Introduction

Growing up I was always a huge fan of the Castlevania series. It all started for me when I played the first 3 games on my friend’s NES, sometime during the transition between the 16- and 32-bit eras. We spent an entire day getting our young asses whupped by each game, as we illogically jumped from one game to another, losing our progress, but having a hell of a time.

One may ask, Why the hell did it take me so long to play Castlevania? Well I didn’t have an NES growing up, instead relying solely on my Uncle for access to Nintendo’s dominant patriarch console, and unfortunately never got Super Castlevania IV for my SNES. Despite these major oversights, all was forgiven following that fateful day at my friend’s house; I was addicted to the series, now considering it one of my favorite of all time.

Unfortunately, the series in its 2D form has been essentially a no-show since the DS era, and has, of late, been ignored by Konami, who instead prefer to focus on Pachinko machines.

Luckily, the DS games were incredible Symphony of the Night-esque experiences, and kept me busy for quite some time. It is for that reason that I was thrilled when I heard that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night’s, an ambitious SoTN clone, KickStarter campaign was as success. Though this “MetroidVania” style game is critically adored and widely accepted as the better style of Castlevania, I have always preferred the classic, balls-hard, linear approach to the series.

The last time I was able to experience such a Castlevania was during the PSP’s run, with Dracula X Chronicles, which included a 2.5-D remake of Rondo of Blood, the original Turbografx CD Rondo of Blood, and Symphony of the Night; clearly one of the most epic anthologies in gaming history. Since that experience, I had been starving for more of the classic style of Castlevania, but was left un-satiated. That is, until I discovered that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night had a certain stretch goal that was successfully reached. The reward for reaching one of the game’s financing goals, was an entire classic-style Castlevania game entitled: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. Needless to say I was twice as excited as I was for even the original Bloodstained announcement, despite the game merely being a means to whet the communities appetite during the primary game’s development.

Review

Visuals 9/10:

With Curse of the Moon, Inti Creates manages to accurately recreate the unique visual style that remained prominent throughout the NES iterations of the Castlevania series. From the characteristic spritework of the series stressing realistic body proportions, to the Gothic-inspired environments, to the overall horror aesthetic; no detail was overlooked by the developers on their journey to finally deliver the Castlevania gamers have been begging for, even if it is under another branding.

When I first fired up Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and witnessed my faceless protagonist power-walking through hordes of monsters, I exclaimed: “holy shit, this is Castlevania.;” Inti Creates absolutely nailed the spritework in every way, using nostalgia as a means to further envelop the already desperate Castlevania fan in me.

Despite staying faithful to the 8-bit aesthetic in many ways, the developers still manage to take advantage of the modern hardware in order to render larger, more elaborate boss sprites than would have ever been possible in 1987.

These massive sprites, lush color palettes, and smooth animations characterize nearly all boss battles. Boss attacks are often visually dramatic in fashion and absolutely over-the-top, especially the game’s final bosses whose screen-engulfing techniques are truly something to behold.

The exceptionally executed sprite work only slightly overshadows the game’s absolutely stunning environs. Dingy castles whose windows are adorned by stained-glass and the ever-permeating moonlight, locomotive dining cars penetrating evergreen forests, and the wooden bowels of a ship caught in the eye of a storm are just some of the beautifully designed 8-bit locales the player experiences during Zangetsu’s grim quest. The variety coupled with aesthetically pleasing design help Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon stand toe-to-toe with even the best looking, modern interpretations of 8-bit games.

The game’s visuals are not absolutely perfect, however. The common, smaller-framed enemies often look a bit generic and are basically slightly altered rip-offs of classic Castlevania enemies. I won’t judge the creators too harshly however, considering they are blatantly paying homage to their inspiration.

The visuals in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon offer top-quality pixel art in a style not commonly emulated in modern 8-bit games. Offering a darker, somber feel is a nice alteration from many bright and colorful re-imaginings in recent years.

Music 9/10:

Curse of the Moon delivers a nearly flawless chip-tune musical presentation, sure to delight any and all audiophiles willing to give it the chance.

With contributions from the team involved in Symphony of the Night, the soundtrack has both pedigree and substance. With the creepy, yet fast-paced tunes abbreviated with the occasional over-the-top compositions, the game offers both major styles of music Castlevania was known for.

Almost every tune is stellar, but I will try and hit the highlights in the interest of time.

Stage 4’s theme, “Blasphemy Unto Heaven,” paces itself brilliantly by slowly increasing the tension with a complex section that leads into a climax that is both incredibly compelling and well composed. This faster section then seamlessly slows down as if to give respite to the player, before looping right back into the action.

Stage 5’s, “Sunder The Night,” comes out of the gate with an odd mesh of upbeat and melancholy that never takes its foot off the pedal from start to finish. Easily one of the most incredible tracks on the OST.

Stage 7 offers another upbeat track that manages to simultaneously inject a bit of desperation and triumph in its melody, managing to live up to its name: “Defiler of Taboos”

“Moonlight Judgement” the final boss theme offers a composition that brings both epic scale and finality to an already spectacular soundtrack. Alternating between eerie and triumphant, the theme provides all the fuel needed to conquer the final boss.

