Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was largely met with critical praise when it launched last year, with many considering it a worthy example of the classic Metroidvania formula its producer, Koji Igarashi, helped popularize. Now publisher 505 Games and developer ArtPlay have announced that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will be getting even more old-school in a few weeks, with the introduction of a brand new Classic Mode.
The 2D exploration-based action-platformer has been receiving plenty of free bonus content throughout the past year, including additional playable characters, new modes like Randomizer, various customization options, and even the ability to play as bosses like Bloodless. With its next update, Bloodstained will receive five new levels that swap out the standard gameplay for something more akin to the original Castlevania games from the NES and SNES era.
This can be seen in the 15-second piece of footage that 505 and ArtPlay shared on the game’s official Twitter page. While brief, fans of classic Castlevania games will recognize the gameplay immediately, as Miriam can be seen traversing platforms, climbing staircases, and whipping monsters much like Simon Belmont did back in the 80s and 90s.
According to 505 and ArtPlay, Classic Mode will be added to the game for free sometime in January, so fans won’t have long to wait to get their old-school fix. If, however, they don’t want to wait even that long for retro Bloodstained content, they can always turn to the game’s pixel-based spinoffs, the Curse of the Moon games.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.