News
8-bit ‘Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night’ Prequel, ‘Curse of the Moon’, Hits Later this Month
We’re still waiting on Koji Igarashi’s spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, which is expected to be released later this year. However, not many remembered (myself included) that as part of the Kickstarter campaign (which scored a cool $5.5 million from backers), one of the stretch goals was for an 8-bit prequel to be made. That prequel, entitled Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, was announced this week, and is set to drop on May 24th.
Unlike Ritual of the Night‘s clear harkening back to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Curse of the Moon goes back to the classic Castlevania games (specifically Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse). Developed by Inti Creates, who also collaborated with Igarashi on the Kickstarer, the prequel features four playable characters: Zangetsu, who uses a sword; Miriam, with a whip; Alfred, the alchemist; and Gebel, a shapeshifter who can turn into a bat. You start the game as Zangetsu, and gain more allies as you progress, whom you can change at will.
A code for Curse of the Moon will be sent for free to Kickstarter backers who contributed above the required amount during the campaign, and it will be available for everyone else as a standalone purchase on Steam (which you can visit here, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, 3DS, and Vita for $10 USD. As for Ritual of the Night, we’ll probably be hearing more about it in June at E3.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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