E3 demo out now for Kickstarter backers! And impressions

Just a heads up, if you backed Bloodstained at the $60 or above, check your email for a key for a Bloodstained key for the demo. I did it via Steam, worked just fine. If it was up to me everyone who backed at a tier high enough to get the game at release ($28 IIRC) should've gotten the demo, but hey it's Iga's prerogative.

Some thoughts (ended up playing it late last night before bed so little hazy):

• It requires an xinput controller, i.e. a 360 controller or one emulating it (using a PS3 controller here)
• Has limited resolution options, 1080 is there; fullscreen and windowed modes (no borderless option)
• The level is on a ship, start out with mostly nothing but pick up loot and make your way to the boss
• You can see parts of the level that would require a double-jump, which I assume you unlock later in the game
• Thematically the game is very reminiscent of Order of Ecclesia. The main character looks sorta similar, the colour palette as far as we've seen is similar, some similar Lovecraftian looking monsters, all aquatic here
• No skeletons here, some squid monsters are the most generic enemies
• Game feels and looks kinda like the DS games blown up to 1080p. Movement feels like they did, or maybe a little more like SotN, you can easily chain backdash
• Backdash is on LB, your subweapon is on Y; if you hold down the right analogue stick and press RT you do this fire spell that in the demo you light the fuse of a cannon with
• You use a sword but also get a kick weapon; the kicks look kinda wonky, more or less like Maria's kicks from the Saturn version of SotN. You can do the jumping kick you could do in SotN, and the kicks at least have the range to be easier to use than Alucard's punches (less fun on them but that jump kick is still good though).

Some criticisms/concerns I have:

• As mentioned above, the game aesthetically looks and feels more like the more recent DS games, not SotN. At least it looks a little more gothic in the style of Ecclesia instead of the WB Kids style of the Aria/Dawn of Sorrow games
• Artistically it's kinda spotty; the main character's design had a lot of work put into it and is pretty solid, some of the environment looks good, but most of the monsters have alright ideas (sea cannons, knights with balls and chain), but don't seem executed pretty well. The most common mob, the squid monster, looks particularly dull. This weird monster that grabs on to you looks alright though
• Graphically so far this game isn't a looker (as of yet). Still better looking than Mighty No. 9 (better art design), but while they worked on filters to make it look 2D, they didn't do enough, or not enough yet. Kind of hard to look at at times
• They use the 3D interestingly in a couple spots (mobs climbing up onto the deck like Diablo 3), but finding their hitboxes is actually rather hard. When fighting the boss I wasn't really sure where she was vulnerable, and when she lashes our with the tentacle there's one time it looks like it should hit you but doesn't, then the second time it does
• The music is normal Yamane, but seems like not her best work (at least what I heard in the demo). The SFX sounded alright in spots (some SotN sounding stuff here and there), but unfinished in others so far
• The level was about the size of a level in Ecclesia; hopefully it's either getting a lot more work or it's like the first level in the game because it was very much run in this circle, unlock a shortcut, break one wall, fight the boss

Overall I'm cautiously optimistic for it, but definitely seems like it needs work. I could easily see it being great, or terrible, at this point. More likely than terrible though is "it's going to be another DS style Castlevania."

Anyone else play the demo at E3 or via the key? Thoughts?

A DS style Castlevania game still sounds awesome to me. Dawn of Sorrow is probably my favourite of that style of Castlevania from all I've played.

Seems pretty solid as a foundation for one of these games. Found a couple of secrets, found some loot, movement felt good. It was kind of linear but its also a directed demo so won't judge harshly on that.

Not too sure about the design of the boss there, but at least it left an impression. Puke green is not exactly what I would use personally.

watched a playthrough of it, seems a bit too easy? Also kinda wish the combat was evolved from just the one attack thing, i guess they want the old school feel but if your gonna do that then make the mobs more difficult i guess. I never really played a castlevania though(don't hate me) so maybe there is more to them than what i see on vinnyvania

@oursin_360: There's seems to be some more variety to the spells this time around. Just judging by the spell slots and the small handful we got in the demo. Directional actives, more traditional actives, weapon enchants and summons. I also wonder if they'll make it more important to switch weapons, the difference between range/burst and speed/dps on the two weapons you got was at least somewhat interesting. Though having to menucrawl to switch doesn't seem great if that's gonna be a thing. Combat is also likely going to change as you get movement powers. Mist form and double jump made for some cool stuff in SotN.

