Video: Digital Foundry Explores Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night's Disappointing Switch Version

I still can't believe it's £35, bugs or no bugs

I've actually not even taken my backer copy out of its shrink wrap. I'm waiting to see if they fix the issues before starting on the game.

Hopefully your review is coming soon that will reflect and adress it. Currently all the sales run rampant on the back of the good reviews for PS4 and XboXOne. Would be happy if you step up and adress this situation...

Got the physical, but it came the same day as Mario Maker, so unfortunately it is in my backlog. Hopefully there will be some patches to sort out these problems by the time I get around to it.

And with all the delays that happened to this game you would have thought they would have sorted this out

I'm getting this on Xbox One X instead. I double dip some games, but Xbox One X is best for third party games.

Got my switch version sealed. Currently playing om My XboneX

Interestingly, a minor overclock makes the game run at 720p in handheld mode. The visual downgrades in some places are strange, though, as they mentioned in the video, I had no idea some of those parts were supposed to be water, they looked more like some strange slush. I have no doubt that they'll make the game look much better as time goes on, going by how they've fixed nearly everything people complained about in the demo.

Gameplay-wise, in any case, the game is truly excellent. It's just like the Castlevanias on the DS, and of course Symphony of the Night. It's peak era Castlevania in all but name.

I just got my copy in the mail after being a backer. I haven't played it yet but will try it when the next update happens.

Considering of getting the PC version in the mean time but am thinking of waiting for a sale.

Still gonna buy it for Switch tho... And they are working on some fixes, so there's that.
Just wish the Co-op mode was present from the get go.

I canceled my pre-order for the Switch version and got the game on PS4 Pro. It was a good decision. How Digital Foundry says, it runs extremely well on Sony's enhanced console. Great game so far.

While I believe that they will fix the issues, the current state is embarrassing.

This was a game I was going to buy on Switch if the versions were the same.
I’m about half way through the PS4 version and am really enjoying it.

This can't be that demanding of a game for it to be this way on Switch can it?

I'm enjoying it but jeez this is just bad.

As an avid fan of the Metroidvania genre, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never played a Castlevania game... I know, I know!
I guess it’s the aesthetic that’s always put me off. Much prefer the Sci-Fi setting of the Metroid games.

I’ve heard that Symphony of the night is the Castlevania game to play out of them all, so was pleased to hear that Ritual of the Night was made by the same guy and pre ordered it for the Switch. My first Castle/IGA vania game!

I played it for a few hours and was enjoying it. But then the reviews of the Switch version poured in, 505 tweets poured in and left me not wanting to continue playing until all patches have been applied to the Switch version. Not a good first Castlevania/ Igavania experience! Haven’t touched the game since.

Nintendo Life,you didn't have a copy prior to the release in order to inform the consumers?
No offense, just wondering.

they ruined the game. I can't wait to play it on switch, but I cancel my preorder... next time I hope they will ay respect to switch owners

Shame really, these kind of games can do really well on Switch, but cut backs like these can really put people off.

I'll wait for kinks to be worked out.

@Scottwood101 why? what do you think a new game should cost?

@Justifier no. When the developers of the game said it needs patching ( in response to the reviews) , I didn’t want to play on until it is patched... big difference.

@YANDMAN I can only base it on production value looking from the outside. Compare it to other new games of a similar aesthetic and genre and there's many at around £20 or less upon launch. It looks like an indie title, not an AAA or AA or even A title. Hollow Knight was £13 for example. When I saw the trailers, the previews etc, I was expecting it to be £20. You can get most big titles for Switch for sub £40 at launch. Astral Chain for example, £38 online. Surely the budget and man hours going in to a game like Astral Chain is far greater than Bloodstained and yet it's only £3 more?

I would have been happy with high quality 2d sprites... Still have my copy shrink wrapped hut plan on starting it soon. Could have got it on PS4 but I prefer handheld when possible. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake.

@Scottwood101 Hollow Knight was £13 on sale.

It plays beautifully on PC. The sad thing is that it should play equally good on Switch, cause it is the most convenient platform for games such as this..

I found the Switch analysis on this one by DF a little.. lacking. He estimates the inpout lag but didn't say if it was measured or guess work and many of stated that the biggest problems show up later in the game (but are vague as to when it really gets bad) and DF didn't get that far in on the Switch (because getting that far in is time consuming to do that on all consoles - which I agree) - but they are the one of the few with the special hacked Switch that allows them to do these direct videos off the handheld version that could have really highlighted the issues.

