Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey guys, welcome to this Quick Take episode. We're so excited to have you here with us. In the past, these Quick Take episodes actually were only available to those who financially supported the show through Apple subscriptions and Patreon. But due to popular demand, we have decided to shake up the perks for our supporters and we'll be releasing these Quick Takes on Saturdays to everyone, giving you all some extra free content that was previously unavailable to the public. And these Quick Takes are a little more laid back, and they're hosted by just one of us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this Quick Take episode.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Shazam! Boom! Hey guys, it's Paul here with a quick take. And what I wanted to talk to you guys about today is one of my favorite single player games that I've played in the last couple of years called Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. Now, there's a game that this is kind of the spiritual successor to, which is Castlevania Symphony of the Night. And for me, that was actually my all-time favorite 2D game, which came out back in the day on PlayStation. And the guy who was the producer of the Castlevania series, he ended up leaving Konami. And years later on Kickstarter, a bunch of people wanted to help crowdfund a successor to

Starting point is 00:01:28 the Castlevania games. And so the crowd actually ended up raising over $5 million to bring about another game that was very similar. So Castlevania Symphony of the Night is like an old school Metroidvania game. You're basically working your way through a castle and as you discover new rooms they get added to your map and it's actually a very large map that you have to discover and basically it's got a lot of rpg elements where you've got some gear and you have weapons the weapons are all vastly different so you might have like a dagger that has short range but you can attack quickly or you might have like a two-handed sword or even go with a mace and a shield, you know, whatever you want to use. And so Castlevania was one of my favorite games as a teenager. It came out back in 1997.

Starting point is 00:02:17 And then Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is basically just a modern take on exactly the same kind of game. It came out in June of 2019, and it has very good ratings on Steam. Right now, it's actually at 95%, so it's overwhelmingly positive. I think if you liked any Metroidvania games back in the day, this is one that you would absolutely love. So the Steam description reads, exploration focused side scroller action RPG Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is brought by Koji Igarishi. Play as Miriam, an orphan scarred by an alchemist's curse that slowly crystallizes her body. Battle through a

Starting point is 00:02:58 demon infested castle and defeat its master to save yourself and all humanity. So, you know, the game's very interesting. It's really neat that as you work your way through the map, you encounter hundreds of different kinds of enemies that all have different mechanics. And so it's really exciting to go into new areas and have to learn how the monsters operate. And the game is also packed with boss fights. So, you know, maybe every hour or two of play, you're running into a new boss and you get to tinker and experiment with your different weapons, your different abilities and items and see what's going to work in fighting those bosses. And it's also loaded with secret rooms, hidden bosses that you can unlock, a lot of side content that you can also consume

Starting point is 00:03:46 in the game. It really is a blast. One of the things that I love about Metroidvania games like this is that there are always hidden secret passageways and things like that that you can notice. So maybe you'll see a cracked wall, and maybe if you attack it it'll actually open up and then you can go inside there and maybe find some hidden loot or maybe unlock a new ability or something like that so the game is incredibly fun even though it is a platformer i know sometimes people think of platformers being very repetitive and not leading themselves well to a lot of playtime but in this one, you're constantly swapping out gear and fighting new monsters that it keeps it all incredibly fresh. And then the

Starting point is 00:04:31 boss fights are actually pretty tough in this game. I remember one boss in particular, I probably had to fight a good 20 times before I beat them. Like I actually tried it 15 times in a row and ended up going to bed. And then the next morning, I actually knocked it 15 times in a row and ended up going to bed, and then the next morning I actually knocked it out pretty quickly. So, you know, the game's challenging, but in the best possible way. It's not like a tough-as-nails kind of game, but it's definitely not a walk through the park. You know, so this is the kind of game that I would say is great, especially if you grew up on platform games. This will feel very comfortable, but it also is a little bit more advanced than that with all the RPG elements.

Starting point is 00:05:08 The one thing that is a little bit of a downside by way of gameplay is that saving is a big pain in the butt. You can only save the game when you find a save room inside the castle. And so that sometimes gets tough because you might play for 20 minutes and you can't find a save and then you die. Now you've got to re-complete those rooms again. So that's just baked into this genre. But as long as that's not going to prevent you from playing, you do have

Starting point is 00:05:36 to discover save rooms. There's warp rooms to get around the map. It's pretty great. And the only other downside is that it is a little pricey. It's currently $40 on Steam, although it does take about 30 hours to beat. So it's not the longest game in the world, but you know, at 40 bucks, maybe you'd hope for a little bit more content. They are currently developing a sequel to Bloodstained, so it might be worth waiting another year or two. And it's very possible that Bloodstained might go back on sale. So highly recommend it. Go check it out.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. Fantastic 2D side-scroller action RPG. I hope you guys like it as much as I did. See you guys later.

Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.