After suffering from delays and being cancelled on multiple systems, the long-awaited Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has finally released for PC and consoles, and will be launching on Nintendo Switch next week. As a promise by reaching its funding stretch goals, the Castlevania-inspired side-scroller is set to receive numerous updates, both at launch and at a later unspecified date, for free.

While six of its 13 free DLC updates are available at launch, one of the remaining seven pieces of content coming to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will see Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight crossover as a playable character. Today's launch trailer for the game was capped off with the reveal of an adapted version of the character, showing off the typical moves and attacks the 2014 2D-platformer is best known for.

With the slew of free content being handed to players, it's evident the game's project lead, Koji Igarashi, wants to repay both patient backers and those who buy the game outright in the best way possible. Since the Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained went live in 2015, the game has gone through multiple delays and redesigns, and even had its PlayStation Vita and Wii U versions canceled during development.

There are also plans for paid content in the form of the Iga Back Pack DLC, which will cost $9.99 and include a new boss fight and weapon for players. The Iga DLC was originally intended to be a exclusive reward for the 64,000 people who helped crowdfund the game, however it was later decided the paid content would be made available to the public.

As for what players can get now, launch day DLC for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night includes a new game plus mode, nightmare difficulty, speed run mode, an 8-bit level, Boss Rush Mode, and the Pure Miriam Set. Other DLC plans include multiplayer (both online and local), a Roguelike dungeon, Chaos Mode, Classic Mode, Boss Revenge Mode, co-op & vs., and 2 extra playable characters which includes Shovel Knight. The second playable character has yet to be revealed.

Since Koji Igarashi left Konami in 2014, it's been clear his intentions upon joining the crowdfunding scene was to develop a new property in the style of the beloved Castlevania games he's helped create in the past. Even though Igarashi and his team went through a fair number of stumbles, the long-awaited spiritual successor to one of Konami's greatest franchises is finally in the hands of fans, and will continue to provide a reason to return for the foreseeable future.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It will launch for Nintendo Switch on June 25th.