UPDATE: As of 4:45 PM eastern time, Bloodstained has crossed its $500,000 funding goal. Now all that's left is 31 days of stretch goal updates.
Following a series of teases over the last few weeks, former Konami producer Koji Igarashi has finally lifted the veil on his latest project: a 2.5D action adventure game called Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Igarashi is teaming with developer Inti Creates (Mega Man 9, Mighty no. 9) to develop the game, which is described as "a gothic, exploration-focused action platformer" and certainly looks very much in the spirit of Igarashi's work on the Castlevania series. Here's the story premise, as described on Bloodstained's Kickstarter page:
You are Miriam, an orphan scarred by an alchemist curse which slowly crystallizes your skin. You must battle your way through a demon-filled castle summoned by Gebel, your old friend whose body has become more crystal than flesh.
Bloodstained will need to hit $500,000 for its crowd-funding goal, though the project is already partially funded through other sources. The Kickstarter is designed to both allow the team to produce Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game (which include physical discs for backers), as well as push toward a number of stretch goals, such as a second playable character at the $700,000 mark, and adding David Hayter to the voice cast at $850,000.
You can check out Kickstarter page here, and you definitely should, if only to watch Igarashi's pitch video, which includes him torturing a man mid-conversation, and transforming into a flock of bats. We all assumed he knew how to do that, it's just good to get visual confirmation of it finally.