Famed video game producer Koji Igarashi has announced via Kickstarter his new project, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Very much in the vein of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (one of our top 10 games of all time), this new 2.5D action/platformer should definitely be on your radar.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night places you in the shoes of Miriam, an orphan who carries a terrible affliction that is turning her skin to crystal. To do so, you must involve the Alchemist’s Guild, an ancient order who is sure to be hiding more secrets than they are letting on. Despite dropping the Castlevania moniker (Igarashi recently left Konami, seems to be a theme with them…), this looks very much like a spiritual successor to SOTN, and if early concept art is anything to go on, it will be a visual treat as well as a technical one.
Features:
Exploration: Bloodstained's story unfolds as you explore Gebel's hellish castle; a sprawling structure that features a variety of locations. As you explore the massive castle you'll find warp gates that will allow you to travel quickly without having to backtrack too much.
RPG Elements: It's not an Igavania without leveling, and Bloodstained will be no exception. In addition to the classic elements everyone’s come to expect, enemies in Bloodstained will drop a wide variety of items, materials, and magi-crystals necessary to create the items that will get you safely through Gebel’s castle.
Crafting: As you explore, fight enemies, and complete quests you will gain experience and become more powerful, acquiring a variety of weapons along the way. Enemies will also drop materials you can use to craft new weapons and abilities using Miriam's training in alchemy.
Quote:
Miriam
Picked up as an orphan by an Alchemist at a young age, she became a host for the dark Alchemists’ curse. Although the magi-crystals were fused with her body at a young age, for 10 years she lay sleeping while the curse matured to its full form. It was during this period that the demons arrived, meaning that she missed their appearance and awoke with a mild form of amnesia, not quite fully understanding what happened to her.
She is a woman of few words but strong of purpose. Her youth is deceiving, making her seem confrontational and quick to judge, though in reality she is constantly evaluating her next step. The pain she felt as an orphaned child fuels her compassionate desire to protect her loved ones and friends.
Quote:
Gebel (voiced by David Hayter as a $700k stretch goal)
Original host for the magi-crystal curse that summons demons to the planet. Gebel (JEE-bill) was the only one to survive its effects at such a high level. He destroyed the guild that created him, but in doing so realized he was no longer human and had no place on Earth. This in turn, lead him to summon the demon castle from hell to appear on the planet.
It is said that his real purpose in summoning the castle was to give Miriam a place of her own, but as his Magi-crystal disease progressed, he soon forgot his own reasoning. The more he surrounded himself with hell-spawn, the quicker the magi-crystals engulfed his body. He continues to plot the downfall of man, and how to best convince (or use) Miriam to achieve his dark ambition.
Quote:
Johannes
A member of the defunct Alchemist guild and Gebel’s best friend. Johannes (yo-HAH-nis) was the only Alchemist who dissented with the plan to call demons to the earth to cement Alchemy as the prevalent philosophy. His rejection of the other Alchemists’ scheme is what kept him from sharing their fate. He has a vague understanding that Miriam’s awakening and the demon castle’s appearance are no mere coincidence.
Last edited by prudislav on Mon, 11th May 2015 20:42; edited 5 times in total
Wow, finally an Igavania that doesn't recycle sprites from the 90's. I wondered what happened to him after Order of Ecclesia. Not sure I'm going to pledge to this without seeing real gameplay.
Yup, this is thundering through right now.. I have NO doubt this will end up not only funded, but also grossly over-funded, so I hope this doesn't fall prey to the same KS hangups every other successful KS done. Still, a proper Igavania () and it's coming to PC!? Best. Birthday. Ever.
Still interesting how the big names in the Japanese development scene are finding success in Kickstarter by doing what their former employers had no interest in pursuing
$500k in less than 12 hours. That's beyond impressive If this whole campaign was started to show investors/publishers that there's a demand, I think it was highly successful
I wish there was a male protagonist in the vein of Soma. Not really liking this character
I don't like Soma, but I agree about the character...she looks too similar to Shanoa. And I think the art style is all wrong for the gothic horror theme they're going for. They should take more inspiration from Symphony of the Night.
I don't like Soma, but I agree about the character...she looks too similar to Shanoa. And I think the art style is all wrong for the gothic horror theme they're going for. They should take more inspiration from Symphony of the Night.
Yeah I mean that actually. It's not that I loved Soma but he had a different look to him from the other protagonists. Here this girl looks like Shanoa V2.0 and you're bang on about the look nothing suiting the gothic atmosphere they are aiming for...
Well, I funded lots of kickstarters, and I love me some Castlevania... but I wont fund this.
There is nothing of the game besides 3 pieces of concept art, and I don't even like those. The charactars also look uninspired and like your run-of-the-mill anime characters, and yes, too much like Shanoa.
Well, I funded lots of kickstarters, and I love me some Castlevania... but I wont fund this.
There is nothing of the game besides 3 pieces of concept art, and I don't even like those. The charactars also look uninspired and like your run-of-the-mill anime characters, and yes, too much like Shanoa.
Nah. Not giving $28 for a presentation like that.
Thats what I thought as well. Nothing here exudes 'castlevania' to me.
Good to see there are so many fans but $28 is too much for me for an unknown game. After 20+ Kickstarter games and only a third really being what I expected, I'm more cautious these days. And for a Castlevania game, I'd never pay more than €15 anyway and $28 is like €25-26 these days.
Please tell us any interesting episodes related to Miriam’s conception, and the choice to use a female protagonist.
Igarashi: In our early planning documents, the protagonist was male, but since the titles I’ve made have sold well in America, before we started the Kickstarter, we had many discussions about what would fit the needs of the American market, and what the prevailing social climate was like there now. Americans really love tough female characters. It’s also a country where a lot of questions and problems about gender are currently being advanced, and there’s many people who believe “there’s been nothing but male heroes in video games; please make games with both genders.”
I think having a female hero is more motivating to male gamers, and I think women would like to control a female avatar, too. Including both genders as protagonists would have been way too much work for us to handle, so we decided on making the hero a woman. But our staff is a little worried now about whether they should really include all the gross, heinous ideas they came up with when the hero was still supposed to be male. (laughs)
You can see how Igarashi is aware of the double standards when it comes to male and female characters and he touches it in a nice and non-controversial way.
Although I don't understand how having a female character is more motivating. Atleast I've always played them the same way as a male character
"Sorry, we won't show you the game in-game". Then not worth!
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