Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a spiritual successor to the acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, is coming to mobile thanks to a partnership between ArtPlay and NetEase.
The mobile version of Bloodstained will be a premium title (in other words, not reworked into a free-to-play game) that “features all the action, gameplay and content of its console forebear with no compromises on visual quality or gameplay fidelity.” It will also include all DLC from the previous releases, and a redesigned UI and control setup to make best use of the touchscreen without requiring a controller to play.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a side-scrolling action RPG with a focus on exploration and upgrade-based progression, set in a gothic, demon-infested castle that’s been summoned by paranormal forces. It’s the latest game from Koji Igarashi, who’s best known for his work on various Castlevania games including Symphony of the Night, Aria of Souls, and Portait of Ruin. Symphony of the Night, in particular, has been a particularly influential game, and is the reason for the “vania” part of the “metroidvania” portmanteau. However, since 2008’s Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, the series has moved away from that style.
Igarashi left Konami in 2014 and helped found ArtPlay later that year, before launching a Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in 2015, much to the excitement of Igarashi’s fans. It raised some USD $5.5 million, making it the most successful game on Kickstarter at the time. A few delays meant that the game itself didn’t come out until last year, but it was everything a spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night needed to be.
There’s no release window yet for the iOS and Android version of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but it’ll a welcome addition to the mobile landscape. Symphony of the Night is already there, so why not have the spiritual successor, too?