Metroidvanias are all the hype right now but some people have asked me what is the difference between a Castlevania and the Metroidvania genre? Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is a Castlevania genre but also a Metroidvania, in my opinion, Castlevania is a subgenre of Metroidvania but what makes it different? In a Metroid game, you won’t level up and you won’t have stats to upgrade but you do find better weapons and armor. In Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, you will kill enemies to gain experience points and level up your stats, this is what makes it the subgenre of Castlevania but the focus is still very heavy on exploring the complete castle while obtaining new upgrades to reach different parts of the castle.
You play as Miriam and you can absorb crystals of the demons that inhabit the castle to gain their power, this reminds me a lot of Aria of Sorrow! The game features a 2D world but there are also 3D elements that can be seen in the castle in areas like the twin dragon towers. There are also quests to accept and complete to gain powerful items, you can also perform special techniques depending on which weapon you have equipped. In this game, you play as Miriam but there is another playable character called Zangetsu. There are also some different modes for you to try out, as I was typing this review, I just heard that a new mode called classic mode has been added!