Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

I'm no NES fan. Never had one, probably only played the first Mario as far as NES exclusives go which leads me to not having played any NES Castlevania game. In fact the only Castlevania game I have played was Symphony of the Night, and that was about 20 years after it's original PS1 release. Why am I saying this? There's a game called Bloodtsianed: Ritual of the Night due out this month from the original creator of the Castlevania series as a spiritual successor to the original series, but that game is based on the 16/32 bit games. Curse of the moon though was a side project the same team were making based on the 8 bit Castlevania's that was released more 'outta know where than an RKO last year. I had no interest due to my lack of nostalgia for this type of game, but then it came to games with Gold and I played it...

What a fantastic game this was. It plays like an old game but with modern sensibilities. Instead of game overs after a small amount of deaths, you have different characters you unlock along the way and switch between at a whim and if they all die you have to restart the same level (someone has been playing Sonic Mania Plus). The pixel art is great as is the sound. To be honest it feels a lot like the 8 bit sections in The Messenger. The characters all have different skills which gives you a chance to play different ways after deaths, though of course this can be a curse (of the moon) as some characters play much better than others (the girls is the best one due to her speed (gotta go fast)). 

It's a short game, probably between two or three hours and probably works out the exact right length for such a retro experience.This game is just the right amount of challenge for a short game, it gets difficult at times but not frustratingly so. Obviously this is a 2D platformer but not a metroidvania (thankfully) and is a nice series of levels to work your way though (remember levels? that was a good idea wasn't it?). Even the bosses are decent in this game, by which I mean not too difficult of course, the only one I had a problem with was the succubus. There was a morning after that as i held on to the night and defeated her (reference).

Before I had played this I had a minor interest in the upcoming Ritual of the Night, but now it's become a game I'm really looking forward to and hell, I'm even thinking of buying the newly released Castlevania collection (if you count a series of games from 25 years ago put on a disc and not updated at all as 'new'). This is a really good game, even if like me you don't have nostalgia for this exact style of platformer. I suspect you probably need some nostalgia for older games though, I found out recently that all the youngsters I know (as in people in their 20's) don't like 2D platformers at all!! pfft, kids these days, what do they know?

You may also like: The Messenger

Still playing though shakedown Hawaii, took a while but I'm really getting in to it now. Seems like I've missed the Xbox games pass 3 months for £1 deal, so that's off the cards then. and hey, Sonic Mania is coming to PS plus this month so if you haven't played it already there is now no excuse (other than you don't own a PS4, aren't interested and a bunch of other ones probably).