Full Disclosure: I have financially backed Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Kickstarter.

Koji Igarashi, the creator behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, put extra care into making sure the game met his standard of quality. He also made the boss designers in the game prove they could beat their own creations, and that the battles were fair.

Igarashi did this by making his boss designers beat their own boss encounters without taking damage and with just the dagger – severely limiting their attack range and power. The bosses themselves can be tricky, and yet Iga adhered them to this design philosophy.

“I wouldn’t call it a design guideline, but Bloodstained does follow a strict rule that I always make the team [adhere] to,” Igarashi said to Gamasutra. “That is…the developer who creates the boss must beat their own boss without taking a hit and only using a dagger! (We almost didn’t make it…)”

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available now for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.