During the New Game Plus Expo, famed Castlevania developer Koji Igarashi, and Inti Creates showcased the world premiere trailer for Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, a sequel to the popular Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night spin-off. While no official release date has been announced, the trailer for the newest Bloodstained entry concluded by stating the title would be coming soon to Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
The original Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon was an 8-bit inspired retro-platformer that served as a stretch goal and prequel for the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Kickstarter. That campaign notably holds the distinction of being the most-funded video game Kickstarter to date. Curse of the Moon was developed over a period of only six months, and enjoys excellent reviews on Metacritic and Steam. While Ritual of the Night was intended to pay homage to "Metroidvania" titles molded in the image of Nintendo's Metroid series, and Igarashi's Castlevania games, Curse of the Moon hearkened back to older titles in the franchise, such as Simon's Curse.
The sword-wielding main character of Curse of the Moon, Zangetsu, was recently added as a playable character in Ritual of the Night, and returns as the follow-up's leading man. He is joined by three other eccentric characters, including Dominique, a spear-wielding exorcist, and Robert, a balding sharpshooter. However, it seems likely that Hachi, a corgi who dons a robotic suit to fight demons, will be the one to steal the show. Little else has been revealed about the title, but it seems like a safe bet for fans of classic platforming action.
Koji Igarashi is undoubtedly the Castlevania franchise's greatest auteur, and his departure from Konami was reportedly rooted in frustrations about how the company was handling the franchise, similar to how Keiji Inafune went independent to create the Mighty No. 9 after Capcom allowed Mega Man to lie fallow. The Bloodstained Kickstarter marked Igarashi's first foray into independent game development, and the project likely enjoyed it's meteoric success, based on the strength of his name alone.
Both entries in the Bloodstained series has been received with critical acclaim from critics and players, though the Kickstarter game's development suffered several setbacks. The crowdfunding campaign initially launched in 2015, and while the game was originally slated for a 2017 release window, it ultimately launched in 2019. Furthermore, versions of the game were planned for both the PlayStation Vita, and the Wii-U were both scrapped. More recently, there have been disgruntled rumblings from Nintendo Switch players who were unhappy with their port.
Given the "coming soon" tagline attached to the reveal trailer, and the original Curse of the Moon's speedy development, the sequel will likely arrive soon—possibly before the year's end. Even if the wait ends up proving longer, eager fans looking for something to similar have a wealth of wonderful games like Bloodstained to choose from in the meantime.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is coming soon for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.