Castlevania Spiritual Successor, Bloodstained Announced by Igarashi

Metroidvania returns in full force as former Konami producer Koji "Iga" Igarashi unveiled Castlevania's spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Koji Igarashi revealed his next project, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, his own take on the Castlevania series, Kotaku reports. Similar to how Mighty No. 9 was taken to Kickstarter by Keiji Inafune to crowdfund his reimagined Mega Man, Iga is doing the same for Bloodstained. The game's Kickstarter shows Iga intends for it to launch on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox, but it's going to need some crowdfunding before that happens. Castlevania series composer Michiru Yamane is going to be crafting the game's score, with Iga at the helm in terms of Bloodstained production and direction. It's great to see that Iga's signature Metroidvania style of gameplay is finally making a return since he left Konami.

Here's what Iga had to say about his inspirations for the game:

This is designed to be a game for the fans, who have been quite clear over the years that they really like the Igavania style of games that I design. So key elements like being able to gain special powers from enemies, lots of drops from enemies, and a new and robust weapon crafting system will be the core gameplay. Additionally you’ll be able to upgrade the sub-parameters of some abilities, making it much more customizable than my previous games.

In terms of why Bloodstained is hitting Kickstarter, Iga said the following:

As I mentioned earlier, we have investment support covering most of the costs. We understand there could be some concern among fans about a crowd-funded game not being released. But in this case, the Kickstarter campaign is necessary to prove there is actual interest in another Igavania game. And if the initial goal is cleared, then stretch goals will allow us to add to the game.

Meet Miriam, Bloodstained's protagonist. She's host to the Alchemists' curse, which crystallizes part of her body but makes her super powerful so she can fight all of the creatures of the night. She must fight her way through a demon-infested castle which was summoned by by the evil Gebel.

Speaking of whom, meet Gebel, our new "Dracula." Gebel was the original host for the same crystal curse Miriam has. Unfortunately, he let the curse consume him to the point where he isn't human anymore and summoned a castle from hell to provide a home for Miriam and him, intent on using it as a base for global domination (of course). Obviously, Miriam's sense of purpose and justice will inspire her to stop Gebel in his plot leading to the downfall of man.

According to the game's Kickstarter, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night intends to launch by March 2017. As of the publication of this article, Bloodstained is sitting at over $220,000 in Kickstarter pledges since it launched a couple hours ago towards its campaign goal of $500,000. In terms of Stretch Goals, at $700,000 a second playable character will be added to the game. $800,000 will feature a Nightmare difficulty mode. Lastly, $850,000 will unlock "Voice Acting: David Hayter." That's right: Solid Snake in a Castlevania-esque game.

It's safe to say this new Iga game is going to be funded by the end of the day, since it spawned almost half of its main goal in just the first couple hours of its Kickstarter campaign.