[GameSpot] - Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night May Be Getting A Sequel

[343iBot]

The metroidvania throwback Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night may be getting a sequel. Publisher 505 put out a financial report with new information on many of its games, and the slide devoted to Bloodstained references a "second version in development."

The wording is unusual for a sequel, and it could be referring to some kind of remaster or next-gen upgrade. But notably, the very next slide is for Ghostrunner, which we know is getting a sequel, and it also refers to a "second version" in the same way. It also lists a next-gen version as an entirely separate bullet point.

The slide also reveals that Bloodstained has sold more than 1 million copies and generated revenue of roughly 30 million euro (roughly $36 million USD). 505 also cited its relatively high score on GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

While Bloodstained has only had one major release, it has spawned a franchise with two spin-offs so far--Curse of the Moon and its sequel, Curse of the Moon 2. Those were both 8-bit de-makes that reimagined Bloodstained's characters in the style of the classic NES Castlevania games, the same way Bloodstained is based heavily on later PS1-era Castlevania games. Plus Bloodstained itself has gotten a steady stream of post-launch updates, adding new characters, difficulty modes, and more.

The project was spearheaded by Koji Igarashi, known for his work on Symphony of the Night and subsequent Castlevania games before leaving Konami in 2014. He crowdfunded Bloodstained on Kickstarter promising a return to those action-adventure roots with a modest $500,000 goal. The Kickstarter was fully funded and ended at $5.5 million.

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