Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | 17th Mar, 2020 | 19:12hrs | rating: 4/5
Basically it’s as metroidvania as a game can get.
GAMEPLAY: Extremely satisfying game loop from start to finish, killing enemies, getting new weapons and abilities and exploring new corners of the map. It does get very easy too quickly (the first boss was easily the hardest for me), but it doesn’t matter as there’s always new things to see and do, and the customization is very satisfying.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Played it on Switch, and this is a pretty ugly and blurry game! Some areas have serious slowdown, but at least I never encountered any bugs or crashes, so honestly I didn’t mind. The music is catchy!
STORY/PRESENTATION: The plot is forgettable but not in the way. The loading-times are a little too long, and in general it just doesn’t run well.
I gotta say I enjoyed this one more than Hollow Knight in many ways. Especially the insane amount of weapons, abilities and equipment kept things constantly interesting for me, even when backtracking.