History VideoGame / BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight

''Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night'' is a [=2D=] {{Metroidvania}} (or as the Kickstarter calls it, an "[=IGAvania=]") game for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 PS4]], UsefulNotes/XboxOne, [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]], UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, iOS, and Android. It is directed by Koji Igarashi and developed by [=ArtPlay=], DICO, and Creator/{{WayForward|Technologies}}. Creator/IntiCreates also originally assisted with development until they parted ways and were subsequently replaced by DICO.

* {{Metroidvania}}: A side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements, just like most of IGA's ''Castlevania'' games. Interestingly, Igarashi has decided to coin the term "[=IGAvania=]" for this type of game, as it's kinda his thing, as well as to avoid UsefulNotes/{{Trademark}} issues from mentioning the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series.

* MyNameIsQuestionMarks: The "???" that screams after Mariam gets her first shard of the game, belongs to an unnamed ship crewman who is dragged off-screen by tentacles.

* ResourceReimbursement: Wearing Gebel's Glasses has Mariam be functionally refunded the full mana cost of shards immediately, but she still needs enough mana to cast it first.

* RunicMagic: Rune circles of Enochian around the magi-crystal areas on someone's body, when written correctly, is basically guaranteed to stop the crystals from growing, if the affected don't increase their magi-crystal load through absorbing shards like Mariam does.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Bloodless, being a character who is entirely themed around blood, is affected by the option that changes the color of blood in the game. If you decide to change the color to yellow or white, this can result in playing as or fighting against her becoming...''very'' awkward and [[{{Squick}} uncomfortable]].

--> Sometimes, when you visit the shop, you will recieve hints about how to proceed.

* NumberOfTheBeast: 3 of the 4 {{Bonus Boss}}es have 6666 hitpoints, while the fourth has 6660.

* ObviousBeta: While this was most pronounced with the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port, which was widely regarded as a complete trainwreck on release, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne ports had their own share of issues, including both systems being prone to crashing, the [=PlayStation 4=] Pro having graphics that somehow looked ''worse'' than on the original model (albeit a considerably better framerate), the Xbox One systems having a broken HDR implementation, and certain boss fights on both systems being prone to causing the framerate to tank to near-unplayable levels.

** The Upbeat Heat ability fires a rapid-fire stream of fireballs plus Miriam and Aurora can summon several on screen. However the fireballs have a limited arcing range and fire at high angle before taking a more random direction. Additionally the Tamako Death manifests above the character and the fireballs don't pass through objects, so Upbeat Heat could end up wasting all its shots (though in Aurora's case - it's also the best healing ability in the game).

* DifficultButAwesome: The Parry and Eleventh Hour Techniques. When inputted, Miriam holds up her blade in a defensive position for a brief moment. The parry window is rather tight for a command block (not to mention it requires you to shuffle forward a bit), but if you successfully block an attack with it, Miriam will automatically perform an extremely powerful CounterAttack.

** Familiars in general fall into this late in the game. Since Miriam doesn't actively wield the familiar, none of them gain benefits from any Passive or Skill shards that Miriam has equipped. In particular, the benefits of Augment LCK and Augment Gold won't apply, so if the player is trying to farm for money, shards, or items, it pays to either equip Carabosse (which almost never attacks) or forego familiars entirely.

** The Carabosse familiar, at some Grade, will start literally pointing out breakable walls. She will fly near the breakable wall, say either "Look here!" or "This looks suspicious..." to you, and then point at the spot in question.

* SupportPartyMember: Dantalion and Carabosse don't have the same damage-dealing potential as your other familiars, but Dantalion will periodically give Miriam a strength buff while Carabosse can dispense healing items and help you locate secrets.

* WeakButSkilled: Carabosse is an incredibly wimpy Familiar; her sole attack is a tiny light arrow only a few pixels wide that barely tickles enemies even at high levels. She makes up for it with a wide berth of utilities, such as being the only Familiar able to use Faerie Medicine to heal Miriam and detecting hidden breakable walls and ceilings.

** On a non-Randomizer mode, to keep players from getting frustrated by grinding for valuable loot, any item that is crafted is automatically added to the shop in the next room. So after forging an item, you can later buy more of it and break it down to get those hard-to-find loot drops. Of course, this means that you have to go grind for Alkahest instead, but that's a much more common drop.

** There are certain rooms on the Bridge of Evil that can only be accessed on your first visit with Zangetsu (the opening section and where the Glutton Train is fought), and the time limit will probably prevent you from exploring the entire area. If you get back on the train afterwards[[note]]which you will need to do in order to fight Kunekune[[/note]], the game will count the entire map as being explored, regardless of how much you actually uncovered, preventing the unexplored portions from becoming PermanentlyMissableContent when going for 100% map completion.
** During a Randomizer game, Miriam will always start with the Village Key in her inventory, regardless of what the player chose to be randomized. Because a player could conceivably randomize key items, giving Miriam the key to the door prevents a player from getting stuck early in the run.
*** In a similar manner, the Galleon Minerva’s first cannon will be treated as having already been fired to destroy the wall in a randomized run, since the player could randomize shards, leading to them having no fire attacks to light the fuse.
*** In the same vein, if you pick up a Waystone on the galleon and use it to teleport to Arvantville before fighting the first boss, you aren't locked out of that area and can still go back and fight the boss.

** Averted, in as much as the game never forces you to take damage. In fact, a post-release interview revealed that before Igarashi would sign off on the final implementation of each boss, the designer responsible had to show they could beat it in a NoDamageRun. With a knife.

* MoneyForNothing: Largely averted, in this game — money can always be useful (even if it's just used as a power-up for some shards). While it's possible to grind out every ingredient you need for alchemy/food prep, it's a slog which can easily be averted by spending the gold you've been finding. Additionally, useful healing items and bullets for your guns are only available in limited quantities and these need to be topped up. Finally, there are abilities that make use of your money to do damage or gain bonuses to doing damage. There's also the fact that over the course of normal gameplay, money is generally difficult to amass, as breakable objects only drop Gold if you have full MP, monsters rarely drop Gold without the Augment Gold Shard, and money drops are relatively low value until said Augment Gold Shard is acquired. In fact, most of the items needed for efficient money farming don't become available until practically the end of the game, including Augment Gold and Accelerator[[note]]Gebel's Glasses are also highly recommended, but requires OneHundredPercentCompletion in Shards, meaning you've already beaten everything the game has to offer by the time you get it[[/note]], the latter of which is only found in Den of Behemoths, the penultimate area of the game.

** The Carabosse familiar, at some Grade, will start pointing out breakable walls. Literally. She will fly near the breakable wall and point at it, and say a line, "Look here!" or "This looks suspicious..."

* SchmuckBait: The Den of Behemoths' blue chests are all worth 500g, which is pretty good considering that money is a little hard to come by. Turns out the boss Valefor has an attack that heals himself by robbing your money.

** The Valkyrie Circlet is [[spoiler:hidden behind a piece of scenery below Valefor's boss arena]].