Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 (Switch) Review

Curse of the Moon is one of my favorite retro-inspired games ever; it perfectly captures the feeling of the NES Castlevania titles and cleverly blends it with a few excellent mechanics to make an adventure that I have argued is better than Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. I was absolutely floored when Curse of the Moon 2 was announced and picked it up on launch for the Nintendo Switch. Since then, I have spent countless hours playing through the game over and over thanks to the various additional modes and episodes, all the while smiling brightly and steadily increasing my skill. Unfortunately, there are enough rough spots and odd design choices that hold back this release when compared to the first title. 

The first Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon came as a partnership between the Koji Igarashi-led developer ArtPlay and Inti Creates, a studio that is known for insanely good pixel art and their flagship Gunvolt franchise. Curse of the Moon was the result of meeting a Kickstarter stretch goal, blossoming into something special. This was a team-up of titanic proportions for players into retro-style gaming and it was the first game I reviewed on Forever Classic Games. It's a game that I still fire up on occasion and I love watching the various speedruns of it. 

Curse of the Moon 2 likely was the result of the success of the first game and it helps keep Bloodstained as a brand in circulation in tandem with various updates and patches to Ritual of the Night. Zangetsu's adventures continue but this time with new allies: the spear-wielding exorcist Dominique, the musket-touting war veteran Robert, and a Welsh Corgi named Hachi who pilots a husky magitech armor mech. Each of these characters has various characteristics, sub-weapons, health totals, and basic attacks and there are a couple of upgrades and variations to unlock for Zangetsu. Not only that but all three characters from the first Curse of the Moon (Gebel, Alfred, and Miriam) return for subsequent playthroughs including one that allows for all seven characters. If that's not enough replayability, there's also now a boss rush, single character modes, and co-op play.

Regardless of me not enjoying this release as much as the former, Curse of the Moon 2 is packed with extras. 

Unfortunately, this means that players will be going through the same stages with only some slight variations and pathing to keep things interesting. There are some unique bosses and most of them have various strategies or secrets to uncover. For example, the first boss when performing its desperation attack upon defeat (these return for most bosses but do not trigger in the first playthrough) can actually be split in half by Zangetsu by standing one's ground and timing the slash properly. This is something I learned while watching speedrunner Strizer86 experiment with a silly category. Even though I've played Curse of the Moon 2 through 8-9 times I am still learning new things about the game. 

Speaking of playthroughs, in the first game I was able to get through the first run on Veteran with little to no problems and I loved how that difficulty mode made me think about how enemies were placed throughout a stage. Timing was everything and my adventure was filled with calculated reactions and awesome-feeling acrobatics. Yet, I couldn't even get past the third stage in Curse of the Moon 2 on Veteran and I had to switch to Casual, removing the knockback and the life system. 

This was mostly because of a few longer sections with far too many enemies or hazards on-screen. I think this is most egregious in the fire level, which has these spouts of flame that circulate on strange patterns. My only effective strategy here was to hope that I had enough sub-weapon energy to use Hachi's temporary invincibility long enough to get to the end of the section. It also doesn't help that checkpoints do not trigger right at the boss gate like they would in Mega Man and many other action platformers. Players have to go through sometimes terribly tough sections of the game in order to get another attempt at an even tougher boss. 

Getting smacked by a boss and then making a mistake trying to get back to it feels awful and there were definitely moments of genuine anger during my time with the game. Another section that irritates me is the spinning platforms. For those unaware, Castlevania on NES established a committed jump arc that cannot be adjusted mid-air like most platforming games as was famously broken down in Sequelitis by Arin Hanson of Game Grumps fame. This means that every single jump has to be measured and these sections are just far too precise to land with any consistency. It's easier to float through these with Hachi's hover but in modes where he's not available, I really struggled. 

Dying in Curse of the Moon 2 can be extremely annoying towards the end of a stage. Upon death, only that character perishes, respawning the player back at the nearest lampost checkpoint with whoever is left. This also means that players can sacrifice a character they don't need when in a tough spot but there were several boss fights where I felt that I needed every single character available to me. Upon death, I would just cast myself into a pit over and over just to get another run with a full team. There are sections where instant death isn't available though, which led me to plop my characters into a lava pit to take repeated damage or just stand next to whatever nearby enemy. 

Drawn-out restarts like this really grind the game's otherwise great pacing to a halt and it's a shame that this wasn't addressed before release. Surely this is something playtesters would have pointed out.

Thankfully, Curse of the Moon 2 is still a joy for retro fans and it gives Bloodstained fans more characters to enjoy.  While I found Curse of the Moon to be a focused, distilled NES Castlevania-like experience, Curse of the Moon 2 feels like the devs having a field day with the property. Scenarios in this game get absolutely wacky and though one of the most absurd moments is a bore for speedrunners (and this section has its own design issues worth discussing at some point) I was smiling from ear to ear when it happened. Silly stories and events are something not seen nearly enough in recent video games and I'm glad to see Bloodstained as a franchise mixing Gothic visuals and tone with dumb fun. 

All in all, 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. With continued releases like this, surely Bloodstained will continue to fill the void left by an incredible franchise. I am so glad that Igarashi and his team have the freedom to develop on their terms and if they continue to partner with talented groups like Inti Creates I will be there to support them every single time. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 6/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 8/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

OVERALL - 7.4/10

Curse of the Moon 2 is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 for $14.99 USD and more information is available on the official website. Screenshots were captured via the Switch. A digital copy was purchased by the reviewer.  

For another stellar example of retro-inspired mastery, check out our review of the entire collection of Shovel Knight games. Also worth reading is our thoughts on the Donkey Kong Country inspired Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair; we also interviewed Gavin Price of Playtonic post-release.