Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is still about a year away from its planned release date, and it looks great. It looks so good in fact, that producer Koji Igarashi showed it off on the E3 floor inside the Microsoft booth.
During the Xbox After Hours event Igarashi-san was present in front of his demo, even helping players if they got stuck. His excitement for the game is clear in how involved and candid he was about the upcoming title. When I asked how development for the game was going he told me (through his translator and DDM Japan head Ben Judd) he’s about 10 per cent complete.
It’s important to note that number is more of what is built physically, but the actual planning stages that involve making the enemies, maps, systems and bosses is complete. Judd confirmed in a follow up email that the game is in full production cycle where assets are mass-produced. If all these parts of the game weren’t planned out, it would be a waste of money and time. Normally, the planning stage is the longest part of production.
10 per cent might not sound like much, but that only describes how much of the game physically exists at the moment. The planning process is complete, and now they’re building.
If the demo is any indication of where the game is at, then it’s a good sign. Visually, the game is stunning with bright, colourful visuals, and Castlevania style gameplay, and so far the game looks like it’s on the right path. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is set for a March 2017 release.
CGM’s Jed Whitaker got to demo Bloodstained at E3. His experience can be found here.
