Koji “IGA” Igarashi, the driving force behind the Castlevania series for many years, turned to Kickstarter for funding his newest installment in the Metroidvania genre. The game is titled Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and, unsurprisingly, its campaign has raked in more than quintuple the requested $500,000 in funding. Still, here’s the reason any Nintendo fans may be hoping it remains on the rise.
A minor refresher, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was realeased in 1997. Almost two decades of experience later, Igarashi is no longer a creative lead at Konami, though his departure from the corporation this past year was a hopeful one. Now free to channel his talents as he sees fit, he has pursued a fresh spin on the genre he is known for. Bloodstained is the result.
^ Concept art of Bloodstained showcasing it’s lead character, Miriam.
Being developed by Inti Creates – a co-developer of Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9, which also had a massively succesful campaign on Kickstarter – Igarashi’s project is highly promising, to say the least. Unfortunately, as it stands, it will only be coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. That is, unless the project hits $3 million in funding.
Armature Studio, founded by “a team of key developers from the Metroid Prime franchise,” have gladly taken on devoloping a Wii U version of Bloodstained if said stretch goal is met. Worry not though, for this goal is sitting just over $150,000 of being a reality and with 15 days left to go.
It’s all up to the backers, so… *ahem* ALL BACKERS ASSEMBLE! Whether you’re a fan of Nintendo, Metroidvania-style games, or just IGA himself, the power is yours. Thanks for reading! And a thank you from Igarashi-sama ~
