Bloodstained: The Complete ICVD Coverage

In 2010, Konami seemingly released their last traditional 2D game for the original Castlevania series. Series producer Koji Igarashi (aka IGA) left the company, and with the Castlevania rebooting into Lords of Shadow, the series of old seemed well and truly dead.

However, five years later, IGA came back with a Kickstarter for a new game, a spiritual successor to the Metroidvania genre he helped perfect. That Kickstarter helped to launch the Bloodstained series, which currently stands at two titles (with the hope of more on the way down the road).

While we await Konami eventually revisting the series they started (beyond the occasional Grimore-style mobile-based games), Bloodstained provides that Castlevania-like fix we so dearly crave.