I've not got that far in game yet, just to the clockwork tower - this is the first area I felt the input / controls were actually hampering my progress a little as opposed me dying / misjudging jumps due to my own fault and have enjoyed it so far but feel like these game breaking frame rate drops are looming over me, waiting to appear and halt my progress at any moment... adds to the dark foreboding atmosphere I guess

I don't understand why this game has so many troubles on Switch. I bought the PS4 version, and while I really enjoy it, it's graphics are the least impressive of any game I have for the PS4 that doesn't have Bubsy in the name. It seems like it should be a very easy port.

Went forward with my Switch purchase. Am 10 hours in. Noticing the frame rate issues (especially in the tower sections). Had my first crash last night. Game is still playable and am having a lot of fun, but the Switch is definitely capable of more than this.

@nintendoknife Er, Hollow Knight launched at £10.99 on the eShop and was recently £5.49 on sale...

@Scottwood101 All games obviously have different budgets, some incredible games are made by one person and you are clearly adding and judging the games dsesign style as an obvious indication of that. A 2.4d platformer doesn't have to be any easier or faster to produce than an aesthetically more advanced 3D engined game. What in your eyes denotes that this isn't a aaa game or what do you perceive a aaa game to be? We all agree the switch port is not a good one but as the game is the same price on all platforms that is obviously not a factor in your original comment. This was a crowd funded game which was then created by a very small team. Assuming you play it on any other platform than the Switch you are going to get an experience worth much more than 35 pounds.

I am enjoying the game definitely but there were enough times where my game just quit. It makes finding a save point kind of dire at times out of fear if losing progress.
Also:
I’ve had my controls stop working after fighting the bloody lady boss (has to use a waystone to warp where they started working after);
Controls would stop working during the same boss fight;
after dying, reloading, and then pausing there is a substantial pause before he menu loads;
There are stutter and pauses sometimes during gameplay like it’s loading;
Slight input lag makes those pixel perfect jumps a bit rough;
Jumping up through a platform into the next screen/area, sometimes you don’t jump high enough so you fall back down into the previous area. Basically there’s a need to hold the jump button through the loading screen so you reach max height to reach the next room above. It’s kind of annoying that’s all;
Some effects just look weird sometimes and glitchy/blocky like enemies dying when dissolving into orange, for example.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I’m loving the game and it’s made extremely well it just needs some bugs ironed out. I do not regret my purchase whatsoever I just don’t understand how it passed Quality Inspection before release.

Even if you can overlook the enormous graphical downgrades and the low frame rate there is another killer problem with this port - massive input latency.

This port should not have been released in this state. It's grossly unprofessional and shows to be frank, that the dev team simply didn't spend much time and money on it.

@McDerbert I am also a big fan of metroidvania and never played more than a few minutes of Castlevanias. To be fair that is only a few Castlevania games with metroidvania aspects (symphony of night was the first one). The normal Castlevania games are actually rather poor games if you take nostalgia away

I am fine with the visuals but they need to work on frame rate and loading times. I will wait a bit but if not addressed I will play it on pc later on

@nintendoknife hollow knight is just short of £12 full price. It's on sale now at £8!

Haven’t bought this yet, but I’m definitely going PS4 route here.

@McDerbert If you were enjoying it then why would it suddenly affect your enjoyment because other people started criticising it? I don’t understand your logic!

@DWWM read my post. I didn’t say it affected my enjoyment. Actually read it.

I was watching this last night. It was a halfway decent watch. It's so strange how they got quite a spectrum of performance regardless of hardware.

However the switch version is in really rough shape. The only time I kind of enjoyed my time with it was in handheld mode. Honestly I traded it in for the xbox version. I'm not the biggest graphic snob but the switch was looking pretty rough add to that the latency issues and it crashing all the time. I always try to support my platform of choice,switch, but I felt pretty let down by the lack of care in this port.

After playing through some of it on the xbox I can say that some of the areas I thought looked like crap on the switch aren't too much better on the xbox,lol.

If you watch the video you'll see how much more beautiful the Xbox One X version is, which is logical because of the hardware differences but still it's impressive seeing the "full" version in motion with all the visual effects, textures and higher resolution. Anybody that says that the two versions look the same is lying. The soundtrack is brilliant too. The problem that they could fix on the Switch version is the input lag because there is no excuse for that.

@McDerbert I get you. I’m sorry for jumping the gun!

More than anything I hope they will get round to improving the textures, but I suspect they will just focus on resolving input lag and the crash bugs.