“The Dark Emperor” is the Nightmare Mode final boss theme, and is menacing from start to finish. It never relents and consistently applies the pressure appropriate of a game’s true final battle, which in this case absolutely deserves such an awesome track.

Overall the music in Curse of the Moon is expertly crafted and it was honestly a struggle to not mention every song in the review. I look forward to hearing the team’s work in Ritual of the Night.

Gameplay: 10/10

Curse of the Moon, despite being merely a stretch goal for a Kickstarter campaign, manages to deliver a complete, relatively extensive experience for a game in the platformer genre. Offering multiple characters, branching pathways, various endings and a long list of useful techniques.

Being a clear homage to Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon revolves around a central concept of a party system. Characters can be switched on the fly with a single button press, and lives are not lost until all characters are dead.

This party system is not merely a gimmick however, the levels are designed specifically to be exploited by the discerning player; knowing which character to use during certain platforming sections or boss fights can be critical to one’s success and open innumerable hidden pathways and shortcuts.

Zangetsu, the swordsman, has rapid, short-range attacks and the highest health of all the characters. Despite limited range, his brief attack animation allows for the highest damage output per unit time than all other primary weapons.

Aside from being the team’s offensive powerhouse thanks to his powerful blade, he is also extremely versatile with regards to his sub-weapons. To start he has a whip-like sub-weapon that attacks in an upward diagonal direction, which helps compensate for Zangetsu’s limited range and permits quick aerial strikes that can quickly whittle down many bosses.

Zangetsu also has an equivalent of Castlevania’s Holy Water sub-weapon, that covers the ground with a persistent flame, delivering significant, repeated damage to all stuck in its range.

Zangetsu also has a power-up sub-weapon that increases the damage output on his normal attacks and some sub-weapons. This can be absolutely devastating, especially in boss battles when taking down the boss rapidly is often the best option. Most importantly, this power-up can be transferred to other characters when swapping, allowing exploitation of other characters’ varying attack ranges and damage outputs for developing situational strategies.

Zangetsu also has four special abilities that will be described in detail after setting them in the context of the other characters.

While Zangetsu is the resident melee expert of the team, Miriam on the other hand has slower, long-distance whip attacks and can perform a Mega Man-like slide under projectiles and obstacles. This whip strike can even lay two hits at once when attacking aerially.

She easily has the highest jump of all the characters in the game allowing access to secret areas and easier platforming.

Miriam also boasts the second highest health behind Zangetsu, resulting in an incredibly versatile character that acts as the team’s swiss army knife.

Aside from her solid stats and primary attributes, Miriam’s Sub-Weapons also fill a quite a few niches, further increasing the characters usefulness. Her first is an upward angled attack that releases three knives. This is incredibly useful for aerial enemies as well as those with large character sprites, since all three knives will hit, dealing the highest possible damage.

Miriam’s other knife sub-weapon is a straight throwing knife identical to the knife from Castlevania, a weak forward facing attack parallel to the ground. This one should generally be avoided, except in situations where it is necessary to stay incredibly far from the enemy and time is not of the essence.

Miriam also has a scythe sub-weapon that acts as Curse of the Moon’s equivalent of Castlevania’s cross boomerang; simply flinging forward and returning across the screen as expected. This has its uses on crowded screens, but there are often much better choices.

Finally, Miriam’s most powerful sub-weapon, the ax, deals MASSIVE damage at the expense of a long wind up and incredibly short range. Its a simple attack that if timed appropriately can absolutely devastate even the most powerful enemies. Just understand the long wind up leaves Miriam vulnerable to damage, that immediately cancels the attack animation and stops the ax in its tracks.

Gebel, the Alucard clone, is a vampire-like character that uses the bat familiar as its primary and secondary attacks. Gebel has the second lowest health of all the characters, but makes up for it with a very useful attack trajectory, sending 3 small bats traveling diagonally upward, and in the direction he is facing. Though this attack leaves him completely vulnerable to ground-dwelling enemies, it is vital in defeating large or airborne enemies, especially bosses. Gebel’s only sub-weapon is his bat form that allows him to fly anywhere on-screen, for 1 weapon point per second and perform a dash attack for 2 weapon points per attack. This in an exceptional option for taking shortcuts or blasting through nasty enemies using the temporary invulnerability granted during the dash attack.

Alfred, the elder mage, offers the lowest health bar, weakest physical attack and poor jumping ability. This overall frailty is overshadowed by an incredible array of sub-weapons that consist of supremely useful spells.

The first is Alfred’s fire shield, which remains active even when switching characters and prevents damage while simultaneously dealing minor damage to enemies. Alfred also has a multi-purpose ice spear attack that freezes enemies or obstacles, allowing them to be shattered in one hit or used as a platform, with the exception of bosses who instead take double damage.

Alfred also boasts an electrical attack that homes in on enemies and hits them up to five times per projectile released. Three of these electrical projectiles can be released at once, making it incredibly useful against slower or aerial enemies.

