Retroware has dropped a new video talking about the development of their Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest tribute The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest, which was first announced back in January. Hosted by Retroware Creative Director Justin Silverman, the video goes over the origins of the game, before diving into the nitty gritty of its inner workings.

Originally starting out as a joke by solo developer Programancer, Simon Quest was coded in the Game Maker engine. According to Silverman, the game was never intended to be a serious project, and so the questionable coding reflected that. Despite this, the game started gaining traction, so he kept working on it, which resulted in the problematic coding and its issues stacking up.

As a result, the code has been stripped out and reworked to fix numerous issues, including optimization, proper aspect ratio and more. The result has made it possible for Simon Quest to have updated gameplay mechanics. The game also uses the renderer from one of Programancer’s earlier titles in Prison City, resulting in proper pixel scaling and smoother scrolling.

Currently, The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest is still slated for release next year, but if you’re keen on checking out the current build of the game, you can do so at this year’s PAX East. Retroware will be at PAX East from March 21 to the 24 at booth (15031), where you can check out the demo for The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest.

The story for The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest sees the eponymous Simon Quest arriving in Transylvania, only to discover his vampire hunting rival, Stan Helsing, has already slain Dracula. Seeking to reclaim his glory, Simon Quest journeys across Wallachia to gather the dark count’s body parts to resurrect him, and then slay Dracula himself!

The game is currently in development for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, with a 2025 release.