Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon!
Bloodstained: Curse of the moon is an 8-bit styled game and was created as a result of Kickstarter backers reaching the stated goal. Iga and his team with help from Inti Creates honored this goal with an amazingly well made prequel to the upcoming Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night which is expected to launch later this year. This game is very reminiscent of the Castlevania series and more directly the style of Castlevania 3. As a backer of the main game I got this game for free on PS4 though for the purpose of this review I had to play the temporary Steam version as the PS4 backer codes were not quite ready on time.
The graphics in this game are of the 8-bit style though enhanced with modern techniques giving it an clean look that is very sharp and amazingly detailed for this style of graphics. The characters are very well made and have very unique looks with their own unique abilities. For a quick example. Zengetsu is a strong sword wielder with short range and average jumping ability while Miriam has weaker attacks but long range and the best jump in the game. Each of the four characters and the monsters they battle are well animated with some of the smoothest controls out there. Overall, the look and feel of this game is nothing short of excellence.
I'll admit I'm not much of an audiophile but the Castlevania series always had music that always impressed me greatly. B:CotM has music created by the same people who created a lot of the tunes in the Vania games and they don't fail to impress here either. The tracks in this game are quite impressive and call back to Vania's glory days on the NES and PS1. The beats are strong and clear with well done special effects. Close your eyes and you might think you're listening to the sound track to a Castlevania 5 that sadly was never made and of course won't be...
The story of the game while there is mostly told through game play. You start the game as Zengetsu a demon hunter and along the way you encounter B:RotN main protaganist Miriam and two others who also play a critical part in the main game. The levels are designed in such a way that when you beat the game you can replay it and have access to new areas and new power ups. Over the course of about 2 hours it took me to complete the game it set up the story quite well and kept me engaged. The game itself isn't all that challenging as extra lives are easy to come by and once you figure out the bosses old school tricks you should breeze through the introductory difficulty.
This game is an absolute joy to play and an excellent teaser for what is to hopefully come in the main game. The different play modes and difficulties add some replay-ability to this game and serves as a nice bonus to the backers. If you didn't back the game but want to give it a shot it is availible across major platforms for $9.99 which isn't a bad deal at all. Overall I will give this game an 8.5/10
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