Legendary videogame developer Koji Igarashi has announced that his upcoming videogame endeavour will be "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night." The game is being touted as a 2.5D Igavania-styled adventure bearing strong resemblance to the developer's legacy. Igarashi is best known for creating the "Castlevania" series of games during his stint at Konami. The new game is in the same vein, employing a core gameplay mechanic that's essentially a side-scroller focusing on exploration.

PC Gamer reports that "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" let's players fill in the shoes of Miriam. The female protagonist suffers from the Alchemist's Curse that gradually crystallises her skin. As Miriam, players find themselves summoned into a castle filled with demonic entities. Players are tasked with stopping another character called Gebel, who's afflicted with the same curse. Unlike Miriam, though, the bad guy intends to use his powers to destroy humanity forever.

Igarashi was the key driving figure behind the "Castlevania" games' characteristic Metroidvania style of exploration-focused gameplay. "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" deliberately takes the 2.5D route to give contemporary gamers the best of both worlds – spectacular 3D graphics and the familiarity and nostalgia of "Castlevania" style side-scrolling gameplay.

Konami has been losing key talent over the past few years, even as "Metal Gear" creator Hideo Kojima's exit looms over the horizon. Having left the company in 2014, Igarashi has taken the crowd-funding route to publish "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night." The developer created a rather snazzy-looking video to go along with the Kickstarter campaign, according to Gamespot.

The campaign was kicked off on May 11 with a $500,000 goal, which was not only met but exceeded the million dollar mark within a few days. Several stretch goals have since been added and the campaign now stands at more than 20,000 backers totalling to $1.5 million. Pledging $28 nets a digital copy of the finished game, whereas $60 buys a physical copy.

One of the more interesting stretch goals involves the hiring of voice actor David Hayter who voiced Solid Snake in "Metal Gear" to play the role of the antagonist Gebel. The Kickstarter campaign runs until June 12, which means there's more than a month remaining even as the funding has surpassed three times the expected goal.

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night // Kickstarter Pitch 1080p (credit: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night)