One of the biggest Kickstarter successes fulfills its last promise after 9 years – at least partially

With Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, former Castlevania developer Koji Igarashi has created an absolute Kickstarter superhit. Nine years after the financing campaign and five years after publication, the Metroidvania is now entering its final phase.

The last open promise that was made as part of the financing should now finally be kept. A release date is also already known – and that is only a few days away.

Finally multiplayer – but not as expected

When the Kickstarter campaign for the Metroidvania Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night launched in 2015, no one would have expected that the target amount of $500,000 would be pulverized and ultimately collected more than eleven times.

However, the enormous sum of over 5.5 million US dollars also ensured that almost 20 interim goals were achieved. These are associated with certain promises and thus bring with them a certain level of responsibility. Since publication, almost all of them have gradually been implemented or at least modified. Only the PS Vita port has been completely discontinued.

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – release trailer presents you with the impressive new art style

Now the last promise should be kept. The interim goal of $3.25 million was for asynchronous multiplayer, similar to Dark Souls. For example, players can leave messages there that other players can find and read. The developers haven't revealed exactly how this should be implemented in Bloodstained.

Co-op and PvP: However, the original ones have since been thrown overboard. Bloodstained still has multiplayer and thus the core of the intermediate goal, but in the form of two completely different modes:

• Chaos mode: You run alone or in co-op through randomly generated rooms and fight everything that gets in your way.
• Versus mode: You defeat monsters and unlock souls. You can use these to buy upgrades for your skills or to put obstacles in the way of your opponent. But be careful, he can return the favor in the same way.

When will the new modes appear? The new game modes come along with the free update 1.5, which on May 9, 2024 on all platforms is published – with one exception. Switch users have to be patient and can wait a little longer only from May 16th play together with their friends.

Meanwhile, Koji Igarashi and his development studio ArtPlay are working on a sequel to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. If you want to pass the time until then, we recommend our detailed test of the new Metroidvania Tale of Kenzera.

What do you think about Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night getting a different multiplayer than initially planned? Write it in the comments!