PC Gamer

In fact, it bears more than a few

similarities to one particular

Castlevaniagame. As in

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, your

protagonist, Zangetsu, is a fairly

standard warrior archetype joined by

three other playable

characters, each with

unique abilities that

give you fresh fighting

options and open up

new routes. Miriam

wields a whip, jumps

high and can slide

under low ceilings.

Arthur, an alchemist,

uses powerful magic (his flame

barrier is hilariously overpowered).

The vampire Gebel can transform

into a bat, crossing long chasms. A

key difference is that you can switch

between all four at will, rather than

being limited to bringing just a single

ally with you. You have separate

health gauges, too – essentially giving

you four lives to complete a stage.

It’s not the only way this

throwback is more forgiving than the

games it’s homaging. Controls are less

stiff and clunky than its 8-bit peers

• though you’ll still need to move

back slightly from a ledge to jump up

to the next. And a Casual difficulty

option not only gives you infinite

lives, but stops you from being

pushed back when you take damage

• thus avoiding the frustration of
  having your favourite
  character nudged off a
  ledge by a flying pest
  just before the boss
  screen. And when
  you’re facing a fork in
  the road and you’re not
  sure which path to
  follow, the remains of
  fallen adventurers will
  point you in the right direction, a
  bony arm gesturing towards the
  quickest route forward.
  All of which means even those
  with little experience of the classics
  should be able to reach the end
  within two hours or so. Yet quitting
  there leaves you with the feeling that
  there’s plenty you’ve missed – and so
  it proves. Whenever you meet a new
  character, a flashing prompt suggests
  you should talk to them. You can,
  however, simply gut them with your
  sword, giving Zangetsu a new ability,
  like an arcing sword swipe, or a

somersault. Or you can even ignore

them if you want to finish the game

without any assistance.

It’s at this point you’ll grow to

appreciate the artistry of the course

design: these levels have been built to

accommodate a range of playstyles,

from those looking to revisit the

games of their youth but with a more

lightweight challenge, to purists

seeking to test themselves with only

the hero’s most basic abilities. It’s

much less fun that way – jabbing a

short-range sword a few times before

backing off and repeating can’t

compare to combining all four

character skills to take down a boss in

double-quick time – but the option’s

there for those who want it.

OLD SCHOOL CRUEL

At times, it leans on its influences to a

fault. Some enemies are not so much

a challenge as a nuisance: the

undulating flight paths of one

particular enemy type combined with

moving platforms and the

knockbacks of Veteran mode might

make you thinkCurseatthe Moon

would have been a more appropriate

title. And it’s demoralising to have

seemingly beaten a boss by the skin

of your teeth, only for them to launch

one final attack.

A bigger problem is that it doesn’t

have enough new ideas of its own.

Where the likes ofShovel Knight use

classic games as a foundation to build

upon, Inti Creates is often content to

merely walk in the footsteps of those

8-bit favourites. As such, those with

the deepest affection for retro games

are the most likely to find it just a

touch too familiar. Even so,Curse of

the Moon is proof that great design

doesn’t really age. For a game that

originated as an extra, it sets a high

bar for Iga and his team to clear.

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

An NES-style platform

adventure with

Castlevaniain its veins.

EXPECT TO PAY

£9

DEVELOPER

Inti Creates

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

Core i5-4440, 8GB

RAM, GTX 645

MULTIPLAYER

None

LINK

http://www.curseof

themoon.com

80

Made with affection and

artistry, this appetiser to

Bloodstained: Ritual of

the Night is a very

pleasant surprise.

VERDICT

Levels have

been built to

accommodate a

range of

playstyles

I

f only all stretch goals were as good as this. Conceived as a bonus

for those who backed Koji ‘Iga’ Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of

the Night on Kickstarter, Curse of the Moon looks and plays like a

classic 8-bit game. While it appears Iga only had a supervisory role,

Curse of the Moon offers more than a passing wink to the series

with which he made his name. If someone told you this was a great lost

NES Castlevania game, you’d have a hard time proving otherwise.

REVAMPED

Castlevania-inspired throwbackBLOODSTAINED: CURSE OF THE MOON

is 8-bit of alright. By Chris Schilling

LINKS TO THE PAST Four more neo-retro PC games

SHOVEL KNIGHT

Yacht Club’s adventure

stretches the definition of

8-bit, but its contemporary

flourishes make this more

than a wide-eyed tribute.

MIGHTY GUNVOLT

The Inti Creates game with

‘Mighty’ in the title you

should buy, this Mega Man

homage is a short but

instantly gratifying treat.

DOWNWELL

Ojiro Fumoto’s striking,

monochromatic debut is a

blisteringly intense and

irresistibly moreish arcade

roguelike. With gunboots.

VVVVVV

Tipping its hat to 8-bit

computer games, Terry

Cavanagh’s gravity-

flipping platformer is a

tough nut to crack.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

REVIEW