ESGS 2016: KOJI IGARASHI’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

One of the highlights at this year’s E-Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) was the presence of gaming legend, Mr Koji Igarashi. Iga as what he is famously known for is a legend in the gaming industry, is a video game designer and producer and is best known for his work at Castlevania: Symphony of the Night where he was the assistant director. He also went on to work with other Castlevania titles such as Castlevania Chronicles and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Iga was one of the reasons why I was excited to attend ESGS this year. It’s not every day that you get to meet a legend in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, I missed his talk at the main stage as I was probably covering another event at ESGS. However, I made sure that I wouldn’t let ESGS pass by without trying Iga’s latest game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

I was in line waiting for my turn when all of sudden, Iga appeared and stayed at his booth! He was graciously accommodated all the fans who asked for a photo and an autograph! There was no ticket or schedule for a meet and greet, Iga was so nice and all smiles to every fan that came up to him. He even let the fans hold his whips! We’re thankful that we got to have our picture taken with him. It was one of the highlights of our ESGS experience!

As I took my turn to play Bloodstained, it bought back memories of Castlevania. It has all the elements of the classic platform games mixed with RPG. Defeating enemies allows you to gain experience and additional abilities. At the end of the level, you get to fight a boss battle, sounds familiar right? It’s basically a Castlevania game with a different hero/heroine.

In a time wherein developers try to be innovative when it comes to games,  may it be high-end graphics, unique gameplay system, or even virtual reality, sometimes it’s nice to sit back, enjoy and play the classic and not too overly complicated games. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night brings back a sense of nostalgia, it’s a classic game made for today’s gamers. That’s what great about side-scrollers or platform games, it’s timeless, either you were part of the famicom generation or the next-gen consoles, you still get to enjoy these types of games.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is currently on Kickstarter with 64,867 backers as of this writing. The target date for the game’s release has been delayed until 2018. You may still pledge your support for the game. What do you get for supporting this cause? Iga’s immortal gratitude and for fans that is all that matters.

Here’s our fanboy moment with the legend himself, Mr Koji Igarashi.

Here’s a YouTube gameplay video that we found which shows the same demo that was displayed at ESGS 2016.