EDIT: I secretly hope it's going to have secret fighting game inputs to do spells/moves again. I couldn't find any in the demo, but dammit I want that.

@oursin_360: Vinny hasn't gotten to the "Igavania" games yet. Those are the entries that started with and spawned off of Symphony of the Night. Though I wouldn't call them "easy," they certainly have a more traditional difficulty curve to them than what you've seen from the series so far. The Igavania games start emphasizing some light RPG elements, customization, weapon diversity, and exploration (hence them spawning the whole "Metroidvania" thing) over things like platforming and the "making you memorize smaller levels and repeat them until you perfect them" elements from earlier entries in the series.

I'm looking forward to giving the demo a go tonight.

It is promising but I still hate the look of it. Make a 2D game. It could look so much better.

I liked it a lot, and was actually surprised by the breadth of it. It had a bit of everything in it. Movement looked and sounded good, except I maybe thought the sword attack stopped you a little too long. Though there was no very fast, very weak attack to compare it to, as even the kick wasn't that much faster, so I'm not sure if I think that that's even a problem. You could still do the 'Attack > Backdash > Attack' cancel thing, which I was happy about.

Bunch of other minor things, like the level up animation being nice looking but every so slightly too long, but nothing I can't see them fix with more time.

I...liked the look of it. With it being 3D models it lacked a certain sharpness at times, which was unappealing, but I still thought that the design of the level was pleasant and had character, good lightight etc. It was also easy to tell the foreground from the background, and where there were doors.

Even for an introductory level it was easy, so I hope some of the enemies are tweaked to be a little more threatening. I should probably go to their feedback forum myself and at least look at what others are saying.

@jacksukeru: I thought the kick was significantly faster. It looked like you could get 3 hits in with them in the same time it took to do 2 with the sword.

Watched a playthrough of it and think it looks fine. The art style isn't going to be for everyone but it has a direction to it that I think can work depending on how it carries through the entire game. I didn't back this one on kickstarter but I see myself picking it up if the Castlevania community gives it a general thumbs up. SOTN is one of my all time favorite games that I replay about once a year.

I just played through it - I hope the difficulty ramps up. Otherwise fun demonstration with potential. I dig the art.

@jacksukeru: don't forget the jump - attack - land - attack - backdash - attack for 3 hits!

@dudeglove I thought the DS Castlevania games were great, only there were way too many in too short of a period of time. Also stylistically after Circle of the Moon they changed from the darker gothic themes to more kid-friendly anime ish Aria/Dawn of Sorrow. I like it either way, but damn it's been a while since we've had an older looking Castlevania.

Yah I don't know why but I was expecting really nice 2D art. I guess it seemed obvious that would be the art direction they would go in.. guess it wasn't so obvious.

@humanity: From the way they were talking before and the stretch goals they reached this is going to be a much bigger game than they've done before, and 2D art costs a lot more for a really big game.

Obviously it would look a lot better in 2D, but hey what can you do

@belegorm: Yah I getcha and I realize that beautifully animating sprites by hand is a lot more labor intensive/costly than making a single 3D model.

There is something to be said about wonderful looking pixel art though and how much it adds to the final product. Hyper Light Drifter is an awesome game but half of the enjoyment for me is how gosh darn great it looks.

It sure is an Igavania, and that's a-ok with me. I backed the game on Kickstarter and unlike Mighty No.9, this one is already making it seem like a good investment.

Obviously the demo is quite limited, but that kind of goes without saying. I have high hopes for the finished product.

Glad I checked my Junk folder. Received my code late last night and didnt even know.

She does the thing where you turn, but there's like a second where you kinda float before she actually looks the other way.

So I'm really excited.

