Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Lore & Background

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was developed by ArtPlay, an independent studio co-founded by former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi. The studio used Kickstarter in 2015 to demonstrate demand for the game to potential funding sources, raising more than $5.5 million from backers—eleven times its original goal. Most stretch goals from the campaign were distributed as free content updates, with a few additional items as paid downloadable content. The game was the second release in the Bloodstained series; a retro-style companion game, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, was developed by Inti Creates as a stretch goal and released earlier in May 2018. A sequel, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, followed in July 2020, and a prequel, Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, was announced in 2021 with a planned release in 2027.

Reader's Guide

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night follows the Metroidvania-style gameplay of the post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania games. Players control Miriam as she explores a labyrinthine series of rooms in a platform game, fighting monsters and bosses while gaining keys or powers that unlock previously inaccessible areas. Miriam uses various weapons for melee or ranged attacks and special abilities from shards obtained from monsters for magical attacks. The game features a health bar and a magic power bar, with health restored through items or drops and magic drained by shard skills. Equipment such as weapons, armor, and accessories can be changed on the fly via menu screens, and shards can also be swapped out. Save rooms allow players to save and fully regenerate health and magic, while warp rooms enable quick travel between discovered regions. Non-playable characters at the map's start provide stores for buying and selling items and crafting services. The game is presented in a 2.5D style with three-dimensional graphics but 2D movement, a choice made to follow the style of previous Castlevania games. The plot is set in 18th-century England during the Industrial Revolution, involving Shardbinders, demons, and a conflict with the antagonist Gebel. The true ending reveals a betrayal by Dominique, who uses the Liber Logaeth to summon the demon king Bael. A post-game scenario, Dominique's Curse, is set after the main game's true ending.

Did You Know?

• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night raised over $5.5 million on Kickstarter, eleven times its original goal.
• The game was the second release in the Bloodstained series, after Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.
• The game uses 2.5D graphics, a style chosen to follow previous Castlevania games like The Dracula X Chronicles.