding so you can level up your familiair. Love it. More reasons to do some backstracks
Keep playing the game, Damien. You'll find more tributes later. If you had kept playing the game, then you wouldn't need to either edit this article, or write another one about the same subject, later.
Wasn't this feature in the trailer..... Not really a spoiler in my eyes if already shown before game release
@Morlock5K I certainly remember seeing something like this either in a trailer or as part of the Kickstarter.
@Lawnachaun I'm fully aware of the tributes as you'll no doubt have known if you read my review; this one just made me smile more than the others, hence the little write up.
Really looking forward to playing this once it’s properly patched. And bring on the original SOTN and all its follow-ups!!
Having played SOTN the title alone is a spoiler. Shame on you.
@N8tiveT3ch if you have played sotn it’s not hard to figure out. Really disappointed.
What are the necessary items!!
And btw, I'm playing the Switch version, and it's fine. In a side by side comparison, yea, other versions are nicer. But playing it on Switch, docked or handheld, it's perfectly fine. I'm enjoying it. Nothing wrong with the graphics or the supposed input lag. Neither of which are major detractors unless you're being really picky about it. If no one had told me, I wouldn't have ever noticed either issue.
@Coxula Because it's not Switch exclusive. There are so many people I know that just flat out bought it on other platforms over Switch. I literally bought the game on Switch because of the portability factor, but then bought it again on PC just so I could actually enjoy the game without encountering the major technical issues that have yet to be optimized on Switch
@ouroborous As someone who played through the game on PC, loved it, bought it on Switch to play it again - there is serious input lag and to me it makes the game not nearly as enjoyable as it is intended. The combat and movement should be snappy and responsive and on Switch it is not. It’s very real so don’t spread misinformation. Let’s hope the patch addresses this. I’m glad you’re enjoying it but others might not be able to look past this. This is a great game and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to play this on the Switch in its current state. I can look past the bad visuals and frame stuttering, but the input lag ruins the game for me.
@Coxula I’m about 8 hours in and the game plays/looks fine. I’ve played worse games on my ps4 and it’s been 80% portable play. Have you played it on switch? Just my two cents being a 37 year old gamer with probably 33 of those years actually gaming.
Well that's a shame it bothers you. I admit it feels like you move slowly, but i really wouldn't say that it feels unresponsive, which is what I feel is implied by "input lag".
Again, if the Switch version is the only version you're ever going to play, it's just fine. And hopefully they can adjust it or the better with the upcoming patches. That is one of the issues they are addressing.
The damn title basically spoilers it. Jesus. This place...
Am I cracking up? Wasn't the spoiler discussed in this article shown at the end of an earlier trailer?
@Donutman: "Just my two cents being a 37 year old gamer with probably 33 of those years actually gaming."
Oh! So I played with my Atari 2600 when you was born.
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