Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will always be remembered as the game that popularized the Metroidvania genre, and one of its key contributors is Koji Igarashi. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Igarashi and his studio, ArtPlay, along with 505 Games, released Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in 2019. Bloodstained is a 2.5D Metroidvania and a true spiritual successor to SOTN. Following years of updates, Bloodstained finally gained “Chaos Mode,” the promised co-op mode earlier this year. Thus, it’s time for us to review the game and what Chaos Mode has to offer.
Upon first booting up Bloodstained, players can start the main game (found under “Game Start”) or numerous additional modes (found under “Extra Mode”). The campaign has three playable characters (plus a secret character). Miriam offers the primary, Alucard-style experience, and she should be played first. The other two characters are intended as secondary experiences. Zangetsu is a samurai who plays a bit like Richter from SOTN, and Aurora is a guest from Ubisoft’s Child of Light for some reason.
ROTN’s story is just as deep as that of any Castlevania. In the time of the Industrial Revolution, a guild of alchemists began to experiment with demon summoning as a way of maintaining relevance. The guild’s experiments led to a cataclysm that destroyed much of England. Only two of the young people who were experimented on survived the event: Miriam and her former friend Gebel. Ten years later, Miriam learns that Gebel has allied with demons and taken over a castle. She sets out to save him from the demon and hopefully, exterminate the unnatural residents of the castle. Meanwhile, an exorcist named Dominique, Zangetsu the samurai, and an alchemist called Alfred all have their own plans for an ancient book lost inside the castle…
The core gameplay closely resembles SOTN’s. Miriam can wield a variety of weapons, including swords, whips, spears, knives, clubs, and even pistols. Guns allow for a fully ranged approach, but they don’t deal much damage by default. Limited use ammunition deals different types of damage, and it can be found, bought, or crafted. Miriam can also perform slides and backsteps. Before long, she’ll gain access to several types of demonic shards as well.
Every enemy in the game has a chance of dropping its unique shard when killed. Shards serve as equippable sub-weapons that consume magic, but they’re also key to the powers that will allow Miriam to explore more of the castle and enhance her abilities. Shards fall into five categories, with one shard from each category being equippable at a time. The most important shards allow access to new areas by enabling a double jump, letting Miriam move heavy objects, letting her move underwater, and more. Every shard can be leveled up in two different ways: by collecting duplicates and by enhancing the shard with crafting materials. Enhancing and leveling shards is mostly optional but will add plenty of playtime for players who like to farm stuff.
A key structural difference from SOTN is that Miriam has a base of operations: a town located just outside of the castle. There, our protagonist can complete a variety of quests for NPCs, buy items and equipment, and use alchemy to craft items and enhance shards. Naturally, the town also has save and warp rooms. As for the quests, these involve killing target enemies, crafting foods, and delivering equipment. Quests aren’t necessary for beating the game, but chasing after them will lead to lots of extra farming for completionists.