I won’t stop playing because I’m finding it very addictive but I share your sentiment

@Lemmy_the_Koopa I've been waiting for said review. I think they are hoping it gets fixed then they'll review it. It would suck to give this lovely game a crap score on the switch but I think it deserves it. Plus by not warning others with the review they really are doing a disservice to switch gamers.

@SeerCoot I really dont get why you're getting downvoted

@DWWM I loved the few hours I played and am itching to pick it up again! But I wanna enjoy it fully from start to finish. I’d hate to keep playing before the patch, and run into anything that made me dislike the experience. The wait for the patches is killing me.

P.S hope you continue to have a good experience with it.

@McDerbert that was my big turn off as well.

@SeerCoot almost the same as upvotes,lol

@TheFox you bought a bubsy game?😂😂😂😂

@whanvee
RE: review

I agree completely. They should review it as is. If they want to amend their score later to reflect improvements, that's fine. But for now, it should be reviewed in all of it's mediocre glory.

$40.00 for a crappy port. That's Capcom levels of insulting.

@Balta666 Whatever you think of the NES Castlevanias, I don't think it's fair to say that Bloodlines, Rondo of Blood or Castlevania IV have aged really badly. Also, there were six Castlevanias across the GBA and DS, so I'd say a fair proportion of the series follows the Symphony of the Night template to some degree.

So I'm a little over halfway through the game, and I've gotta say that while the visual downgrades aren't a huge deal for me, especially playing portable, the input delay makes the game frustratingly sticky. You'll see a boss wind up an attack, you'll say "Sweet, I just need to jump over this fireball/axe/umbrella/whatevs," you'll hit the button, and boom. Smacked in the face by an attack because Miriam just stood there. Sometimes you jump after you've been hit, but most of the time your input just gets eaten. I've been beating bosses by mashing the attack button and quaffing potions like an addict, which isn't a good feeling after the fluid controls on every Igavania up to this point. If they fix one thing, it really needs to be the control. I don't mind a game being challenging because it's tough, but a game that's challenging because the floor is made of molasses is pretty disappointing. #freemiriamsfeet

@Balta666 Classic Castlevania is amazing, what are you talking about. They're slow-paced, deliberate and precise platform action games, where good planning is rewarded. The fantasy horror atmosphere is amazing as well.

I could see one saying that CV64 or Simon's Quest are poor games (though I actually like CV64 a lot myself),
but if someone says that Bloodlines or Rondo are poor, that's an opinion I can't even begin to understand.

@Damo You're fine. I think they misunderstood or something.

I have been looking forward to this game for a while, I want it on Switch but I can't justify buying it like this yet. I feel like we've been cheated.

This is why I hate this thing we have now where you can just release a game and patch later. I miss when devs put their games through rigorous testing before releasing.

You can't tell me that they had no clue about the input lag...

Still, it's the best selling version of the game. And, it was the newest version announced as well.The audience for all kind of games is growing every time in the console, because it's selling and better.

@BionicDodo @EarthboundBenjy it is obviously my opinion but all I can see in the old style Castlevania is clunky controls, tank jumps, unfair hotboxes (with added kickback...), Etc. For instance I tried the bloodstained 8bit style from last year and just gave up on it on the second stage as the gameplay is just not good enough to keep my attention (not when you can play shovel knight, Celeste or hollow knight that have good gameplay)

@Balta666 None of the ones I referenced are 8-bit. Well, I guess Rondo kinda is, but the PC Engine CD was a great bit of kit.

I get that's not exactly what you're saying, but I don't personally think any of those I named have clunky controls and that's definitely not true of the post-Symphony games from the GBA and DS.

When you say 'the old style Castlevania', which games are you specifically referencing?

@BionicDodo by old style I mean the ones from the 8 and 16 bit era (basically the non metroidvania ones) but I never played any other of the GBA or DS so I cannot say in which style they fit

the developer is to blame for this lazy port im hoping they fix it and wouldnt be surprise iga is not to happy with them.

@Balta666 All of the GBA and DS ones came after Symphony of the Night and are of the Metroidvania style. Whatever you may think of the SNES, PC Engine and Mega Drive games, they all control a lot better than the current Switch version of Bloodstained!

Ill pick it up in a sale when it's fixed

@McDerbert you are missing great experiences on the Castlevania games post SotN. There is a reason the genre has the mash up of the games names.

If DKC Tropical Freeze can push 1080p and keep a stable 60 fps, I don't see how this game couldn't have done just one of those.
I don't really care which. Full 1080p would've made up perfectly for a more stable 30 fps than we got. A smooth 60 fps would make up for even slightly lower than 720p, IMO, and the input would probably end up at least feeling less laggy.

