Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Review (Switch)

  Full disclosure I backed this video game through Kickstarter.

  I can't shake the feeling that I robbed myself.  While people were getting super smooth and clean experience with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night by ArtPlay I was dealing with constant frame rate drops that really dampened what could have been a game of the year experience.  When the option to get the game on Switch was presented to Kickstarter, I assumed the game could port, even if I lost a little on the graphic end.  Unfortunately, I lost graphics and lost gameplay value as well.  It was still a good experience but it was like getting a single scoop of vanilla and you find out everyone else got smoothies. 

What You Were Expecting in a Good Way

  Bloodstained does a great job of reaching back into what made Castlevania good and created its stamp in the Metroidvania market.  Igarashi was able to direct his developers and creative staff to harness the aspects of roaming around and discovering in a 2-D to be the rewarding adventure that many of us remembered it to be.  The game doesn't limit you to classes or weapons as there are several from swords to whips that allow a player to play in a style the find comfortable.  This is accented with a crafting system that will not only allow you to craft armor and weapons but food that will give you much needed stat boosts when things get tight. 

  The landscapes are varied from candle filled cathedrals to dark caves.  Dotted with unique enemies that reward you for killing them not with just experience but materials and also shards.  Shards are then used for different types of spells that can be directed, cast when standing, passive boosts, and several that are used to help you get through different types of terrain through the game.  There are a lot of them but I found myself using only a small handful through the game.  Maybe it was my lack of trying them after a while but it felt there were two or three spells that were just handling everything I needed.

The Switch Port is Broken

  Unfortunately, this game suffered horribly on the Switch.  There are several times where the FPS drops into very low territories, there are freezes, and all of these happen in a sporadic way that will cause a lot of frustration during combat.  During boss fights that are already designed to test your reflexes and your pattern recognition, these broken moments are the ultimate frustration.  The developers said they are working to improve this. Hopefully, they can because this sucked.

  The annoying thing is this game could have been a great experience for me but it was tainted by the console I decided to get it on.  I can imagine that if the game doesn't crash or slow down it would have been a far better experience then what I got.  That isn't what I got though and while it didn't kill the experience it sure didn't improve it.  If you are on the fence about this game, get it, just don't get it on the Switch.  If you only have a Switch, maybe wait, but I am not sure it's worth it on this particular port.

TL;DR:

  Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a classic Metroidvania brought to the modern-day all brought down by a terrible port on the Switch.