Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Nintendo Switch

As a lifelong fan of the Castlevania games, I've played them on the NES, Super Nintendo, Playstation, Gameboy Advance, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS, and more. Some of the best titles of all time are in the Castlevania franchise- Symphony of the Night being one of the progenitors of its own genre, Metroidvania. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is like unto Castlevania Symphony of the Night meets Order of Ecclesia- and that carries all of the positive connotations it possibly could. The character, environmental, and sound design are all top notch and clearly make this a game that must be experienced if you're even remotely a fan of Metroidvanias. The level design is superb and you'll find yourself backtracking and finding all sorts of secrets, which is accompanied by phenomenal movement that makes traversing locations a joy. There are tons of little, interesting things to find, plus there's crafting and cooking on top of it. However, the Switch version ain't it, chief. At release, this game has tremendous issues- visual effects missing and insanely low quality textures are just the tip of the iceberg (even the rose tattoo of Miriam, the character on the box art, can sometimes show as a splotchy, pixelated mess not even visually representing a flower. That's how low quality the textures can present). This version of the game crashes a lot, which is wholly unacceptable for a game that doesn't have auto-saves. Sometimes you can crash while selecting the bookcase that *lets you save the game*! It's insanely frustrating to lose progress repeatedly due to game bugs. Notwithstanding, the frame rate is also quite low- it's 30fps in some locations, while dipping to as low as 15 in others, like the tower. This is probably one of the best games I've played in recent memory. Unfortunately, this just isn't a good port of that great game. Keep an eye out for updates that hopefully improve playability (fps, crashing needs to be at the top of the list of things to fix). If you only have a Switch, still consider this version after waiting a bit. This game is fantastic, even if I'm negative over the bugs this product shouldn't have, and those problems hopefully get patched. If you absolutely can't wait to play, the PC version of the game on Steam would likely give you the best experience.

The devs promised to patch it post launch but this is unacceptable. You can actually play and complete the game, its not 100% broken, but please read the following. This version of the game was clearly not complete. The game is a blurry mess when the switch is more the capable of rendering clearly, i look like a 3DS game in resolution. The ugly muddy mess is just the start of bad news. They messed up on the descaling of the Original textures for the switch so they look blocking chunky and blurry. The next issue is the INPUT LAG, a lot of the game you have 3x more input lag, this means sometimes your combos for some weapons dont go off, or that you jump and miss attacks. It feels like you are playing the game underwater. Sluggish and unresponsive. This needs to be fixed. Next is the constant crashing. On the other versions of the game they had some minor issues they patched the next day. You might crash 3 times in a whole 20 hour play through on the other version. On the switch version you can crash up to 20 times in one play through. That meaasn losing 30 or more min of progress each time if your unlucky. The FPS was locked at 30. Which would be fine if it was stable. The game has dips down to 10 FPS when lots of action is going on on screen. And the resolution in handheld is 720p but in docked its also only 720p but also dynamic so it can be WORSE then playing it in handheld mode. The rumble was also broken, in that the rumble might trigger and never stop until you reset the game. And it revs it up to max so it feels like it might break your joycons. Last there is some issues that the physical cart might run worse then the Digital download version. The Physical cart might run worse because the game was not properly optimized. This game and its 3d effects should be able to run 60fps and 900p on the switch. Many games that push the hardware more look better and run better then this version of the game. Smash brothers, mario Kart, MK11, Wolfenstien, Doom. SKyrim, and many more run way better. Its a software issue on the fault of 505 games and Igas Art play, they did not know how to optimize the game for switch. it may be months before its in a proper state if you buy this version.

I've been waiting since 1999. I am not disappointed. I picked up my Switch copy yesterday with the metal case. I was so happy and eager. On my way home I read all sorts of negative commentary. That scared me a bit but I was ready for it. I played the game last night just past the first boss-level character. This game is great! The graphics are clean and crisp. I love the artwork and illustrative style of the gameplay. Miriam, the main playable character, is very interactive compared to SOTN. I was impressed because I thought they would keep it all as basic as possible. Certain equipment changes show up on the character in-game and some down. Once you give me a little I want the whole lot, but I understand and accept the limits here. When you change the headdress or scarf you can see the character outfit change. She can even wear masks!! As for the dress, I have changed these body items a few times but the character's dress never changes. That's fine. Back in the day, no changes in outfit reflected in the character except for the cloak... and that was amazing! So having more control over the design is a pretty cool feature. I also love the postures the character Miriam takes with different weapon styles. I changed some buttons around in my game to better suit my style of gameplay. Playing on the switch, whether on my 50in television or handheld, is highly enjoyable. The first thing I was looking for was the opening score. I was satisfied. I am looking forward to playing this game until my fingers fall off! I plan on getting another copy as a gift to a relative for their PS4. It could possibly look better in some way but I can't imagine what that should look like. I;m looking forward to my next boss battle. CONS: I have no cons to list but I am aware of the frame-rate complaints. I was totally fine with this as it seems very normal to me, especially in this game. I seriously feel transported back in time with better tech. The game was meant to carry on that feeling, not meant to make a modern beefy version of the Igavania style. Also, only once so far had I noticed a slow down when a ton of things were happening on screen. Whenever stuff like that happens I tend to think I am like Neo in The Matrix. I get happy about it, not sad. Hope this helps.

