I almost didn't recognize Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement as a Bloodstained game, partly because it's been six whole years since the last one and partly because the aesthetic is all over the place. The past six years have also been full of Castlevania-likes that feature a lot of the same gothic imagery and it feels like every five minutes a new soulslike with evil knights and dragons shows up. But when the title finally appeared, it was clear that the OG, Koji Igarashi, was back with a new game.
I'm not entirely convinced on the look yet, however. The original Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night mixed visual styles too: there are 2D treasure chests plopped into 3D hallways as if they've been painted onto the scene. Damage numbers and items are the same way, but all the monsters and NPCs are rendered in full 3D. It's a weird style that doesn't really commit to a fully retro look or a fully modern look and instead sits uncomfortably somewhere in between.
The new game is going for a similar style, but leans even harder into having fully 3D models, except now they all have cel-shading—even the treasure chests. It looks slightly more cohesive until the moment a cutscene plays and it feels like you've been transported to 2010. Outside of the 2.5D levels, the character models are weirdly soft and lack details in a way that would fit right in with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It's not even ugly, it's just jarring compared to the rest of the game.
It certainly sticks out though, which I guess is expected for a game that is a prequel to the Bloodstained we got in 2019. I kind of admire not going for a full-on reboot and sticking to the style that was already established. I just think games like Blasphemous and even Hollow Knight feel more coherent and tied to the Castlevania lineage.
Maybe none of that will matter while you're busy playing with The Scarlet Engagement's dual protagonists. You won't pick one of the two characters at the beginning of the game or anything; you play as both of them at the same time. According to the PlayStation Blog, you will have direct control over either Leonard or Alexander and the other one will hop in to assist. The idea of having even more options for combat by figuring out how to combo attacks with both of them admittedly sounds pretty fun. If it is, I'll forgive it for whatever is going on with those cutscenes.
The Steam page is already up, but we won't be able to see how it all comes together until 2026.
