Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was only recently released and has earned critical acclaim. Funded on Kickstarter as an alternative to Konami's dormant Castlevania series and even directed by Koji Igarashi, who produced many of the Castlevania games, it's safe to say that it lived up to many fans' expectations. Unfortunately, like many Kickstarter titles, it's not without its drama, as those who own the Switch version (which just came out yesterday and was made in lieu of the intended Wii U port being canceled) have expressed their dissatisfaction with it due to a myriad of problems.

While the Switch version naturally has a lower framerate and resolution compared to the versions on other consoles, fans' complaints go far beyond that, as there have been reports of framerates becoming inconsistent, blurry textures, and reduced graphical effects. It's not just visual issues either; some have said that they've experienced freezing, input latency, and frequent crashes. Some have even been forced to re-download the entire game.

One Reddit user, Trav_Hogan, posted a PSA of sorts that advised anyone who had yet to pick up the game to not buy the Switch version, stating that the framerate would sometimes be barely above 15fps, crashes would occur every two hours, and that these issues and more occur while playing in handheld mode as well. All in all, it's a pretty damning indictment of the port, even in despite of the 1.01 patch.

Developer ArtPlay have been listening, however, and took to the official Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Twitter account to assure players that it is working on fixing these issues, writing that its goal is for "everyone, regardless of platform, to be able to enjoy the game and have it run smoothly." ArtPlay added that it intends to update Bloodstained bit by bit instead of making fans wait longer for a big patch.

In the meantime, players of the other versions can look forward to all the paid and free DLC that's in the pipeline, which includes a boss fight with Igarashi himself and more playable characters, among them being indie darling Shovel Knight. This DLC will become available for the Switch version as well.

In other Kickstarter-related news, fans of the similarly crowdfunded Shenmue 3 are also angry at the moment due to the decision to make the title an Epic Games Store exclusive. It will release on Steam at a later date, but those who backed the game and were promised Steam versions of the title will have to wait at least a year after the game's initial release. This has prompted quite a backlash and fans demanding refunds and being subsequently denied hasn't helped the game's image.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available right now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Source: IGN, Reddit