Recent reviews by Bread Sandwich

Great; could be better.
I played the Curse of the Moon prior to playing this. Spoilers maybe, but this game has pretty much the same bosses as CoTM, though the boss mechanics and fights are different. I think I'd be more satisfied with this game if I could have a blind playthrough without knowing the bosses beforehand (and play CoTM after), but that's just a thought, not really a complaint against this game.

How could this game be better?
I felt the final ice area was lacking. They seemed to have squeezed two important / final bosses there, and the enemies there aren't really unique, the rooms not that hard. Compare this to even the game's own other areas; there seems to be something missing, such as a vast room with detailed background full enemies coming at you in difficult patterns.
It does seem like they ran out of time, since one boss from CoTM, the turtle dude Focalor, wasn't put in Ritual of the Night, while the other ones were. To improve, the devs could add that turtle boss somewhere, and maybe add some more rooms and different enemies to the final area. It could have at least one hard, expansive room with a more detailed backdrop. Making another area for either the final or penultimate boss could be even better.

Otherwise, the good outweigh the bad for this game.
Bosses are fun. You are given the choice to grind and cheese through the hardest bosses if you can 't beat them (like I did with IGA, a post game boss), or to make the game harder and more fun if you choose to limit usage of OP skills.
You can have themed playthroughs like using a specific weapon only, Bunnyfication only or shovel armor mode only, etc.
I think the game is challenging and rewarding for those who haven't played games like these (e.g. previous handheld Castlevanias, SoTN, etc). It can provide a challenge for those who have in harder difficulties, especially with weapon and techniques only.
I think they will work on expanding the game more after the Nintendo Switch port improvements (10/19 right now, hasn't been released yet.) They are working steadily and I think in a few more years and after a few more DLCs or an expansion this game could become one of the best, "most perfect" Igavanias.
I think it really will take a few more years though :sad_creep:

Pretty decent precision platforming game. It has similar jumping and wall hugging mechanics to "They Bleed Pixels", another game I like. This game differs, however, in that the enemies are easier to beat or ignore here, so it's more focused on the precision platforming part.
Some things noted after playing:
- the beginning parts of the game are standard platforming. the end stages are hard, focusing more on a fast hook mechanic where you reach out with your large disembodied hand and quickly pull yourself horizontally toward another large disembodied hand. Stages will have multiple floating "paths" of these, which requires good timing. But it feels pretty smooth and awesome when you get the hang of the mechanics.
- however, there are several frustrating mechanics that can be improved.
first, you have to grab the upper or "fingers" portion of the floating hand to have a smooth ride. grabbing the "wrist" or lower part of the hand will interrupt the jump that you perform after. this mechanic may or may not be intended, but makes these hand chains feel clunky and harder than it should be; it would be preferred if the lower portion also allowed a jump immediately afterwards.
second, not sure if it is from my aging xbox 360 controller or due to a bug but sometimes you lose the second jump in your double jump, falling to your death.
Despite these, it's overall satisfying to clear and the MC is cool. wish it had a gallery section like the later games by this dev :^)

also a tip if you wanna try to get most of the collectables on first playthrough:
one collectable in a later stage requires the weapon with the dash special, so get it early. Also it will probably require a lot of "mana" which allows you to use multiple dashes. I didn't get it but realize that dashes were possible until after that stage. the dash from that weapon is also required, I think, to beat the game (there are some loong jumps in later stages.)

It's a mix of precision platforming (especially w/ timing) and puzzles. Stages can be fun and aren't overly complicated, though there are a couple of head scratchers. The game has decent environmental pixel backgrounds which is surprising.
Anime pics seemed to be just thrown in, wished there were captions for them :^)

The only negative is I wouldn't pay attention to the story.

dirty. shrooms.

- provocative imagery. i like how the background and enemies combine to form the theme for the level/ area. also just has nice to look at character/ unit pixel design in general. stimulates the imagination.
- interesting take on the player choosing the difficulty level, paths and other stuff.
- boss mechanics are fun.
- ok char ability variation. love Miriam's axe.
- short, as expected. low enemy / room variation. replayable but imo with repetitive areas, even with its short duration. would love to see increased enemy / room / environment variation, number of abilities / acts. with these things, i can imagine it rivalling the DS/ GBA castlevania games.

