Classic II: Dominique's Curse

Classic II: Dominique's Curse is an Extra Mode featured in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. This mode pays homage to classic gameplay styles that inspired the Bloodstained series. It was released as separate paid DLC, as part of the June 11, 2024 update.^[2]

Unlike the original Classic Mode, which is an adaptation of the main adventure, Dominique's Curse is a new follow-up story, set after the events of Ritual of the Night's true ending.

Gameplay[]

Like the original Classic Mode, Classic II: Dominique's Curse uses the environments and other assets from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to build a new game that pays homage to the classic 8-bit titles that inspired the Bloodstained series - namely, the Castlevania series. While Classic Mode mainly took inspiration from the original Castlevania and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Dominique's Curse is mainly based on Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Unlike Classic Mode, which follows a more linear gameplay style, in Dominique's Curse, the player plays the role of Dominique Baldwin during her staying in Limbo. During her adventure, Dominique will have to talk to many people to gather clues and purchase items from them, as well as traverse the many locations and towns that comprise the land of Limbo.

Like in Simon's Quest, Dominique's Curse also implements a day and night cycle, a trading system with its own currency, inventory management, and many other similar aspects. Like Classic Mode, it also features a limited number of lives, although instead of points their number can be increased by finding Effigies; should all of them be consumed, a Game Over screen will appear, although it is possible to restart at the beginning of the current area by sacrificing half of the currently owned Coins.

Endings[]

There are three possible endings that Dominique can achieve:

In the Bad Ending, she finds herself back in Limbo, and ends up becoming the Queen of Demons; earned by not collecting all the Logaeth Pages and not defeating all of the Hunters.
In the Bitter Ending, she ultimately escapes from Limbo, but is unable to lift her Crystal Curse, and ends up dying upon returning to the mortal plane of existence; earned by either collecting all the Logaeth Pages OR defeating all of the Hunters, but not both.
In the True Ending, earned by collecting all the Logaeth Pages AND defeating all of the Hunters, she escapes Limbo while having been seemingly cured of her Crystal Curse. However, she is left amnesiac as a result, and ultimately is discovered by Miriam.