Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - a beginner's guide to finding Shards, 8-bit Coins and more
Gothic side-scroller Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is now out in the wild and it’s proving to be as much of a challenge as promised.
You play as Mirium, our young heroine who has awoken to find that demons have plagued the world as a result of Gebel abandoning his humanity in the search for something greater.
Both were subject to horrendous experiments, meaning that they can wield tremendous power due to magi-crystals. Miriam can find these crystals in the form of Shards and learn new powers, as well as find and craft new weapons as you progress.
As this is a Metroidvania-style game, Bloodstained can be frustratingly difficult and items are easily missed if you’re not sure of what you’re doing. We’ve created this handy guide to help you with your struggles, such as mastering the Double Jump, how to swim underwater and where to find 8-bit Coins.
If you're looking for more of a challenge, you can go on the hunt for the secret keys and rooms.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night tips for getting started
Double Jump
If you hold in the jump button, you’ll jump a little higher to let you reach platforms and smash lanterns. Some areas of the map, however, won’t become available until you have unlocked a certain ability.
Double Jump is something you’ll learn after collecting a certain amount of Shards. Shards grant special abilities and you’ll get them from certain enemies throughout Bloodstained.
To get Double Jump, you’ll need to defeat Andrealphus, who can be found in the Live Ex Machine level a bit further on. You’ll need a blunt, piercing weapon to defeat Andrealphus, and using lightning damage would also be useful.
Once you’ve got the Shard and the new Double Jump ability, go back to earlier areas of the map to discover treasure you missed the first time.
How to drain the Blood Fountain
You’ll come across the Blood Fountain early on and you can go under it, but how do you drain it? First, you’ll need to have beaten the boss in the Underground Sorcery Lab to get the Reflector Ray. Go via the train station to find this area.
Next, you’re heading to the Dian Cecht Cathedral, in the centre of the upper section of the map. You’ll find a boss waiting for you who is weak to Light and Slashing damage, so prepare yourself before the fight.
The boss will heal midway through the fight, so be ready for a bit of a grind. Once the boss is defeated, you’ll get the Blood Steal Shard, letting you drain the fountain.
Swim underwater and open chests
It wouldn’t be a Metroidvania game without an underwater level to test your nerves. You’ll get the ability to swim underwater from the Aqua Stream Shard, which can be found on an underwater enemy in the Forbidden Underground Waterway.
Once you have the Blood Steal ability, you can head into the Waterway to look for the demon that resides there. Upon killing it, it will drop the Aqua Stream Shard and you’ll be able to swim from thereon.
There will be many chests you see deeper down you can’t reach, so you’ll need to find the Deep Sink ability to do so. There’s a Deep Sinker shard in The Hidden Desert that will grant you the ability to sink further down to reach these chests and items.
Go past the story boss in The Hidden desert, take the elevator back down and look for a large, white Shard. Activate it whilst underwater and you’ll be able to open chests like you would on dry land.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - where to find crafting items
8-bit Coins
8-bit Coins can be used to craft powerful weapons, but they’re a bit tricky to find. The easiest way to get some is to buy them from the shop but they cost 4000G each. You can also but 16 and 32-bit Coins which make better weapons, though they are considerably more expensive.
To find your first coin, go to the entrance of the castle at Arvantille. Put the drawbridge up and jump down underneath it. Once you’ve entered the area below, go to your left through the tunnel. Keep going until you reach what looks like a dead end. Attack the wall and it will eventually break and you can carry on through to find a chest that holds an 8-bit Coin.
Later on, there’s an area with a building that’s shaking while you’re on the roof. Stay on the roof, which will eventually collapse, and you’ll fall through to a new area. On the right, you’ll find another 8-bit Coin.
Silver Bromide
Silver Bromide can be found in the Livre Ex Machina map, near where you earn the Double Jump skill. Take the door out to the tower to find the twin bosses. Fight them and jump down the hole created to find a golden chest. Inside, you’ll find the Silver Bromide and can continue on your journey.
Bovine Plume
You can use Bovine Plume to upgrade Double Jump and the Reflector Ray. You can upgrade your Shards with the help of Johannes in the village. You can upgrade the Grade and the Rank, depending on how many copies of the Shard you carry and how many times you upgrade it via Johannes.
To get the Bovine Plume, you need to defeat Haagenti in the Oriental Sorcery Lab. You can re-enter this room and kill him as many times as you like, making it an easy farm. Keep killing him until it eventually drops.
Encrypted Orchid
The Encrypted Orchid is an 8-bit Coin Sword that has a cryptic description. Essentially, it means “a light saber with immense power”, so equip it and have some fun chopping down enemies.
Black Pepper
You can buy Black Pepper from Dominique, though it won't be available every time you shop. There's also a random chance it'll drop in chests.
Bloodbringer
This enemy can be found near the beginning of Bloodstained, as well as in the Cathedral and Hall of Termination. It drops a Familiar shard and a weapon of the same name, but you can only equip one of them at a time.
Flame Circlet
The Flame Circlet is a craftable item, though you can also purchase it from Dominique. To craft it, you'll need a Circlet and a Ruby. Rubies can be found in the Forbidden Underground Waterway in blue chests, and the Circlet you can just buy.
If you search the chests and there's no Ruby, leave and come back a few times until it spawns.
Rhava Bural
The Rhava Bural is a weapon that drops from defeating Killer Barbers. it can drop several times and you'll need at least five of them for a villager quest and to craft another weapon, the Rhava Velar. Wearing items that boost your Luck stat makes finding this weapon a bit easier.
Imbued Fang
Again, wearing items that improve your Luck is your best bet to find the Imbued Fang. There's a good chance it'll drop in the Millionaire's Room from the slot machines, especially if you get 7-7-7. You'll also need it to craft the Rhava Velar.
Rhava Velar
To craft this, you'll need Imbued Fang and four Rhava Bural, you'll need to find some Crimsonite and Sharp Razors. You'll also need the recipe, which you can find in the Hall of Termination near Gebel's room. Crimsonite drops from ninja enemies in the Oriental Sorcery Lab and Sharp Razors can be found in the Cathedral.
Once you've got everything, head over to see Johannes to craft it.
8-bit Nightmare retro level
If you head back to the same area where you found Celeste's key, keep going to the left and you'll find a wall you can destroy which leads to a secret room.
Examine the bookcase in the room and you'll be taken to the 8-bit Nightmare level. There's are Shards available that will let you summon 8-bit Zombies and 8-bit Fire Balls.
The boss casts a lot of fire spells and you might need to use a fair number of potions to defeat him.
Once you've defeated the boss, you'll get the 8-bit Nightmare book, and the Tome of Conquest will now be available from O.D. in the Library. Borrow this book from him, but don't return it if you want to get the best ending.