Classic Castlevania-Style Prequel Game For Bloodstained Revealed, Releases Very Soon

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is getting its own 8-bit style companion piece from Inti Creates. The retro platformer specialists promised a smaller prequel game as a stretch goal during the Kickstarter campaign, and now the studio has announced the first details. It will be called Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, and it's coming on May 24.

Curse of the Moon features four playable characters familiar to fans of its Castlevania inspirations: Zangetsu, who uses a sword; Miriam, with a whip; Alfred, the alchemist; and Gebel, a shapeshifter who can turn into a bat. You start as Zangetsu and gain more allies as you progress, and you can swap between them at will. The more allies you have, the more versatility in combat, and you can keep progressing through a stage even if you die as long as another character remains. Stages will also have areas that only particular characters can access.

A code will be sent for free to Kickstarter backers who contributed above the requisite amount during the campaign, and it will be available for everyone else as a standalone purchase for Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, 3DS, and Vita for $10.

It's a pretty clear throwback to Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, a clever thematic way to make a prequel for Ritual of the Night, which is inspired by Symphony of the Night. That game, meanwhile, is still planned for release sometime this year. We're likely to hear more about exactly when at E3 2018.

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