Finally, Alfred has the ability to create a doppleganger that mirrors his attacks in the area in front of him. Considering Alfred’s utter lack of physical prowess, a duplicate of his physical form is merely twice as useless, avoiding this technique is definitely suggested.

As promised, Zangetsu’s four special abilities will be explained. Three of these abilities are obtained by killing the other characters instead of recruiting them. When I first experienced this option, I was absolutely shocked and thought it was probably the most badass game mechanic I have experienced in a while.

By ruthlessly slaying his potential comrades, Zangetsu benefits immensely, gaining incredibly useful skills. By slaying Miriam, the protagonist of the primary game mind you, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Zangetsu earns an aerial attack called, Crescent Moon. Crescent Moon covers a 180-degree attack pattern in front of Zangetsu when attacking in mid-air.

This is incredibly crucial in Zangetsu solo runs, considering his standard aerial range is abysmal. It also helps in speed running, by permitting the player to quickly slay enemies without stopping, especially those nuisances that edge-guard pit falls.

Slaying Alfred will yield a double jump, which opens up innumerable hidden areas, while slaying Gebel will yield a Mega Man X style dash that can also be used in midair. Together these open up short cuts and streamline the platforming sections. They also open up additional strategies for dodging and attacking boss enemies.

Additional attacks are not the only available upgrades, in all modes HP and sub-weapon ammo upgrades are available. This adds a pseudo-RPG element to the game, and adds re-playability for the purposes of 100% completion.

Additional content is not limited to these upgrades however, Curse of the Moon offers four total game modes and two difficulties, as well as multiple endings.

Veteran difficulty offers the game’s hardest difficulty and the ever so “satisfying” damage knock back mechanic, that haunts the dreams of all NES era Castlevania gamers… goddamn Medusa Heads. This is truly how the game is supposed to be experienced; it feels so much like NES Castlevania mechanically and offers a challenge almost on par with the legendary trilogy.

Casual difficulty on the other hand, negates the annoyance of knock back, gives unlimited continues, and reduces overall damage sustained by enemy attacks. This is a great option for those who haven’t been permanently ingrained with the self-loathing necessary to enjoy NES-level challenge and broadens the target demographic for the game, which in my opinion is always a good thing.

Aside from the difficulty options, the game also provides Normal Mode, Nightmare Mode, Ultimate Mode and Boss Rush Mode, exponentially increasing the play time of an otherwise short game.

Normal Mode offers the standard experience, featuring eight stages, branching pathways within levels, the option to party up with a total of four characters, ruthlessly slay them for their powers, or skip them all together for the most treacherously difficult experience. This initial mode offers so much variety that the others are not even necessary for a complete game, but Inti Creates went the extra mile to offer the other modes to further extend an otherwise brief adventure.

Nightmare Mode centers around the other three characters, leaving Zangetsu on the sidelines. The player starts with Miriam, Gebel, and Alfred from the very first stage, opening up a few otherwise inaccessible paths. This mode is also more difficult with enemies dealing more damage and bosses having more diverse attack repertoires.

Aside from being an interesting twist on a Hard Mode, Nightmare Mode offers an exclusive ninth stage that consists of spectacular level design, incorporating sections that require the skills of each individual character to pass obstacles. This reminded me of Shinobi II: Silent Fury’s final level on the Game Gear; an expert marriage of the character’s talents with the game’s inherently solid platforming. The Nightmare experience culminates with an epic, also exclusive, boss battle that reveals the true antagonist in the mode and sets the stage for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

If all that weren’t enough, Ultimate Mode offers all the content and enemy buffs of Nightmare, Zangetsu’s full repertoire of abilities, the option to recruit the whole party, access to a buffed version of Normal Mode’s final boss, and the Mode exclusive Charge Slash, an absolutely devastating technique that crushes foes with ease.

This third romp through the game doesn’t offer a much different experience, but rather acts as a “complete” version of the game. While this mode is worth playing, it in my opinion, is the least enjoyable version; the added difficulty is greatly overshadowed by the overpowered party and the might of the charge slash.

The standard platforming action of the previous three modes is balanced by the gauntlet-style Boss Rush Mode, the fourth and final mode unlocked. As a respite between these grueling battles, there is an intervening item room that gives limited access to the game’s sub-weapons as well as healing items. Careful strategy and proper sub-weapon choice is a pre-requisite, but if approached mindfully, Boss Rush can be easily conquered by the player who, at this point in their Curse of the Moon experience, is already intimately familiar with the nuances of each boss battle.

Overall, Curse of the Moon, despite being the classic brief platforming romp through hordes of the demons, offers an extensive and deep experience thanks to its variety of mode and difficulty offerings. Coupled with spectacular music and expertly replicated NES-style graphics, CoM offers an experience that may very well exceed that of its parent game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Resources

• Boss Guide: a link to my comprehensive boss guide for the game. It was made from scratch near the game’s release, so there may be better strategies around, but these strategies allowed me to easily get through the bosses 4 or 5 total times.
• Official Site: the official site with character and boss bios as well as other basic release info.