@BionicDodo unless they changed the gameplay specifically for switch that is not true (and here is fact not opinion)

Good thing a lot of switch owners own two consoles. This will be even more necessary in 2020.

@Balta666 Have you watched this video, read the article or read any reviews of the Switch version? There are issues with input lag on the Switch version, as well as framerate issues.

There is just no way the developers could get this running @60fps on switch. Don't think people realise the difficulty you have with UE4 on consoles. The PS4 and Xbox can't hold a stable 60fps but people expect a much weaker system to be able to hit that. UE4 is power hungry which is always gonna be problematic for switch.

Also please remember that the switch version was not announced till two years after development started. The studio doesn't have the budget and resource of much bigger studios. Yes there are problems with switch version that can't be denied but try and be objective.

nintendo fans. We don't need a powerful console. We don't want to play call of duty or ea sports in 4k. Oh wait my metroidvania runs like crap. It must be the developer and not the weak system.

@Kmno I’m fully aware the Castle games are held in high regard. The aesthetic has always seemed cheesy to me hence my avoidance of them. If I enjoy Bloodstained once it’s fully patched, I might go play some of the games post SotN.

Too many opinions floating around on this game for switch i genuinely don't know if I should buy or wait for some patches to roll out. I still am looking forward to a review here on NL

@NintendoByNature Nintendolife 8.0. I don't think they know what a 7,6 or 5 look like.

@BionicDodo frame rate and input lag are far from being worst than poor gameplay

@geox30 I can confirm this: it is excellent on PC/Steam. Loading is lightning fast with an SSD. I haven’t crashed or seen any stuttering. I do get drop items out of place though. It’s minor, but they really need to fix that.

@graysoncharles I heard Link’s Awakening struggles to run at 30 fps even.

@Balta666 Your complaints about the 16-bit Castlevanias seemed to be centred around them controlling poorly. Input lag that means you can press the button at the exact right time and get killed anyway is a huge issue in a 2D game. I don't see how you can downplay that. We shall just have to agree to disagree.

I’m surprised that it’s as bad as it is. However I’m NOT surprised that it’s inferior to the other versions. That’s par for the course

@sixrings lmao you could be right

Game just hasn’t been optimised very well for the switch

@Scottwood101 @BionicDodo Hey, you're right, I mixed up £ and €, my bad.

The game doesnt have enough things going on for the PS4 Pro to run at 1080p. The game just wasn't optimized as a trade off to getting it out the door. Given the Switch FPS trade off, I would have expected this to look like the base XBOX - but at 30fps. The base XBOX + 720p is where I expect them to end up, if they want to prove they are committed to releasing the game they promised. That should be more then doable IMO.

@Balta666 "I don't like these games, therefore they are bad." I don't like the gameplay of classic Castlevania games very much either (music and atmosphere have always been excellent), but they're still great games.

@Darasin The Switch is not as powerful as the base Xbox so that won't happen, and as other people already stated, the game is made with Unreal Engine 4, which doesn't run particularly well on any console and especially not on the Switch. Getting rid of the input lag and bumping the resolution to native res in portable mode are necessary, anything else would be great but I wouldn't hold my breath.

@nintendoknife well I gave my reasons why the games are bad, I am not just saying they are... I also don't like 2d mario games but I don't consider them bad quite the contrary

@gamer95 how is he being “arrogant through the roof” by saying they got their review copy on day of release?

Maybe learn to understand people’s comments before judging...

@94graysoncharles @nintendoknife the game isn't optimized on any console, so asking for the Switch @ 720p30fps docked to be closer to the XBOX One at 900p more then 30fps isn't asking that much. I don't know how anyone can claim how fast the chip is or isn't vs what its suppose to be at 1-1.1tflop, based on how dock and undock clocks run. We can say the Unreal engine port sucks, the developers had to many builds on their hands, but this system can do this game XBOX One level at 720p30. Its insane to say otherwise with all the ports we've seen. Would it require someone to optimize, yes, but that can be said of all the versions of this game. You don't need a 6tflop XBOX X to run this game right. Its nuts.

Still have yet to receive my backers copy. If I had know it was going to be a trainwreck I would have picked the pc version when they released the fps for switch version but they locked the versions a year before that so too bad.

Still I would have settled with 30 fps and a small downscale on the graphic but hearing the textures took a massive hit is disappointment but what really gets me are the massive bugs in the game. The crashes and input lag people are getting is what is hurting me more. When I get my copy I won't be playing it till those issues are fixed.

I have even seen switch backers asking for a digital copy of the game on another platform to make up for the shoddy release of this game. While I never go that far as I do hope for them to fix this main issues asap but if they allow people to get another version for free for people who backed the switch version then great.

