After years in development, the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night release date has finally been revealed. Koji Igarashi’s spiritual successor to his Castlevania games arrives on June 18 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The Nintendo Switch version follows on June 25.
505 Games revealed the release date as part of a new trailer. More than just announcing the date however, the trailer demonstrates just how much Bloodstained‘s graphics have improved.
Igarashi’s team has been constantly updating fans with images and video of the game in development over on its Kickstarter page. As such, this meant early, unpolished builds of the game often met with criticism in regards to its graphics.
The trailer actually shows a quite number of these comments, before showing an angry Igarashi on his throne stating “I will prove them wrong.” What follows is a series of comparison shots, showing the old version of the game alongside a newer build.
The improvements in the newer build are startlingly obvious. It features much more vibrant visuals, with more dynamic lighting and bloom effects. Graphically, the current build of the game looks very different from the earlier demos. If anything, the updated graphics are much closer to the original concept art.
It’s been a long road for Koji Igarashi and his team. When it was launched in 2015, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night‘s crowdfunding campaigned was one of the most successful that Kickstarter had ever seen. Since then however, development did hit a few roadblocks, including the cancellation of the Vita version, as well as the Mac and Linux ports.
Of course, the biggest issue was simply how long it was taking to develop the game. Igarashi had originally expected to complete development by 2017. However, the game suffered multiple delays as the team struggled to complete backer incentives, while also moving the Vita version over to Nintendo Switch. Now, with the announcement of the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night release date, Igarashi’s vision will soon finally see the light of day.
