Though it launched to strong critical acclaim, ArtPlay’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has seen backlash for the poor performance of its Switch version. Creator Koji Igarashi noted that the team, along with WayForward Technologies, was working hard on improvements and it seems we have a release window for the same. Expect not one but two updates for the Nintendo Switch version by November end.
In a community forum post, 505 Games community manager Jason Ryan apologized for the long development cycle. He also explained that, “Most of the changes are on a room-by-room, enemy-by-enemy basis so there are a significant number of assets being reworked and it’s taking more time than initially expected.”
Ryan outlined the four areas which improvements have been tailored for, namely Visual Fidelity, Loading Times, Particle Effects and Input Lag. You can check out the different improvements for each below:
- Visual Fidelity – The way that backgrounds and environments are rendered are being significantly updated. This will result in noticeably sharper environments in most areas throughout the game.
- Loading Times – Load times between scenes are being greatly improved, but are still not where we would like them to be, so work remains.
- Particle Effects – We have already replaced hundreds of particle effects with new assets and more yet remain. The new ones look the same to the user, but are much less impactful on the performance of the game. This has been one of the main culprits for framerate drops during fights.
- Input Lag – Input lag times have been significantly reduced, once work on this is completed the game should feel much more reactive when playing.
While the first update is focused on implementing most of the improvements, the second will focus specifically on “troublesome” areas and enemies. A specific date and time frame for their release will arrive as November draws near. Interestingly, updates for the Xbox One and PS4 were also mentioned. Update 1.006 goes live for Xbox One by September end and includes the first balance update for DLC, a fix for HDR, IGA’s Backpack and much more.
The 1.04 update for PS4 doesn’t have a release date but it will have bug fixes and other improvements. Stay tuned for more information on the same in the coming days. In the meantime, check out our review for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night here.
