Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Creator Still Interested in Castlevania

In a recent interview with Gematsu regarding the upcoming Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, producer and creator Koji Igarashi confirmed that he would return to the Castlevania series if Konami would allow him to do so. 

The quotes in question come near the end of the interview, where Igarashi admits that he loves “making action games.” He said that there are two episodes of the Castlevania franchise he would like to complete if given the chance, particularly the story following 2003’s Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, which released for the Game Boy Advance. 

Specifically, Igarashi said: 

There are two episodes that we’ve implied but never finished. So I’d like to finish those. In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, we implied that Dracula was destroyed in 1999, but no one has yet to tell that story.

In response to the interviewer asking, “So if Konami gave you the offer, would you make it?”, Igarashi replied, “Yes.” 

Before Igarashi left Konami in 2014, he worked on a plethora of popular Castlevania titles. His most prominent, however, was his first: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Igarashi worked as a scenario writer and programmer on the game before being promoted to assistant director of the game during its production. 

He would go on to work on 13 more Castlevania titles and receive special thanks in a number of others. He did not work on early titles in the franchise, which are featured in the recent Konami anniversary collection. 

Igarashi also talked to Gematsu about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, his upcoming gothic-horror action game reminiscent of the Castlevania series. However, Igarashi cautioned that while Castlevania might have in some ways influenced Bloodstained, the game is a distinct product. 

There are no elements of Castlevania in the story. In the gameplay, however, there are definitely elements that will remind you of Castlevania. When we launched the Kickstarter campaign, we discussed what our audience would want from an Igarashi title, and I thought they would probably want a ‘gothic horror’ experience.

At least not something that’s sci-fi or something set in the future. Therefore, the elements will be similar to an extent, but we took care to distinguish this game from Castlevania.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is set to release on June 25 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The entire Gematsu interview can be seen here.