Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

The classic Castlevania homage is back, and it brings Bloodstained's delightful sense of weirdness with it.

Swapping between your heroes as you tackle different tasks is fun, but the slow action and rigid platforming belong in the past

Inti Creates could've done "more of the same" and called it a day, but the new characters lend Curse of the Moon 2 a ton of flexibility, the co-op support is commendable, and the subtle refinements can be found far and wide if you go back to play the original game after spending a weekend with the sequel.

Thanks to its somewhat higher difficulty level and a wider cast of characters, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is an extremely solid game that very slightly edges out its already excellent predecessor, and old-school Castlevania fans will absolutely love it.

A huge step down from the first game. Only for the most die-hard retro fans.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is clearly a love letter to the NES Castlvania games.

I’m a big fan of platform-adventure games such as Metroid and Castlevania. Their simple yet challenging gameplay has always been a lure to me ever since I first discovered Super Metroid and Super Castlevania IV way back in the 90s on the SNES. The Bloodstained series is considered to be the spiritual successor to Castlevania with both series being developed by Koji Igarashi. Igarashi conceived the idea of Bloodstained after his departure from Konami in 2018 and was prompted by many requests by fans for him to produce another “Metroidvania” style game. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is the third game released in the Bloodstained series so how does it compare to its already well received brethren?

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is expertly crafted by veteran developer Inti Creates, it is a highly replayable action game with a lot of options to play and accessible difficulty option. The only thing we didn't like is the jump mechanic and not being able to change direction after jumping.

Curse of the Moon 2 is more of what made the first game so good. I just think that some sections and design choices really put a dark spot on an otherwise incredible release.

One way ticket to golden era of 8-bits with great gameplay and frusrating difficulty spikes.