Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Battle with swords and whips in this retro-style action game.

NA release: 24th May 2018
EU release: 24th May 2018
JP release: 24th May 2018
Developer: Inti Creates
Publisher: Inti Creates
IGN Review: 8.2/10
Platforms: Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Vita, 3DS
Version Played: PC

After not being able to work on a proper new Castlevania since Order of Ecclesia, Iga was getting fed up of not only being sidelined for the Lords of Shadow reboot, but also ignored with Konami having no more plans for Castlevania, so he set about making his own version of Castlevania. He teamed up with Inti Creates (who assisted on a similar revival for Mega Man) and took to Kickstarter to help fund his new series: Bloodstained, which I’ve decided to cover as it is pretty much a rebranded Castlevania.

One of the stretch goals of the campaign was a “2D, pixel-based, retro-styled prequel mini-game”, which became Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and released before the main game, and is some kind of alternative universe story instead of a prequel (making the continuity messy right from the start) The game feels like it follows on from Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth, with lots of elements of Castlevania III thrown in, with a bit of the Julius mode from Dawn of Sorrow thrown in.

You start off playing as Zangetsu, who hates demons and alchemists and has been cursed by the moon, needing to track down and defeat the archdemon of the moon, Gremory. He has a sword which has a short range, but is quite fast. Along the way he’ll meet up with three more characters who can join him (you can kill or ignore them if you want, and killing them grants you new powers), but ultimately he’s quite boring to play as.

The first character you encounter is Miriam, who has been imbued with powers from an alchemist. She’s effectively the Belmont of the pack (although her ethereal design reminds me of Sypha from Castlevania III, where I thought she was a ghost), using a whip and a few subweapons with similar effect. She can also jump high and is a blast to play.

Alfred is next, and is an elderly alchemist. He’s pretty dreadful to play as in general, being slow with a tiny jump, but he has an extremely valuable magic spell: a protective ring of fire which can damage enemies. The spell even persists when you swap to other characters. He can get some other spells, but you mainly want to stick with this one. Handy to swap over for the spell every now and then.

Finally is Gebel, the Alucard of the group. He can turn into a bat and fly around, and has an attack which feels like Maria’s form Rondo with a wider range, throwing bats out and upwards. Despite his appearances and powers, he’s not a vampire. It just so happens that he has used Shards (demonic crystals) to turn himself into something very close. At first, I thought they just wanted to avoid vampires, but you encounter a vampire boss in the game.

While the pixels match the look and colours of a NES game, Curse of the Moon does have elements that go beyond, such as larger enemy sprites and widescreen. I am surprised at the lack of a scanline option for a more authentic look, but I guess the sprites were designed around modern displays. It still looks really nice, and plays really well, with a few different endings to work towards.

The game features eight stages (plus a bonus one for one of the unlockable modes), which all have branching paths and are set up in a way very similar to The Adventure: Rebirth. Instead of the strange lights indicating different paths, you now have little heaps of skeleton pointing in different directions, some requiring specific characters – Miriam can slide and Gebel can fly.

This is a really good return to the classic style of Castlevania and feels like an evolution, bringing back some of the best aspects of the classic games and combining it with the latest classic-style game in the series. It’s a great introduction to what the Bloodstained series is going to represent: keeping beloved gameplay alive without trying to completely reinvent it.

Great

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon delivers a brief but effective burst of nostalgia, and thanks to its many creative modifiers it contains enough replay value to engage (and challenge) anyone who pines for gaming’s bygone days. And this isn’t even the “real” Bloodstained! As appetizers go, it’s substantial — nearly satisfying enough to be its own main course.
Jeremy Parish, IGN

Remake or remaster?

This version is fine.

Official Ways to get the game

Blodostained: Curse of the Moon is available on most platforms.