- neat paper folding animations
- puzzle game with color filling puzzles that are actually fun to solve in aiming for least amount of moves
- simplistic, just the right amount of challenging, solvable

This is a game that dares to break the norm with conversations about emotional states that affect a lot of the population. These converstions between characters delve into social problems, such as a history of abuse and bullying, and how they might manifest as mental ailments such as anxiety/ second guessing, depression/ lack of motivation and eventually physical self harm.
What I liked the most was how real the characters seemed to be. These characters remind me of aquaintances from the past who might currently struggle with the problems depicted. For example, I knew people who are naturally cheerful like Sayori; anyone who worked with them would comment on their positivity and their ways of encouraging others. However, it would not surprise me if their personal and/or family lives were a lot more negative, and they were trying to make up for it.
I also thought the conversations between the characters and MC are close to how intimate relationships develop. For example, the MC became comfortable with other characters when they shared and developed their interests in activities such as poetry, reading and baking. I enjoyed how naturally the characters became comfortable. The most similar relationship dynamic I can think of is perhaps found in an anime, Suka Suka. Since the author seems to have writing I enjoy, I would love a longer version of a story with characters like these - to get a clearer history of their past, and to see what happens between the characters in the future.
Finally, I thought it was cool that the author composed his own music. It's reminscent of music from games including Cavestory (i.e. "Dreams of Love and Literature") and Maplestory (i.e. the theme song, "Doki Doki Literature Club!"). I liked how he had previous versions of the songs made from in 2010 for one of them. It seems to show the author was already inspired from way back to make art.

I'm starting to believe this game is a simplified simulation of real life. The two are similar in that RNG just seems to dictate everything, yet there are still controllable, meta factors that allow you to win or lose the game.
In other words,
character base stats = nature
choosable actions by the player = nurture
Every turn is a new day, and rolling a 1 is the character deciding to stay in bed playing 100% Orange Juice.

This game is a metroidvania, in the spirit of the handheld console Castlevania games. Its major differences lie in the art style of the main characters, which more closely resemble popular Japanese doujinshi characters, and the movement mechanics of the character.
I liked the style of the MC, Bunny, the aesthetics of the areas, and the cat boss, which led me to buy this game.
The primary difference between the handheld Castlevanias' and this game's movement mechanics seems to be that this game is noticeably more rigid in where the character model is allowed to stand or land. Moving to the very edge of a platform in this game will cause the character to snap back away from the edge of the platform tile. The jumping physics also more resemble Cave Story's than Castlevania's, since more emphasis is placed on acceleration. Castlevania games allow more crisp turning/jumping commands and have less acceleration in their normal jumping physics, which is probably because characters don't jump as high in Castlevania games.
Platforming in Bunny's storyline with the 360 controller was difficult because dashing is activated with two clicks left or right, but when using the controller's analog stick, I would cause Bunny to dash inadvertently, or not dash at all, making her fall to her spikey death many times (and causing me much frustration). Other mechanics, like short wall hops and time-reversal courses, added to the difficulty.
The bosses are much more do-able than the platforming, provided one has the right weapons, which are found by breaking lamps. Bunny's interactions with bosses were amusing, though she's quite the crass lass for indiscriminately defeating them (among other reasons, including her speech mannerisms). In the end, however, she redeems herself (though you have to beat Chelsea's story for that, which I haven't).
I've read that Chelsea's playstyle is very different (and probably mitigates the hard platforming parts seen in Bunny's mode), so I'm gonna get started on that right away.

Update: Chelsea's playstyle is indeed very different. I had an faster time completing her mode; her ladder and floaty jumps made areas more accessible, and normal bosses are not as difficult as Chelsea, though this could just be due to my experience gained playing Bunny's mode. Chelsea's final boss fights are harder than Bunny's, because with Bunny's fights, you can heal up to full HP in around the middle of the series. With Chelsea, not only is there no healing in the middle, but there a section of the boss fight series where Bunny jumps around, seemingly randomly, flinging swords that 1-hit KO; any death in the series will result in losing at least 1/2 of all of her "lives".

With that said, this game was pretty satisfying to beat, and I would rank it among my favorite metroidvanias/2d platformers.

-It's not too hard, completely 100%able, but later few levels are much harder than most of earlier
-bosses follow patterns that are easy to learn
-level 2 Steam trading card badge is funny