Koji Igarashi Unveils the Latest Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Update for Halloween

Koji Igarashi, the mind behind some of Castlevania‘s best entries, including Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, has been hard at work on his latest game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The game’s Kickstarter campaign received over ten times its original funding goals, and while it missed its original estimated release date of March 2017, Igarashi has yet to stop developing the game or update its backers. And, since Bloodstained is horror-themed, Halloween is as good a time as any for an update.

Today, Igarashi revealed that the music team at Noisycroak is helping develop some of Bloodstained‘s songs, including the boss battle music from the 2017 E3 demo, the theme for the side character Johannes, and music for a yet-to-be-announced location in the game. And, what is a Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night updated without a video?

The video takes place in ruined courtyard covered in vines and crawling with new enemies, including toads and an archer named Barbatos. The update also reveals that the side-character Zangetsu will be a boss in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and that he comes with a grappling hook and an affinity for ice magic. Also, it was revealed that players will be able to customize the protagonist Miriam’s appearance, as the video demonstrates she can wear different hats. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more customization than gamers usually get in Metroidvania games.

Igarashi finished the update with the promise that he and the Bloodstained team have more surprises in store for gamers and backers. And that the Bloodstained booth at New York Comic Con was so successful that almost 10,000 people played the available demo (I was one of those people). The booth also gave away free Bloodstained prints that Igarashi signed, also for free.

Either I missed the prints or they were already out by the time I made it to the Bloodstained booth, but it’s a beautiful piece of work. Still, Igarashi continues to wow me with his game, and I look forward to its eventual release.