Order of Ecclesia and the one before that (Portrait of Ruin I think) are legit some of my favorite games, saying this one is reminiscent of that has my hopes up

I unabashedly like all three DS games, as well as Symphony of the Night. This game seems like another one of those, and I'm 1000% okay with that!

My own thoughts:

• Movement feels good.
• Immediately saddened by the lack of double-jump. I was hoping you'd pick it up or something as a teaser, but no such luck.
• We've got lanterns (candles) that drop money when you attack them. Interestingly, the coins appear to be Yen, but the captions say $. This is in contrast to previous games where the coins were just generic coins.
• The animation for picking up a spell is Persona 3-fucked-up.
• There was a stack of three fire-shooting enemies that turned around when you attacked them, which is very comforting
• I'm not sure I'm 100% on board with the art design. It looks okay, and I do like the 3d effects while traversing the map, but I think it's lacking a certain.... je ne sais quoi.
• The boss is a giant boob squid monster thing, which I found to be more silly than scary. I did like how it attacked the ship as you moved through it, not unlike a similar boss in Zelda: Skyward Sword.
• That said, I thought there was great dissonance between the attacks I was making on the boss and it's reaction. It felt like I was punching (well, kicking) a brick wall, with as much sell as you might expect. And then all of a sudden I leveled and the screen cut to black. This is in great contrast to bosses like Gergoth from Dawn of Sorrow, who flinch and bleed when you hit them.

Over all, I'm still excited for this game in spite of a few rough spots!

For as "kid-friendly" as Dawn of Sorrow "was", it sure had some fucked up things in it. Gergoth, the final boss literally bursting out of the spine of the main antagonist, etc

Anyone want my Steam Key? I dont have a computer that can run this game.

@kyle_laflamamocha: I'd love to try the demo out.

@icemael: Sent you a message with code and system requirements.

@kyle_laflamamocha:Thanks! Really appreciate it!

Just played it. The environments don't look as good as in the 2D games, but nicer than I expected. The main character model isn't terrible either, though the animation could use some work for sure. Enemy models, on the other hand, just look plain bad (especially the boss, where not only the modeling but also the basic design itself is awful) -- and it's not just that they look bad on their own, but they have this really cartoonish shading that doesn't gel at all with the background art (the main character has that type of shading too, but somehow doesn't look as out of place). The movement feels fluid and responsive, so that's good, but combat feels a lot stiffer than in Order of Ecclesia. The fast, rhythmic attacks with the dual-wielded weapons in that game felt fantastic, and this is a big step back in that regard. And even aside from the lack of speed when attacking, hits just don't feel very impactful.

Not very impressed with this overall. The game will probably be decent, but there's a lot that could use improvement.

Early demos need to be properly contextualized and viewed at a very high level IMO. And from that view, I thought this demo was promising. There are little nitpicks I'd have that it feels just a bit too far on the stiff side. I'm fine with the art design as it's better than I was anticipating. The music is really good and has that old Castlevania feel to it. The boss does need a little bit of work, but overall I really liked the way it was incorporated into the level. Overall, I think they're at least pretty on target in what they're going for and I'm cautiously optimistic about the game.

The demo was basically what I expected. It feels like Castlevania and that's what I want. I would definitely like a little more attack variety but who knows that could still be a possiblity.

Demo seems to suggest game will deliver what they said they'd deliver on the tin (I imagine Inti Creates learned a lot about how to scale the project from MN9 lol). 2D would definitely look better but I believe the game uses Unreal Engine as a part of its cost savings measure. Unreal's never really been a 2D engine, right?

The visuals definitely has some polishing to do, but in general I like the look. Ultimately, the game just has to deliver on having interesting level design while scaling up to meet backer milestones. I think that's where MN9 felt the growing pains worst, and probably the clutch point for seeing whether Inti Creates is the problem of if Iga's the real deal where maybe Inafune isn't (or wasn't totally invested in MN9?).

I really liked using the kung fu shoes, but for the boss encounter mostly used the flail subweapon. I think I 100%'d the demo? not too hard to though.