It's a tricky tightrope, trying to make a sequel to a spiritual successor. Often times the thing you're inspired by already had a sequel. Do you go in that direction, or do you just do more of the thing you were spiritually successing in the first place? Such was the dilemma at the heart of Bloodstained Curse Of The Moon 2. The original Curse Of The Moon is a love letter to the pre-1997 Castlevania games, the ones from the 8-bit NES. It had specific affection for Castlevania 3, structuring itself much like that that game with branching paths and multiple characters. It also, being a spiritual successor game made almost three decades later, smoothed out a lot of wrinkles in that formula and made lots of quality of life improvements. It was a very good game, and one I cherish a great deal. A sequel to it came out this year. Curse Of The Moon 2 is, just by looking at it, going back to that well. Stage-based action platforming with branching paths and multiple characters, in that exact same style. I don't know if I like it as much as the original, but Curse Of The Moon 2 is sort of like a fine wine. It gets better as you play it.
On the face of it, it really does seem like business as usual for this game. The only change is in your roster of other characters. The all-rounder Belmont-esque Zangetsu is back once again as your lead, but the last game's trio of characters who fit into the Castlevania 3 supporting cast roles are absent. In their place are three new pals. Dominique, a character with a big role in the Ritual Of The Night game, is playable and comes with a spear. She plays a lot like Eric from the Sega Genesis Castlevania game, Bloodlines, and has some very powerful magic of her own. Robert is a frail old man with a gun. Long-range attack, slow reload time, and very low health. Useful for dealing with things in a pinch, but takes a lot of skill. Last is Hachi. I love Hachi. Hachi is, and I am not kidding here, a corgi piloting a giant steampunk mech. Big, heavy, punchy, and can also hover over gaps and turn on invincibility. Hachi is the best boy and I love him. The game is pretty good as you go through, though there are some major difficulty spikes. When you reach the end, Dominique gets taken by the demons and you enter a new playthrough.
This is where things get interesting (and a bit bullshit). Curse Of The Moon 2 wants you to beat it multiple times to unlock a load of new game modes and uncover the full story. To that end, the next episode has you go through a harder version of the game with the original Curse Of The Moon cast. Miriam is a whip user with good subweapons, Alfred a frail old man with low health but powerful magic, and Gebel has a bat swarm attack and can turn into a bat to fly. It worked for the first game, but the harder boss fights here are a pain. Stage 6 in particular has a mummy boss, and things are just way too goddamned busy in that battle. You have masks on the walls shooting arrows, rising platforms, lightning raining down on them, and it's all just too much multitasking to be fun. It took me lots of tries and wasn't the most rewarding clear. A few bosses are like that in the run, and they lowered my overall enjoyment of the game. Regardless, you beat a new demon with annoying attacks and save Dominique... but now you unlock the final episode. This is where shit gets wild.
First of all, you get a proper stage select and can tackle them in any order. Secondly, the companions and collectible upgrades are all randomized. You might find Hachi at the end of Stage 1 in one playthrough, but in Stage 5 on another. You really get to plan what you want to do first, based on character preference, who you've got on you to get powerups, and how difficult the stage would be for you. Both trios of playable characters merge here, giving you all seven to work with. Then, and I am not kidding, you enter a shoot-em-up stage which takes you to the moon for the final battle with the ultimate demon. Or you can just go it alone with Zangetsu for a different ending. I did that. You can also unlock solo mode with all the characters, and you'd better believe I cleared the whole damn game with my steampunk mech piloted by a corgi. In the end, that's Curse Of The Moon 2. It's a solid new retro-styled action platformer, to be sure. Not quite as good as the original, but let's not hold that against it too much. Some parts are a bit much, but overall I felt it was worth sinking all that time and playthroughs into. I'm wondering if the Bloodstained brand will go on, or if it will poke at other styles of Castlevania game. Only time will tell! For now, I need to get back to movies.
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