Okay so, when this got it’s first E3 announcement I expressed concern that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was:

Seems to be drifting away from being a gender-flipped love letter to the Castlevania and looking more and more like a cheap game hacked together with generic store-bought assets and all the creative focus on sexy outfits and sexy scenarios for the female characters.

Prior to that @gepwin bingo’d the concept art.

 Apparently we were not alone in concerns about the appearance of this game, because Igarashi was so upset by the feedback on social media that he promised to prove people wrong:

So um… clearly this didn’t include fixing anything about the costume or general design.  One interesting factor is the game now has items that change Miriam’s appearance, which implies that thing on her head is a headband, not horns…

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Unfortunately the one item that doesn’t seem to change, is that hideous, unflattering dress which is sadly, far from the worst outfit on a female character in the game.

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That um… those aren’t real clothes… nobody wear that.  Shame that during the entire development process they couldn’t consult with someone who actually wears dresses and other feminine items – particularly if this is going to be the first boss in the game…

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– wincenworks

I was wondering if you have been following the Bloodstained Ritual of the Night game from kickstarter. The main character’s armor is ridiculous, she is in a weird looking short dress and boots but seems to be trying to protect one breast with a sort of over the shoulder front cape. To make matters worse, the new character designs have been getting closer to SoulCalibur’s Ivy proportions. I am still looking forward to the game but I hope the armor doesn’t continue to decline.

gepwin:

feministgamingmatters:

I hadn’t been following it, but I see what you mean.

(Source)

What I find somewhat confusing about this is that parts of the design aren’t terrible, like the boots and one of her gloves actually look armoured, I like her sword aesthetic, and they don’t seem to be emphasising cleavage (though in finding this I found many fanartists who do) but then the legs, and the back? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weird armour where the back was completely exposed before.

It’s a shame to hear that they haven’t been doing well with the proportions of the newer characters. Hopefully they’ll be able to do better as the development goes on.

Now that you pointed out some of the better aspects I realized they are going for a more renaissance rapier armor style, but they still seem to be missing half the armor, and the rapier.

I didn’t know if the newer test shots have been around on the internet but the kickstarter updates seem like the design has changed a bit since the concept art (particularly in the chest department)

I know these are early shots, being used for shader tests but I personally feel they are starting to get into the realm of off-putting proportions.

Just for fun I did a @bikiniarmorbattledamage female armor bingo, just missing two squares.

We talked about Bloodstained back in May, and how Miriam looked more like she was going to a concert than on a gothic horror adventure… and it seems they’re moving less with the punk metal look and more at the “generic sexy female protagonist” look.

Well, generic sexy design inspired by goth and (presumably) Impa from Hyrule Warriors:

At least Impa got half-breastplate and some support underneath, and looked genuinely intimidating.

– wincenworks

gepwin:

I was wondering if you have been following the Bloodstained Ritual of the Night game from kickstarter. The main character’s armor is ridiculous, she is in a weird looking short dress and boots but seems to be trying to protect one breast with a sort of over the shoulder front cape. To make matters worse, the new character designs have been getting closer to SoulCalibur’s Ivy proportions. I am still looking forward to the game but I hope the armor doesn’t continue to decline.

gepwin:

feministgamingmatters:

I hadn’t been following it, but I see what you mean.

(Source)

What I find somewhat confusing about this is that parts of the design aren’t terrible, like the boots and one of her gloves actually look armoured, I like her sword aesthetic, and they don’t seem to be emphasising cleavage (though in finding this I found many fanartists who do) but then the legs, and the back? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weird armour where the back was completely exposed before.

It’s a shame to hear that they haven’t been doing well with the proportions of the newer characters. Hopefully they’ll be able to do better as the development goes on.

Now that you pointed out some of the better aspects I realized they are going for a more renaissance rapier armor style, but they still seem to be missing half the armor, and the rapier.

I didn’t know if the newer test shots have been around on the internet but the kickstarter updates seem like the design has changed a bit since the concept art (particularly in the chest department)

I know these are early shots, being used for shader tests but I personally feel they are starting to get into the realm of off-putting proportions.

Just for fun I did a @bikiniarmorbattledamage female armor bingo, just missing two squares.

We talked about Bloodstained back in May, and how Miriam looked more like she was going to a concert than on a gothic horror adventure… and it seems they’re moving less with the punk metal look and more at the “generic sexy female protagonist” look.

Well, generic sexy design inspired by goth and (presumably) Impa from Hyrule Warriors:

At least Impa got half-breastplate and some support underneath, and looked genuinely intimidating.

– wincenworks