In a celebratory video for the fifth anniversary of Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, the producer and director joined the rest of the team to look back on bosses cleared and castles conquered. But in the last seconds, IGA, also a former producer of the Castlevania series, surprised viewers with a gift.
“As for our new title, we are already taking the necessary steps. We look forward to sharing more things with you in the near future.”
With the release of its latest update earlier this month, Ritual of the Night has now reached its pinnacle. It stands there next to Bloodstained Curse of the Moon and Curse of the Moon 2, overlooking the blood-red lands below. The question now is which of Bloodstained’s halves will be called into the light from the darkness. Both Curse of the Moon 3 and Ritual of the Night 2 are appealing in their own right, but the possibility of an entirely new sub-series shouldn’t be overlooked.
However, it’s worth noting that Inti Creates, the developer and publisher of Curse of the Moon 1 & 2, is not involved with Ritual of the Night – if Curse of the Moon 3 was in development, it would likely have been hinted at by them rather than the other game’s team . Still, Igarashi is ultimately the mind behind Bloodstained, so he’s free to make a general announcement as he sees fit.
“In the near future” can mean within a month or more than a year from now; the ambiguity of the gaming industry has never sat well with the anxious enthusiasm of gamers. In the meantime, however long or short the wait, Bloodstained fans can survive by purging demons in Inti Creates Gal Guardians, freeing themselves from the chains of death in Dead Cells, or honoring tradition by revisiting the series that inspired it—through Castlevania’s vast array of games or the Netflix adaptation the same.
