Excellent souls game on par with the FromSoft originals. Souls-likes generally have a bunch of quirky features to try and differentiate themselves from one another but this one follows the FromSoft design very closely which works in its favour since I love those games.

This means the combat is difficult and satisfying and the ambience is amazing. It feels very familiar in a good way, but with some refreshing adjustments. Unfortunately it also means that a number of typical annoying mechanics also carry over such as multi-phase bosses, a variety of debuff ailments, camera issues and a bunch of NPC fights which I have always found to be miserable. Still, this game generally leans more on the side of QOL when it comes to implementing these ideas, for example I actually enjoyed the swamp level in this game.

There are still remarked differences though. The level design is much more linear, there is exploration but it is relatively limited. The story is a bit more direct and while the characters are often goofy, the tone is still dark.

The most significant change from my perspective is the combat, it is much more parry focused. From what I can tell, it's more like Sekiro than souls but I haven't played that one yet. It's very satisfying and well designed but also more 'game-y', boss fights leaned slightly more towards pattern memorisation and rhythmic inputs instead of rewarding a slow and cautious playstyle. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in fact FromSoft has also been moving in the same direction of fast action combat for the past few years. I'd actually go as far to say Lies of P does a better job for the most part, the rally mechanic is so well implemented to reward aggression and the boss fights are difficult but very fun and engaging. The linear nature of the game also helps a lot with the difficulty balancing and consistency, I felt considerably less frustration playing this game compared to Elden Ring for example.

As for my main problems with the game, the camera was not great in some situations, better than Elden Ring but still not ideal. As I said before, I really don't like the NPC fights, especially gank ones but thankfully they aren't too difficult and there is some cheese potential. I also don't know why attacking costs stamina in this game (outside of realism), I think it would flow better without that. The final area of the game was somewhat half baked but that seems to be a tradition with these games.

Overall then, I like this game a lot and I think it's a great addition to the genre. The visuals, sounds and performance is fantastic and the combat is satisfying and well designed. A+ from me.

I play Splatoon for the story. I can't make myself be consistent with any kind of online game, even one in a franchise I love as dearly as this. And thankfully, Splatoon 3's Story Mode (titled "Return of the Mammalians") didn't disappoint. I don't think it's as good as Octo Expansion, but it took the best parts of that and combined them with parts of 1+2's base campaigns to give us the best base game campaign in the series so far.

The multiplayer is still fun as ever, with a number of QoL changes that shake things up a bit, but I've probably put less hours into it than any Splatoon game thus far.

The best way I can describe Bloodstained: COTM, if I were to try selling it to you in as few words as possible, is that it's Castlevania 3, made in a modern lense and without the CBT inducing difficulty the Western release was strangled by.

Bloodstained's as NES Castlevania as you can get; single way jumps, subweapons, knockback, the whole shebang. To narrow things down though, it's explicitly pulling from CV3's partner system, allowing you to choose whether to bring the extra cast members along or to just kill them in exchange for an ability to vary up your playthrough and achieve a different ending. Likewise, the modern hardware afforded to the game now allows the player choosing to bring them along the ability to switch between all of them on the fly! It's an excellent way to freshen up the formula of a traditional Castlevania, and again, adds a fair bit of spice to the idea of multiple playthroughs. Small QOL improvements are abound, with things like different coloured lanterns for hearts VS subweapons, meaning you don't have to worry about picking up a lesser subweapon from the one you have right now, and you can swap to another character entirely to walk right over it.

The game's also a fairly easier affair than most actual Classicvanias, with a casual mode allowing infinite lives, and the partner mechanic not only essentially giving you four health bars of varying sizes if you can maintain, but also not considering a life to be lost until you lose all 4 characters on that single life. It'd likely be a good bet for anyone starting out with the series, in the event Castlevania 1 or 3 were a bit too much for a newbie to take in at once, though I'll also acknowledge that a Castlevania veteran would probably think the game's total cheesecake.

But don't take the constant mention and comparison to the original series Bloodstained is so obviously aping to be anything even close to a negative! That's the best thing I can say about Bloodstained. It's the Castlevania that Konami won't give us. It looks great, sounds great, plays great, and is great. Give it a shot if you've got a Classicvania-shaped hole in your heart, cause Inti Creates were more than able to fill one in mine! It's great to see they're still, in fact, able to make great retro throwbacks when that dipshit Keiji Inafune isn't breathing down their necks.

I played the demo when it first released (who knows how long ago that was, the date I set is just a guess)
but yeah, if this ever gets completed, it’s definitely gonna be one of my favorite games
a cross between Earthbound and WarioWare? thats like my two favorite things boi!

he said itll be done in 2023 fingers crossed!
https://twitter.com/kncklsndwch/status/1618864496210231296?s=12&t=jHifbvxj4hqCOhHAxzg5SA