Review: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:When starting a new game, you'll be prompted to select your save slot. From then on, your progress is recorded automatically after each level. You cannot save during a level. To pause the game, open the inventory menu by pressing ESC. Time needed per session:Although this game can be completed in one sitting, you aren't required to do so. This means that you can comfortably save this game for whenever you have some free time.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | Some players may have concerns As this is a game about fighting demons, everything has a demonic theme to it - including the heroes. However, this game also presents evil as something to be defeated, not embraced. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/bloodstained_curse_of_the_moon_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/bloodstained_curse_of_the_moon_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/bloodstained_curse_of_the_moon_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a lot like the NES-era Castlevania games, and for good reason - one of the people behind it was Koji Igarashi
, a famous developer who worked on most of the games in the Castlevania series. Thus, most players consider this game to be a spiritual successor to the old Castlevania games instead of a homage or imitation of them.
At the beginning of this game, players take on the role of Zangetsu, a skilled swordsman who was cursed by a powerful demon. As revenge for this, he spends his days hunting down any demons he can find, putting them to death with his enchanted sword. Having discovered the whereabouts of an extremely powerful demon, he sets off on a long journey to the its lair, slaying any demons he encounters along the way. It's a simple opening story, but the player's actions will determine how it plays out.
Some of the demons you'll fight are holding a person captive. Once the demon is defeated, the captive is released, and you can decide if you want to spare them, ignore them, or finish them off. Since each of them were captured as a result of messing around with the dark arts, you could argue that they deserved their fate regardless of what you decide.
If you choose to condemn or ignore them, Zangetsu will learn a new combat technique, making him a stronger and more capable character. But, should you spare them, they will join Zangetsu's quest as a playable ally with their own weapons and abilities. Additionally, once you have more than one playable character, you can switch between them at any time, allowing you to adjust how you'll approach to any situation.
Having these characters as allies doesn't just help you with combat. Each level can be navigated in multiple ways, some of which can only be accessed by using a specific character's abilities. These otherwise inaccessable areas usually contain special powerups or allow you to bypass much more difficult sections of the level.
Also, should you later decide that sparing or condemning them was the wrong call, you can change things later. By invoking the Moon's Curse, the player can turn back the clock and reset the game to an earlier part of their adventure's timeline. This undoes everything that has happened since this point, but it allows you to fix any mistakes or ensure you've collected every item whenever you play through the game.
If you loved the older Castlevania games or just enjoy retro-style games, you'll definitely want to check this game out.
, a famous developer who worked on most of the games in the Castlevania series. Thus, most players consider this game to be a spiritual successor to the old Castlevania games instead of a homage or imitation of them.At the beginning of this game, players take on the role of Zangetsu, a skilled swordsman who was cursed by a powerful demon. As revenge for this, he spends his days hunting down any demons he can find, putting them to death with his enchanted sword. Having discovered the whereabouts of an extremely powerful demon, he sets off on a long journey to the its lair, slaying any demons he encounters along the way. It's a simple opening story, but the player's actions will determine how it plays out.
Some of the demons you'll fight are holding a person captive. Once the demon is defeated, the captive is released, and you can decide if you want to spare them, ignore them, or finish them off. Since each of them were captured as a result of messing around with the dark arts, you could argue that they deserved their fate regardless of what you decide.
If you choose to condemn or ignore them, Zangetsu will learn a new combat technique, making him a stronger and more capable character. But, should you spare them, they will join Zangetsu's quest as a playable ally with their own weapons and abilities. Additionally, once you have more than one playable character, you can switch between them at any time, allowing you to adjust how you'll approach to any situation.
Having these characters as allies doesn't just help you with combat. Each level can be navigated in multiple ways, some of which can only be accessed by using a specific character's abilities. These otherwise inaccessable areas usually contain special powerups or allow you to bypass much more difficult sections of the level.
Also, should you later decide that sparing or condemning them was the wrong call, you can change things later. By invoking the Moon's Curse, the player can turn back the clock and reset the game to an earlier part of their adventure's timeline. This undoes everything that has happened since this point, but it allows you to fix any mistakes or ensure you've collected every item whenever you play through the game.
If you loved the older Castlevania games or just enjoy retro-style games, you'll definitely want to check this game out.
Points of Interest
Multiple endings and bonus content
How Zangetsu's adventure ends depends on which of the prisoners you choose to rescue or sacrifice. Saving all three of them results in the best ending, which in turn unlocks a second campaign. In this new story, Zangetsu is suffering from a demonic infection he contracted at the end of the main game, and his allies are travelling across the land in an attempt to save his soul.
This alternate story also features a special game over cutscene that can only be triggered during the climatic final battle.
This alternate story also features a special game over cutscene that can only be triggered during the climatic final battle.
Old School meets New School
The NES Castlevania games had some gameplay quirks that new players might find annoying. For example, getting hit used to make the player's character hop backwards, possibly off platforms and into bottomless pits. Thankfully, Curse of the Moon lets you choose whether or not you'll be using the old gameplay style (Veteran mode) or a more relaxed modern one (Casual). As an extra bonus, Casual mode does away with the lives system and lets you retry any stage as many times as you need.
Steam community features
There are 15 achievements to earn while you fight to rid the world of evil. About half of these are simply earned by completing part of the story, so you'll earn those during your first playthrough. The others are harder to achieve, as they are granted upon completing the game under certain circomstanses or by playing through certain modes.
If you're interested in Steam trading cards, there's also a set of those available.
If you're interested in Steam trading cards, there's also a set of those available.
Quite short
NES games often needed to be completed in a single sitting, which encouraged developers to keep them fairly short. On top of this, Curse of the Moon was designed as a fundraising project. Thus, there were limits to how much time and effort the developers were willing to give it. The result is still a very high quality game, but it only features about nine levels, not counting their variants.
Concerns and Issues
Lots of demonic references
Every level in this game is filled with monsters of some sort, though most of them are either traditional monsters (eg, griffons and skeletons) while a handful are unique to this game. On the other hand, all of the bosses are explicitly stated to be demons. Even the "good guys" are guilty of having something to do with demons, so the entire game has a dark and evil aesthetic.
Blood and minor gore
Although this game focuses on slaying demons, it feels like a vampire story, and thus it's not real surprising that blood is regularly seen splattered on backgrounds or other objects. Some enemies, such as one of the bosses, also appear to be using blood as a weapon. Meanwhile, some gore can be found in the background of some levels.
Ironically limited violence
Despite the graphic background designs and the overall dark subject matter, violent content is generally standard NES era fare. In other words, monsters just flash briefly when struck, and disappear with a puff of smoke when defeated. Bosses have more elaborate death animations, but these are not graphic either. Likewise, player characters just bounce backwards and fall over if they run out of health.
The one exception to this pattern comes when the player kills a prisoner - it takes multiple hits, and they are shown bleeding as they succumb to the attacks.
The one exception to this pattern comes when the player kills a prisoner - it takes multiple hits, and they are shown bleeding as they succumb to the attacks.