An 8-bit spin-off of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is coming later this month

You might remember that the Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the platformer from Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi due out later this year, was the most successful video game crowdfund on the platform, raising more than $5.5 million (it's since been usurped by Shenmue 3). But you might not remember that the campaign also promised a smaller, 8-bit prequel as one of its stretch goals. That game, called Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, was announced this week, and it'll be with us later this month.

While Ritual of the Night harks back to Symphony of the Night and later Castlevania games, Curse of the Moon looks back further into the series' history for inspiration, with trippy music, a limited colour palette and a small set of animations.

It'll be more linear than Ritual of the Night: you'll control Zangetsu, a demon slayer out to kill a monster living in a castle. As you play you'll unlock new characters to control, including an alchemist that can create copies of himself and a man that can turn himself into a bat. Playing as each one will reveal new paths forward and alter the game's ending. 

It's out on May 24, and the Steam page is live. It'll cost you $10, but it'll be free to anyone that pledged over $28 for Ritual of the Night.

Samuel Horti

Samuel Horti is a long-time freelance writer for PC Gamer based in the UK, who loves RPGs and making long lists of games he'll never have time to play. 

Latest in Adventure
Image of illuminated manuscript-style drawings from the game Pentiment.
Random characters kept swearing in Obsidian's font-obsessed murder-mystery when its procedural error system ran amok: 'Naughtiness abounded'
An image of a corpse with the text "You've been re-educated."
I played the lost videogame sequel to 1984, and came away more nostalgic than ever for gaming's awkward adolescence in 1999
Rosella encounters a satyr in a forest in King's Quest 4
Eagle-eyed streamer spots that Roberta Williams' portrait in King's Quest 4 is based on her author photo on the back of the game box: 'I never noticed it before.'
Myst puzzle game
'You’ve been asking, and we’ve been listening': Myst remake adds a whole new world to the classic adventure, one originally introduced in another overhaul from 25 years ago
The character takes a test in a school room.
Expelled! review
Max, protagonist of Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Double Exposure, stares with trepidation at something off-screen with her friend.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure reportedly a 'large loss' for Square Enix, says analyst, who adds: 'The company's IP fundamentally varies too much between good and bad'
Latest in News
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened