Bloodstained is a spiritual successor to Castlevania games, particularly the metroidvania ones, such as Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. It's clearly a product of passion of the lead developer behind those older Castlevania games but working outside of Konami.

Anyone who's a fan of the Castlevania series would be at home here as a lot of the similar gameplay mechanics and vibes return here. In fact I'd go as far and say that they took the best aspects of all the Castlevania games and mixed them in here. The shard system is very reminiscent of Aria of Sorrow's soul system where we essentially can acquire enemy abilities by farming them. Here this system has been expanded into 5 types of shards, some acting as passive buffs, others as magical attacks of different types, and some being familiars that assist us. Some of the magic attacks are direction-based, allowing us to aim in any direction, which makes them even better and more fun to use and something we didn't have in Castlevanias.

The exploration and level design is just like we remember in those older Castlevania titles. A big castle full of different areas, each with its own theme, some of which can only be accessed after acquiring certain abilities or items. A few of the areas have been designed in very creative ways, such as the towers that are spiralling upwards in a circle and giving a pseudo-3D vibe. Save rooms, portal rooms, and boss rooms all make a return as does the familiar map design.

On top of the main questline, we can also do a few simple sidequests for NPCs, such as killing a certain monster type several times or bringing them a food item. All this helps with acquiring more items that can be used as crafting materials or ingredients for food. Crafting materials are used for making weapons, armour, trinkets and consumables, whereas food acts as a special type of consumable too in that it gives a stat bonus in addition to healing us (although I think the way food items work could've been explained a bit better!).

I really enjoyed the visuals and art style. Very colourful and detailed, and every area looked unique and breathtaking. Many of the areas are thematically similar to areas from Castlevania games - the castle entrance hallway, the garden, the library, the alchemy lab, the mechanical tower, the underwater caves, and so on. In each one we face their own unique challenges, both as enemy types and as traps of various kind. Boss fights were a bit of a mixed bag, some being too straight-forward, while others really fun and memorable. Some of the bosses were really creatively designed and the final fight was one of the best I've experienced in this type of game.

Music is stellar, which is no surprise, because the composer behind Castlevania soundtracks was involved in this game, so the style is very recognizable and you'll find yourself noticing and enjoying a track playing in virtually every area. Sound effects and voice acting are also brilliant.

Don't expect a superb story, but it's not bad either. The story is decent enough to keep you playing and exploring new areas and it doesn't seem to take up too much of your time. You're not forced into drawn out cutscenes and all the dialogues can be skipped with a press of a button, so no headache if you're replaying the game.

The game has a couple of bonus playable characters and some bonus modes to try too (which I'm yet to check out), so even after completing the main campaign, there's stuff to do and challenges to attempt. And the main campaign is longer than I remember it was in Castlevania games. Here it took me nearly 20 hours. Admittedly sometimes you might need to consult a walkthrough if you want to reach the game's true ending as some things will be a bit out there without any hints given. Just remember how obscure Symphony of the Night was in telling us about the inverted castle, and the same level of obscurity you'll have here. In fact almost too much like that if we take into account the boss fight that gives us the first fake ending.

I've greatly enjoyed every moment of playing Bloodstained. Sure, there are a few minor criticisms here and there, particularly relating to too much backtracking in places and a few obscure moments of being stuck, but generally, this was amazing and nostalgic. This game was made for people who loved Castlevania games and, as far as quality and fun, it can safely stand side-by-side with giants such as Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow.