Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a video game lead by former Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi, with developmental assistance from Inti Creates. The game is a spiritual successor to the Castlevania series, and was released in 2019 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Miriam, an orphan, is afflicted by an alchemist's curse, which is slowly turning her skin into crystal. To stop the curse, Miriam must explore a demon-filled castle and locate its summoner, Gebel, who has suffered from the same curse for a long time. Gebel seeks revenge on the alchemists that cursed him, even if the demons he summons will destroy England. This sounds incomprehensible to Miriam, that knew Gerbel as a child, but fell into hibernation for a decade.
The game was developed and promoted as a spiritual sucessor of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and it shows: it's a two-dimensional action RPG where the player explores a labyrinth-like series of rooms inhabited by supernatural creatures, being able to equip weapons, or use magic through equipment called shards that they acquire from enemies, with armor and accessories also able to be changed.
Directed by Shutaro Iida. Published by 505 Games and Netease.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Miriam is clearly one for Alucard in Symphony of the Night, being awake from a long slumber and forced to fight someone who she loves but that will plunge the world into an horrible fate if he isn't stopped.
- Bottomless Magazines: Miriam's gun weapons have limitless normal ammunition, but the normal ammunition does ridiculously low damage.
- Cute Monster Girl: In contrast to its monstrous male counterparts, many of the female demons are attractive.
- Double Jump: You only unlock this after defeating Andrealphus.
- Engineered Heroics: The Alchemist' Guild caused a demon invasion to try to keep themselves relevant under the advance of science. However, this backfired as the demons overwhelmed them.
- Hero Antagonist: Zangetsu tries to kill Miriam at first sight only because she's a shardbinder, and therefore he believes she is pretty likely to be a traitor. Dominique manages to stop his fight between Miriam and Zangetsu before things get lethal.
- Impossibly Low Neckline: Miriam, not only because it's so low but because her dress doesn't go up in the back.
- Mini-Dress of Power: Miriam wears one, and she is pretty dangerous, specially towards demons.
- Ms. Fanservice: As you can notice for a few other tropes here, Miriam is pretty well-shaped, and the game shows it.
- Nipple-and-Dimed: Averted with the boss Vepar. Her nipples' shape is clearly visible, though she is made of semi-transparent water.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Though the audience will see very little of it thanks to Miriam almost always facing the screen, her dress is exposes completely her upper back.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Zangetsu with his chest partially exposed, not wearing the sleeves of his jacket.