Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is getting a sequel
It took longer than expected for Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to arrive, but the delays proved to be worthwhile: We called it "a picture perfect homage" to Igarashi's past games in our 77% review, making it "a feast for fans of [that] very specific experience." It also inspired an 8-bit-style spinoff, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, which somewhat ironically came out ahead of Ritual of the Night and scored an even higher 80%—not bad for what was originally conceived as a stretch goal bonus.
A Curse of the Moon sequel came out last July, and the Ritual of the Night team has been adding DLC to the bigger game consistently since release. But there wasn't any sign of a sequel until this May, when a quarterly financial report from 505 Games parent company Digital Bros said that Bloodstained had a "second version in development."
The wording is vague—a "second version" could mean a next-gen edition, a mobile release, or something for Stadia, maybe—but the widespread hope was that it meant a full and proper sequel to Ritual of the Night is in the works.
Today, the official Bloodstained Twitter account confirmed that it is.
Regarding recent reports, @505_Games and @ArtplayEN are in very early planning stages for a #Bloodstained sequel. However, current development resources are focused on completing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's upcoming content. We have a lot planned for you. pic.twitter.com/yPV0n31gBXJune 4, 2021
"Regarding recent reports, @505_Games and @ArtplayEN are in very early planning stages for a #Bloodstained sequel. However, current development resources are focused on completing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's upcoming content. We have a lot planned for you."
Igarashi himself confirmed that for now, the studio is "focusing on the rest of the contents for Ritual of the Night."
Currently at ArtPlay, we are in the stages of working on the plot centered around our previous title's Director Shutaro.Right now, we are focusing on the rest of the contents for Ritual of the Night so please look forward to the upcoming information.#Bloodstained https://t.co/a4MHMW6p2zJune 4, 2021
There's no other information at this point, like what the new game will be about or when we might lay eyes on it, but at this early stage the mere fact that it's happening is enough for many fans, who reacted to the news with what could fairly be called unbridled enthusiasm.
SEQUEL?!???!?!LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/ttUR8GLpTnJune 4, 2021
Please keep Miriam and Johannes in the sequel! I like them! Looking forward to the sequel and the new content in the first game pic.twitter.com/NyeI7uAsTuJune 4, 2021
WHAT?! Very excite! pic.twitter.com/evHLR1Srd0June 4, 2021
Yeaaah baby!!! Please make another dope collector's edition for this sequel and keep us informed :) pic.twitter.com/KpC6csjuu8June 4, 2021