Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by ArtPlay and DICO, and published by 505 Games. The game is led by former Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi and is considered a spiritual successor to the series. Inti Creates are developing a prequel minigame to be released alongside Bloodstained.
Bloodstained is a spiritual successor to the Castlevania series by Konami, of which Koji Igarashi had been the series producer from 2001 to 2010. In March 2014, Igarashi opted to leave Konami, stating concern for his continued employment and differences in the directions they wanted to take the company. Igarashi later stated “For the longest time, when I was working at Konami, I was protected by my company. They took care of me. Now I’m kind of anxious.” Igarashi also stated that he had received a large number of requests from fans to continue to develop Castlevania games, giving him another reason to leave Konami and aim to start his own studio to develop these fan-requested games, including a Metroidvania-styled game with similar themes to Castlevania.
Story and Gameplay
Bloodstained follows the protagonist Miriam, an orphan who is afflicted by an alchemist’s curse, which is slowly turning her skin into the crystal. To stop the curse, Miriam must explore a dangerous castle and locate its summoner, Gebel, who has suffered from the same curse for a long time.
The game is expected to follow the Metroidvania-style gameplay of the post-Symphony of the Night and Order of Ecclesia games of the Castlevania series; by defeating enemies, Miriam will gain powers enabled by the crystals on her body, as well as items that can be used to craft new weapons and armor. The game will be presented in a 2.5D style, presenting the game in three-dimensional graphics but restricting movement to a 2D system. Igarashi stated the choice for 2.5D was that it follows in the style of his previous Castlevania games.
The game is scheduled to be released in March 2018 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
The Vita version is being developed by Armature Studio.
