Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

Lore & Background

The game takes place in its own continuity, following the events of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. Zangetsu, a demon slayer from the East, is the main character. After the first game, exorcist Dominique discovers a mysterious tower summoning a demon castle and sends Zangetsu to stop the invasion. Along the way, Zangetsu teams up with Dominique (spear-wielding), Robert (rifle-wielding), and Hachi (a corgi piloting a steampunk mech). Zangetsu obtains the powerful Soul Eraser sword. After defeating Episode 1's final boss, an even more powerful demonic force appears and attempts to consume the entire party, but is stopped by Dominique who becomes possessed while the others escape. The remaining party vows to rescue her, leading to Episode 2.

Reader's Guide

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 received largely positive reviews, with critics praising its visuals and gameplay. Review aggregators Metacritic gave the Windows version 80/100 and the Switch version 82/100, while OpenCritic reported 86% of critics recommended the game. Reviewers felt it was a proper homage to both Castlevania and retro games, and that the addition of cooperative play was a good addition. IGN Italia and IGN Japan praised the wide choice of characters. GameSpot's Steve Watts rated it 8/10, praising its fusion of 'goofy humor' with 'macabre imagery' but criticizing the need to replay stages for the true ending. Rob Schubert of Longview Daily News called it 'Nintendo hard' and said it captures the feel and challenge of retro games. Famitsu reviewers praised the pixel art graphics. Thomas Nickel of M! Games noted the two-player and casual modes help players with less reflexes. VentureBeat compared the situation to Inti-Creates' own Mega Man 10 as a sequel to a retro-themed game. The game was given a limited physical release by Limited Run Games in 2021 and was also released as part of the Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Chronicles collection for Nintendo Switch in Japan in 2023.

Did You Know?

• The game's graphics and gameplay are done in an 8-bit retro style meant to mimic early Castlevania games.
• Hachi is a corgi piloting a steampunk mech.
• On the hardest difficulty with Zangetsu only, the final blow slices the entire Moon in half.

A Sequel Built on a Crowdfunding Promise

The entire Bloodstained franchise traces its roots to a single Kickstarter stretch goal. When Koji Igarashi's larger Metroidvania, Ritual of the Night, exceeded its crowdfunding targets, a retro-style prequel minigame was pledged to backers. Inti Creates, a studio of former Capcom developers led by president Takuya Aizu, stepped in to fulfill that obligation. Their prior work on Mega Man 9 and Blaster Master Zero gave them the credibility to tackle an 8-bit-styled platformer. After completing their support role on Ritual of the Night's alpha build for E3 2016, the team pivoted to developing Curse of the Moon in earnest by late 2017. The result was a six-month sprint that produced a well-received 2018 title. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, released in July 2020, represents the natural continuation of this promise—a second chapter in a retro companion series that was never meant to exist outside the crowdfunding framework that first demanded it.

The Returning Swordsman and a Fresh Party

Zangetsu, the cursed swordsman driven by a quest for vengeance against the demons who hexed him, anchors both entries in the Curse of the Moon series. In the original 2018 game, players could recruit up to three companions—whip-wielding Miriam, magician Alfred, and vampire-like Gebel—each bringing distinct weapons, health pools, and attack patterns to the party. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 retains Zangetsu as the central protagonist but introduces three entirely new additional characters to fill the companion slots. This swap signals a deliberate creative shift: rather than simply recycling the original trio, the sequel offers fresh faces and new skill sets to mix and match during stage exploration. The core mechanic of instant character switching, where a fallen companion becomes unavailable for the remainder of a level, remains the structural backbone of the experience, giving each new recruit a distinct tactical role within the branching stage layouts.

Inheriting the 8-Bit Castlevania Formula

The gameplay DNA of both Curse of the Moon titles is unmistakably drawn from the NES-era Castlevania games, with Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989) serving as the primary blueprint. Stages branch into multiple paths that converge on a single boss encounter, and the player navigates these layouts with a cast of characters who each excel in different combat situations. Inti Creates deliberately layered modern conveniences atop this retro foundation—unlimited lives toggles, boss rush modes, and adjustable difficulty settings—that would have been impossible on original 8-bit hardware. President Takuya Aizu has noted that players tend to remember 8-bit visuals as more vibrant than they actually were, so the team implemented oversized sprites and enhanced parallax scrolling to match those nostalgic expectations. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 inherits this design philosophy, maintaining the side-scrolling, multi-character, branching-stage structure that made the first entry a satisfying homage while keeping the experience approachable for modern audiences.

From BitSummit to a July 2020 Launch

The original Curse of the Moon was unveiled on May 12, 2018, at BitSummit, the annual indie game festival held in Kyoto, and hit shelves just two weeks later on May 24 across Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation platforms. Critics largely praised it as a satisfying tribute to Castlevania III, though some noted its brevity and its close adherence to the source material. Others appreciated the modern options and additional game modes that gave the experience a contemporary edge. The game was understood as a prelude—or, in Aizu's later assessment, more of a spin-off—set ten years before the events of Ritual of the Night. Its positive reception and the momentum of the broader Bloodstained franchise paved the way for a follow-up. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 arrived in July 2020, roughly two years after its predecessor, extending the retro platformer's run and confirming that the crowdfunding promise had evolved into a small but dedicated sub-series within the Bloodstained universe.