Upgrade Your Shards
Mashing the attack button is fun and all, but making use of the Shard skills is where the real damage potential lies in Bloodstained Ritual of the Night.
In the first level, you’re given a quick tutorial about how Shards work, and you’ll be able to equip different ones from the character menu. Once you clear the first level and Johannes sets up shop in the village, you’ll be able to start upgrading Shards as well.
In the beginning, most Shards can be upgraded very easily, as you only need multiple of the same Shard types to enhance them. Later on, it gets a bit tougher, as you’ll need to farm materials like Steel and other monster drops. However, the early Shard boosts can give you a serious increase in power to help you coast through the early areas of the game very easily.
The Cerulean Splash Shard you get from the first stage of the game is awesome when upgraded, and you’ll also want to keep an eye out for the Heretical Grinder Shard when you get to the castle.
Do the Early Side Quests
When you first arrive at the castle in Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, it can be tempting to just keep exploring as you’re opening up new areas. However, I recommend backtracking to the village to talk to some of the NPCs there.
NPCs will show up at the village throughout the course of the story to give you more lore tidbits, and some will even have side quests for you to complete. These are mostly just boring fetch quests that require you to kill a number of a certain enemy type, or deliver a specific type of equipment.
However, the rewards are well worth the effort, and most of the early quests are pretty easy to complete as well.
Explore as Much as You Can
Speaking of exploring, try to uncover as much of the map as possible when you’re exploring. You’re bound to run into obstacles or hard-to-reach platforms that you can’t get to quite yet, so make a mental note of these and be sure to backtrack once you’ve got a few extra skills under your belt.
In addition to that, make a point to study your map as you’re exploring. If the map shows that you’re facing a wall with nothing beyond, maybe try hitting the wall to see if it breaks; you might find a secret room with cool items and upgrades.
Exploring the map also allows you to unlock shortcuts, save rooms, and fast travel points, all of which will make your exploration go much smoother as the map grows larger.
Also, if you find blue chests, go back to them periodically. Unlike regular chests, these will get restocked.
Read All the Books
If you feel like the combat in Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is a little basic, you’ll be glad to know that each weapon type comes with special techniques. However, you’ll need to discover these techniques first in order to actually unlock them.
This is done by examining bookcases you find in the world. Most bookcases will give you the button inputs for techniques that can be performed by specific weapons, though it’s worth noting that these will cost MP to use.
Some katanas allow you to parry attacks, some allow you to perform critical strikes, while certain types of boots allow you to cover a greater distance in a jump.
If the Music Stops, Turn Back
The most important thing to know about Bloodstained Ritual of the Night is that there are no checkpoints. If you die, the game starts you off from the last time you saved, so it’s extremely important to save your game often.
You also don’t want to get caught in a situation where you’ve unknowingly wandered into a boss room with no healing items and your last save being around 30 minutes ago.
Thankfully, we have a pro tip to help you avoid such situations: if you enter a new area and the music cuts out, chances are high that you’re about to trigger a boss fight, so turn around immediately; there should be a save room or at least a fast travel point nearby.
Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more tips and information on Bloodstained Ritual of the Night.
Here are a few other guides to get you started:
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