Trivia / Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

• April Fools' Day: In 2019, it was announced that the game would be receiving a Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition called Bloodstained: Bloodstained Edition. For $999 ($666 for backers), you get a physical copy of the game inside a blood bag filled with a half quart of Koji Igarashi's blood (suspiciously tagged "Involuntary donor"). It's marked as blood type AB- (which was never verified) and doesn't ship to North Korea, Transylvania, international waters, Antarctica, or Pangea.
• Audience Participation: The game was originally advertised under a mysterious teaser site called "Sword or Whip", where viewers were able to vote between the two weapons. The winner of the vote, the Sword, determined the type of weapon that the Sword of Plot Advancement would be (a katana).
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • When they announced that they would stop porting the game to Wii U in favor of Nintendo Switch, those who chose Wii U as their platform were allowed to change platform or get a refund. They later made the same offer when the Play Station Vita version got canned (which was announced together with another delay for the game).
  • Speaking of the Switch, when the Switch port ended up suffering from Porting Disaster, the developers made sure to inform fans that a substantial update to fix issues with it would be priority #1. They ultimately managed to push out the fix prior to the first major content update, and, while not perfect, it makes the game vastly more playable.
• Content Leak: An in-development version of the area based on Journey was found an entire year early in the Stadia version of the game.
• Creator-Driven Successor:
  • This game is one for the Castlevania series (particularly the 2D side-scrolling "Metroidvania" style), following the heavily supported Mighty No. 9 (Mega Man), Yooka-Laylee (Banjo-Kazooie), and A Hat in Time (3D Super Mario Bros. games).
  • Classic Mode is a big love letter to the very first Castlevania games, with many of its mechanics, iconic scenes, and bosses recreated in Bloodstained's visual style.
• Crowdfunder Cameo: People who pledged to support the game on Kickstarter would depending on the tier get their face added to a portrait that would be displayed somewhere in Gebel's castle, be able to leave a message on ending credits or their pet would appear as a enemy in the game.
• Fake Brit: The entire English voice cast speaks in a British accent for their various roles, despite every cast member being American.
• Fandom Nod:
  • The Kickstarter page has a nice little quip nodding to the odd tendency for Castlevania speed-runners to abuse the backdash as a faster method of travel.
    IGA has as much experience handling [a hell-castle filled with demons] as any game designer on earth, but we estimate that it might set production back slightly (depending on whether or not he's allowed to backdash).
  • The post-launch survey about future costume DLC packs included a question as to what the appropriate response is to stubbing one's toe on furniture. One of the responses was to "kill that furniture DEAD!", referencing Lindsay's memetic response to Miriam accepting one of her quests.
• Schedule Slip:
  • The game was delayed twice, first from 2017 to 2018 on account of the sheer amount of additional content put into the game due to its incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, and later to 2019 in part to implement changes based on backers' feedback on the 2018 E3 demo. Some people think that Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon was released in 2018 in part to placate fans who may have started to grow impatient.
  • For GOG.com players, they have been left out of the v1.15 update (which featured the chroma wheel for personalized color customization and the Boss Revenge mode) for months due to game-breaking bugs found in the Steam release.
  • The game's update cycle has seemingly struggled to stay on target under the massive weight of the large number of expansive stretch goals promised by the original campaign. Most notably are Chaos Mode, Vs. Mode, and Co-Op Mode, all of which have been repeatedly pushed back and missed deadlines without explanation. The most recent stated deadline for Chaos/Vs. is an announcement trailer with in-game footage claiming an upcoming announcement set for September 14, 2023. As of February 4th, 2024, a Shantae skin was stated to br part of the 1.5 patch, but it *still does not have a release date.*
• Teasing Creator: At the end of the Launch Trailer, a snippet of the main theme of Child of Light plays, hinting content from that game will be in this one. When pointed out, the official Bloodstained channel replied as if they didn't understand what people were talking about, and later commenting that it's "so strange" to hear the Child of Light theme at the end of the trailer.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The game was originally announced with Wii U, PlayStation Vita, macOS, and Linux versions set for release. The Wii U version was cut and replaced by a Nintendo Switch version, the Vita version was cut ahead of Sony ending support for the Vita in 2019, and both the Mac and Linux versions were cut due to complications with middleware and online features.
  • In the very beginning draft, David Hayter was set to voice Gebel, but the role eventually went to Ray Chase. Hayter instead voices Zangetsu in the final game.
  • Inti Creates was originally part of development, and early promotional pieces included Azure Striker Gunvolt references like a spell for Miriam based on Gunvolt and a headpiece based on Lumen. Inti Creates eventually left early on (but not before making Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon) and were replaced by DICO, and they took most of the Gunvolt-themed references with them, save for the Ribbon.
  • There exists artwork of two demons, Astarot and Mafeius, who were cut. The Bloodstained Wiki even has pages for them despite them not appearing in the game.
  • One of the stretch goals was a "Roguelike Mode" where the layout of the castle is randomized every run. However, imcompatability with the game's code resulted in development for Roguelike Mode being canned in early 2020 and replaced with a "Randomizer Mode".
  • The Ritual of the Night version of Focalor from Curse of the Moon was cut at such a point in development that voice work had already been done for the boss. This is also the reason the natural sense of game progression comes to a grinding halt at the Forbidden Underground Waterway until the player stumbles over the Aqua Stream shard as Focalor was meant to hold the shard for traversing water, suggesting that the game was too far along to find a better solution before release.
  • Another boss cut in development was another True Ancestor vampire like OD. Like Focalor, the boss had voice work completed before it was cut suggesting it was cut further down the line.
• With the Kickstarter, multiple YouTubers were asked by Fangamer to promote the game. For their efforts, they would each get a Clan named after them for backers to align themselves with in the credits, and they would each get to design a cosmetic piece of gear for Miriam accessible via Cheat Code.
  • KindaFunnyGames
  • Game Grumps
  • Mega64
  • Chuggaaconroy
  • TheZaibatsuClan
  • SwimmingBird941
  • NintendoCapriSun
  • Egoraptor
  • JoshJepson
  • ProtonJon
  • FarFromSubtle
  • Game Sack
  • The Speed Gamers
  • StephenPlays
  • Vinesauce

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