The one thing that erks me though was that one PR person on the kickstarter comments kept saying you won't be disappointed or that you won't have worst version all the time. Well when the switch version release he went mia. Well it is the worst version with all the issues it has (not counting graphics or fps).

@Balta666 And your reasons are "I don't like the way it works".

I moved on from owning only Nintendo consoles because I just got tired of stuff like this. After multiple generations and countless development teams, at the end of the day the issue lies with Nintendo.

I was finally done compromising my gaming experience. Every generation Nintendo is about compromise. Want a SNES? Compromise on adult content/filters. Want a N64? Compromise on storage space, FMV, digital audio, 3rd party support. Want a GCN? Compromise on a right analog stick or a 4th shoulder button, and 3rd party support (less so than N64 granted). Want a Wii? Compromise on HD graphics and (good) 3rd party support. Want a Wii U? Well. LOL.

Want a Switch? Compromise on literally everything for the sake of portability.

Gaming on a non-Nintendo for the first time in, ever, has been fantastic. So many games. No compromise. (I don't care to play video games outside of my home).

@Darasin I get what you're saying, the way the game looks on the Xbox One should technically be possible to do on the Switch, but it's just not going to happen if the Xbox One, which is far more powerful than the Switch, can't even run it at 1080p.

Why do some people still have this illusion that the switch is near a base Xbox one??

@nintendoknife "Castlevania has clunky controls, tank jumps, unfair hitboxes (with added kickback...), Etc". Therefore I don't like the way it works... You got that part right lool

It's a hard decision to make.

Optimize the Switch version more, and miss global launch?
Release a somewhat botched Switch version?
Delay global launch and make all the fans upset?

All instances conjure and evaluation of Lost Profits vs. Consumer Resentment. It's a risk / benefit analysis we've had to see Kickstarter creators go through time and time again.

For privately funded productions, these considerations typically happen behind closed doors, but with crowdfunding, this can become an ugly spectacle with everybody sharing their opinions and going up against each other on who were right or wrong, or most deserving of their wants to be prioritized.

Too bad with this one for Switch players.
Hopefully they will keep working on it, as the game did end up looking fairly good on the other systems, in spite of the schizophrenic development the visuals have gone through.

I preordered it on Switch. It's still sealed and got a PS4 Pro version. My Xbox one X is not hooked up at the moment.

@whanvee I actually bought both Bubsy's released for the PS4! I though Woolies Strike Back from two years ago was actually pretty fun; it was just REALLY short. The one that just came out, Paws on Fire is actually getting OK ratings. But they, especially Paws on Fire have pretty simplistic 2.5D graphics so Bloodstained definitely looks sharper and more detailed... But that's not saying much.

Meanwhile, this site refuses to review the game. They review all kinds of bs, just not this game.

The consensus seems to be that it is fantastic on all platforms...except on Switch. Its probably the first "kickstarted spiritual succesor" that's really good. I mean, Mighty number 9 was fail, Yooka laylee was better (from what I heard) but not great. But this one seems really good. The creators macho-talk seems to have been justified, luckily. But a shame the Switch-version has been butchered. Since that's my only option, I'll get it down the line. After some serious updates. Or maybe when its heavily discounted.

Now that I have seen part of the video: Yeah, you definitely see the difference. More then I hoped. But for me it might just be acceptable, maybe. I don't know about the input-lag. That's probably something I should experience first-hand.

@Zuljaras See, this is the one thing I'm not seeing so far... input lag / frame rate issues, long transitions between certain rooms etc yep, but 15 hours in and no crashes so far, not even looking in bookcases (which some say is a trigger for a crash). I wonder if there's a pattern e.g. cartridge vs download, Internal memory vs sd card etc etc

@electrolite77 it’s to do with the fact the switch is still selling, when he predicted it will fail after 3 months under his old moniker. The thing is, if he’s in gaming heaven, why in the hell is he here?

@electrolite77 You might remember him from having the word gator in his name...

@electrolite77 Yep same guy, every post was pretty much how fantastic the Xbox is and how Nintendo is destined to fail ultimately, but the goalpoasts just kept moving. He said he's not back to troll though.

Classic hot takes like this:

"gatorboi352 Wed 13th Jun 2018
Switch lining up to be the next wii u. Large gaps in releases with ever dwindling 3rd party support. Good thing you can take it on the go with you or else Nintendo may have been looking at another 13 million lifetime sales."

So the next Nintendo console will definitely fail, and if it doesn't, the one after that will.