PS4:
-Subnautica - 9 / 10
-Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC (The Heist, Turf Wars and Silver Lining) - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil 2 - 9 / 10
-Far Cry: New Dawn - 7.5 / 10
-Devil May Cry 5 - 8 / 10
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 8.5 / 10
-Rage 2 - 7 / 10
-Owlboy - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil (REmake) - 8 / 10
-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 7.5 / 10
I finished Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night just recently for PS4.
I'm normally a fan of the 'Metroidvania' style games but frankly, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night felt like an average experience at best.
The game plays almost exactly like previous Castlevania titles (it is from the creator of Castlevania, after all) and has you exploring a huge castle, acquiring new powers, abilities, weapons etc. with some minor RPG elements. The castle has a lot of hidden locations, optional areas etc. The game is a lengthy one, taking me at least 15 hours to complete in just under a week. I technically completed the game three times, as the game has three endings. The first two endings are designed to essentially trick the player, as to unlock the third and best ending takes quite a bit of effort. Thankfully, when you receive one of the former 'bad' endings, it will not overwrite or restart your progress.
The major difference that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has when compared to Castlevania, is that the playable protagonist, Miriam, is a 'Shardbinder', who has the ability to absorb shards from demons and essentially acquire their powers. Some are fun to play with, others are useless and a few are of course mandatory to progress further through the game.
While the title has a cool, orchestrated soundtrack, the graphics remind me of a PS2 game that's been remastered for PS4 and HD visuals. On a PS4, I did experience a lot of frame rate drops, particularly when fighting mass amounts of enemies, or larger bosses with a lot of animations and lighting effects on screen. I also encountered minor freezes, where the game would freeze for a second or two upon the death of particular enemies. The game play itself is simple, but can honestly get pretty repetitive. The game's difficulty was a bit unpredictable, as some areas and enemies, including bosses, were surprisingly easy, while some were suddenly quite difficult.
While I enjoyed the concept of the game, the story itself is forgettable, and I didn't seem to care for the characters at all. Their writing, voice acting and overall portrayal in their static cut scenes didn't give me a whole lot of enthusiasm for the overall plot.
It's not a bad game by any means, especially considering that this game was born on Kickstarter, but it's not really a great game either. Maybe my expectations are, for some reason too high, but lately I've been feeling a bit disappointed by games. I'll be returning this one to EB Games this afternoon, as I don't think I'll be playing it again any time soon.
7.5 out of 10.