Kickstarter Games Under Crazy Pressure
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Now Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night didn’t get quite as much funding as Shenmue 3, but it came pretty damn close at $5.5 million and currently stands as the second most funded Kickstarter game.
That much funding isn’t surprising considering Bloodstained is a spiritual successor to the Castlevania series (Symphony of the Night in particular) and created by Koji Igarashi, the lead producer of the series from 1999-2011.
Bloodstained is part of a recent trend of veteran developers splitting form their companies to create spinoffs of their magnum opus. While Keiji Inafune left Capcom to make Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee evolved out of collective ex-members of Rare, Igarashi followed in their footsteps, leaving Konami behind to work on Bloodstained.
The game is a side-scrolling Metroidvania that offers the similar gothic fare we’re used to from Castlevania. You play as Miriam, an orphan scarred by the experiments of an Alchemist guild that slowly crystallizes her body. You find yourself summoned to an ancient castle, where you must fight your way through demons to confront the master who summoned you.
Bloodstained is another of these games that made its fans wait a little longer, as its release was meant to be in 2017 but was moved back to later this year, though a specific date still hasn’t been set yet.
The stakes are high for Bloodstained. As yet another Metroidvania, it’ll be launching into an already saturated market. The pressure’s on for it to not only be a good game, but be something truly special.
