After a six-year wait, Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement is upon us, though it may be slightly off the beaten path for long-time fans. It’s been a while since the release of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but now players have received a prequel that, while different visually, still does some things the same. The game comes with some pretty cool bells and whistles—spectacular heroes, spectacular fighting and crazy rides—but there’s something about its look that feels out of place. We are curious about the game’s design choices after seeing modern games.
Visuals That Feel Like a Throwback
Players will notice something strange about The Scarlet Engagement as one of the first things they notice. The Bloodstained franchise, when it was time to take its gothic charm to the 3D realm, experimented with 2D and 3D blending and matching for the very first time. The previous rendition added a 2D spin on treasure chests and damage numbers to the three-dimensional world, which created an awkward yet unique sight. The new game pushes this even further with full 3D models and a cel-shaded art style, but it still leaves room for dissonance, especially in the cutscenes.
At points, mostly in the character cutscenes, it may feel like taking a step back into the early 2010s. The models are soft and somewhat lovely but lack the fine detail we see in games today. They look like something out of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Even though it’s not ugly, the moments don’t fit with the rest of the game’s more cel-shaded graphics.
Aesthetic Coherence and Style
It is a little strange how they chose to not alter the Bloodstained style like most modern games. You could argue that a game like Blasphemous or Hollow Knight has a visual identity more in line with Castlevania than Netflix’s own Castlevania-inspired experiments. More than a remake, The Scarlet Engagement picks up the visual style established in Ritual of the Night, making for a strange fusion of old, familiar classics and new elements.
Innovative Gameplay with Dual Protagonists
The Scarlet Engagement might not look all that nice to some people but it has an interesting gameplay element of two protagonists. Gamers control both Leonard and Alexander, swapping between the two at the drop of a dime. With various ways to attack, you can create strategies and command the attacks of the two protagonists to play better. Mastering these combos adds an interesting new layer of complexity, and they can actually make your experience even better than the visuals suggest.
While the community has been waiting for a long time for this game, opinions are divided on the visuals. It is sure that the gameplay mechanics will play a large role in the success of the game. With a 2026 release date looming, gamers can already anticipate the elaborate combat system and how all this will come together.