My first Castlevania experience was with Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge for the Game Boy. At the time, as a young child, I did not appreciate it for what it was. It wasn't until around 2005 or 2006 when I picked up Circle of the Moon for the GBA that I really enjoyed Castlevania, albeit in its Metroidvania form. A few years later, in 2008, some friends recommended Symphony of the Night to me, and I was immediately smitten by it. Sure, Circle of the Moon is great, but it doesn't quite match with the immensely well-deserved reputation of SotN.

When I first learned about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, my expectations were tempered, purely because it was a Kickstarter project, which doesn't inspire the greatest of trust. However, and to my great relief, all fears were unfounded within the first few seconds of gameplay.

• I chose to play the game with a wired Xbox 360 controller, as I assumed that it would have been designed from the ground as the ideal method, rather than mouse and keyboard. This decision seemed to be the correct one, as the game handles almost flawlessly. The one thing which I felt was slightly awkward to begin with was aiming magic with the right stick then firing with the right trigger, but this became more comfortable over time.
  
  
• The shard system is the game's way of gradually feeding you new abilities. The vast majority of enemies (known as demons) you defeat are capable of dropping a shard, which add to your arsenal of powers. These range from simple projectile magics and passive stat boosts to the ability to summon a chair at any time. While the game already has a well-established meta for shards to use, there really is no "wrong" way to approach the game. I will admit to finding a few and sticking to those for the majority of the game
  
  
• Like the shards, there are a huge number of weapons you can choose from for your demon-slaying escapades. Also similarly, there is no "bad" type of weapon; it all comes down to your preferences. For the first 30% of the game, I used boots and rapiers in equal parts. After that, I traded those in for a katana. By the time I finished my first playthrough, I had ultimately settled on using a spear, which took me all the way through Hard and Nightmare modes.
  
  
• The game has decent replayability with its three difficulty modes. The game starts on Normal mode, which would be familiar to players from Symphony of the Night. After finishing that, Hard mode is unlocked, followed by Nightmare mode. At the end of each playthrough, you have the choice of restarting on another difficulty with your items and levels, or you can start fresh. Additionally, the Boss Rush and Speedrun modes are also unlocked after one playthrough.
  
  
• I streamed this game for a friend briefly, and she commented on the variety of enemies that exist within it. The game does use the occasional palette swap, but, for the most part, you will be finding unique demons along every step of your journey.

• The biggest criticism I can put forward is the fact that progression is, at times, easy to lose sight of. To clarify, the game begins in a linear fashion, becoming increasingly open as you unlock movement techniques. After awhile, many parts of the map become available to explore, making it hard to tell where you need to go. At one point, you have to unlock the ability to swim, and there are virtually no clues as to how you accomplish this. There are two other infamous moments, which are spoken about at length in various discussions about this game.
  
  
• Speaking of swimming, there is one mandatory swimming section. I don't know if it's just me, but the 5 minutes spent in that part were excruciating. What is it with games and bad water levels? Fortunately, it really is a short segment, give or take a few moments depending on how good/careful you are.
  
  
• The quest design is, to put it lightly, dull. There are three NPCs from whom you get optional quests from, and they all fall under two categories. Fetch an item or kill x number of demons. They are worth doing for the rewards, but they are just as uninspired as Skyrim's radiant quests.
  
  
• If you have any desire to farm every weapon, armour and shard in the game, then you are in for the long haul. All demons have a chance to drop their loot, and many of the most valuable items have drop chances of less than 5%. Considering that you will end up needing several copies of each, both for crafting and upgrading, it really does end up taking a long time. Fortunately, drop chances can be inflated by increasing your luck stat.
  
  
• Cosmetic items have stats associated with them. Therefore, if you want to min-max, cat and bunny ears are out of the question.

This title is truly the spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night. Ritual of the Night iterates upon what made the genre great while being its own unique entity. Some may call it a shameless clone that exploits nostalgia. Some may call it lazy. I, on the other hand, call it a glorious revisiting of an era of gaming that most fail to do. It knows what it wants to be, and it succeeds on almost every count.

If you have even the slightest inkling that you would enjoy this game, whether it be based on nostalgia or on what you have read or seen, then just buy it. The few shortcomings it does have are extremely easy to overlook.

Well done, Koji Igarashi. Mankind indeed needs a saviour such as you!