Bloodstained is a game that I should not have put off playing for so long. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Order of Ecclesia are two of my favorite games of all time and I knew when that this game would be more of the same.

I was honestly shocked at how much more of the same it was. I'm not an IP lawyer but buddy, I know they consulted one when they made the game. Miriam controls almost identically to how Alucard did in Symphony, the HUD and UI elements are pretty much the same too. It's all the same! And I loved playing every second of it.

Grinding for demons abilities has been reduced significantly, the map is smaller but no less visually interesting and there was just the right amount of hidden items to make exploring the map fun.

I like going for one specific build in these kinds of games so I invested all my resources into leveling the giant sword and ice abilities and the game was versatile enough to let me do this for the entire game and I had a blast.

The food system was clearly an afterthought, as was some of the villagers sidequests but honestly, those are the only nitpicks I could think of.

IGA and his team knocked it out of the park and I am extremely excited whatever project they decide to tackle next.