Castlevania is a game series that many have fond memories of. With the series’ fate in limbo, Koji Igarashi went on to crowdfund a spiritual sequel called Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, The Kickstarter was such a success that all stretch goals were met, including one for a retro style spinoff game from Inti Creates. That game is now here as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and it truly is an old friend with a new look. Curse of the Moon is a spiritual successor to the NES era of Castlevania, with the game primarily being heavily based off Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse. Like in that game, you will find allies and advance forward and encounter a branching path system. The branching path works differently here, but I will go into that later.
This is the game for every fan of the Castlevania series, especially the early entries. Everything you loved about those classics is here and more, since the multiple endings here can actually unlock new modes for you to play. You can join the allies as mentioned above, but you can also reject them among other options. This in turn will force you to take a different route and will affect what ending and mode you unlock. The replay value for the game is extremely high as a result, and I enjoyed playing it more than a few times.
The game definitely provides a challenges for those looking for one. Like in classic Castlevania, you will have a limited amount of lives and getting hit will knock you back, which will cause some challenge when it comes to platforms and enemy placement. If you do not want to deal with that however, you can choose a different difficulty without any penalty from the game. This setting will not cause knockback from enemies and will give unlimited lives, which I feel is better for newer players. It doesn’t necessarily make the game easier, but does help a bit for some.
Everything about Curse of the Moon is extremely well designed. Nothing feels out of place, and the enemies are finely detailed and perfectly made. This is both a loving tribute to Castlevania and a great appetizer for the main Bloodstained gamed. This isn’t even mentioning the amazing music from Michiru Yamane and Ippo Yamada. These are high quality tunes and will bless your ears with wonder upon hearing them. Take a listen to one example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSb6-rEOaZ8
Inti Created made a masterpiece here and I cannot wait to see what they do next! You need to play this game.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch
Disclaimer: A review code was provided