To begin, I've never played any Castlevania game, except for the very first one on the NES. I'm not familiar with Symphony of the Night or any other title similar to this one. This game caught my eye after I played Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon on PC. First, the good. The game feels nice. Movement is great. You have a lot of weapons to choose from to change your play style a little bit. The levels are fun to look at and have a lot of secrets, like hidden items and rooms in walls. Hitting enemies is satisfying, bosses are fun, and there's a lot of things to do. Crafting, making food, and enhancing equipment will keep you busy for a while. Then, we have some problems. Gameplay-wise, sometimes you get lost. It's not exactly super clear where you're supposed to go, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be time consuming. That's about the only complaint about the game itself. The biggest flaw about this game is the port itself. You get 30fps on average, and in some areas such as the Tower of the Twin Dragon, the game gets really choppy. The graphics are also pretty mediocre. But my biggest problem with this game is that sometimes it crashes. It doesn't happen often, but I've crashed a few times, and I have to re-do everything from my last save. If you're not careful and find yourself in a long stretch in the game without saving, you could crash and lose all of your progress. So basically, save whenever you can and wherever you can. Hopefully this particular problem can be solved with patches and updates, because this is a really good game, but not a great port. Overall, the core game itself is great. But it has its fair share of technical issues which makes me not able to rate it much higher than 3/5 at this time.

I'm only about 8 hours in or so but needed to write this. I have both the PS4 version and the Switch version (had to show love and support for Iga). Castlevania Symphony of the Night is my favorite game of all time. I lament not being a backer for this project. Anyways, I've spent more time on the Switch version as I can play it while my girlfriend watches TV. Yes, the PS4's graphical fidelity is way better than the switch. Bouncing between the two versions, there is a frame rate difference that most people will probably feel (about 60 fps for the PS4 and approx. 30 fps for the switch). I did experience some slowdown in some moments but no crashing yet. The gameplay however, is top notch. I'm having a blast playing it. There will never ever be a Symphony of the night, but this game is the closest and has it's own identity. The composer from SotN came back for this one so the music is great. The difficulty seems harder than SotN which is one thing I wouldve changed from that game to make it more difficult. The portability has been great because I can play it at work and still enjoy the A+ gameplay. This review is all over the place but to say the switch port is unplayable is a gross misrepsentation. Try it out for yourself and/or watch gameplay videos if you're still skeptical. Again, aside from the technical differences, the gameplay and sound is there.

Purchased at launch after missing out on the Kickstarter, and 20 hours in, I am not disappointed in the game itself. The sheer amount of content, customization options, exploration, and beautiful design I’ve come to expect from an IgaVania is all here in spades. Lots of easter-eggs, side-quests, and crafting fill out the game, but sometimes can feel like busy-work. 505 has yet to release the July 15th patch, so my review is of the release version, do keep that in mind. The negatives don’t make the game unplayable, but are disconcerting to have to put up with at first. There is a notable lag between button pushes and on-screen action. The graphics have taken a bit more of a hit on the Switch than I expected. Everything looks beautiful-but-muddy, and some graphical effects either glitch or are just broken (i.e. water effects). I believe the issues with this release are due to the late-stage change from Wii U to Switch, and weighing the blowback between a long delay and having to patch after release. I am confident these issues will be ironed out, but not confident on the time-frame. If these things are unacceptable, or portability is not an issue, I’d have to recommend another platform for now. This is no Mighty No 9, Bloodstained is well worth the wait and the price. It just may be worth it more on another system right now.

This is a bad port of an otherwise amazing game. The nintendo switch version is obviously poorly optimized for the system. The frame rate often dips below acceptable, sometime during non-demanding sections. For example, you could be facing one enemy in s single room and the frame rate will drop out of nowhere. Other times the game will crash and you will lose all the progress you have made after your last save, which is extremely annoying. I know that this version doesn't look as beautiful as the PS4 or Xbox one version nor does it run at 60 fps but that doesn't really bother me. What does bother me is the fact that the game is so unstable at launch, which is a shame because this is a very fun game when it actually run how it should. I know that these issues will be resolved down the line but now I have to put completing this game on hold until that time. If you have the opportunity, I would recommend buying this game on another platform. If not, then I would highly recommend waiting until these issues are resolved before buying Bloodstained on the switch. Either way, the game itself is great and I would say that it's worth playing somewhere down the line.

i was a backer for this game on kickstarter and i chose the switch version. i been playing this game for a few hrs and i am disappointed. the game is fun, i am complaining mainly about the technical problems which i won't list. i downloaded all the updates which total up to almost 2GB!! 2GB!!! that's ridiculous. the switch version is imcomplete. this cart will have no value in the future b/c the majority of the game isn't even on the cart. if you buy this day 1 edition on switch, you'll have to download close to 2GB of updates!! this defeats the purpose of having this game on a cart!!! i'm not happy. i stopped playing, erase all the updates from my switch, and i've decided to wait for the special edition, w/all the bug fixes, in a yr or two then i'll but that version, then imma throw this day 1 crap edition into the trash can. i am sick of developers releasing imcomplete games these days. if you want to play this game buy the ps4 version OR do what i'm doing and wait for the special edition for switch in the future that i know they will release, because the switch version that is out now is imcomplete.