“Shutaro, the Curry Sage, who had been battling illness for some time, passed away on February 10th due to pancreatic cancer. We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the kindness shown to us during his lifetime and to report his passing. Shutaro’s adventures in this world have come to an end, but his work will remain. We hope that you will continue to enjoy the games created by Shutaro,” reads the message on his social media account, as translated by ResetEra user Foffy.

Iida’s death comes after a storied career in the gaming industry dating back to the late 1990s. Having joined Konami in 1996, he worked on several major titles in the Castlevania series as programmer, including 2003’s Aria of Sorrow, 2005’s Dawn of Sorrow and 2008’s Order of Ecclesia. On 2010’s Harmony of Despair, he served as the level designer. Other games he worked on included Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain as lead game programmer, and Ground Zeroes as lead enemy NPC programmer.

Since his departure from the company in 2015, however, Iida worked on several more projects, notably alongside Koji Igarashi on the Bloodstained games. He was director on 2019 Metroidvania Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Despite Iida’s hospitalization over the last year, he was also confirmed to have been working on the next title in the Bloodstained series, dubbed The Scarlet Engagement. The game was unveiled back in June 2025 with a story trailer, and is expected to feature a similar style of Metroidvania gameplay with some of its new features on top.

In his own social media message, Bloodstained series producer Koji Igarashi wrote about having worked with Iida since the development of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. He recalled the time he spent working alongside Iida, and thanked the latter for having supported him for over 20 years.

“Since Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, we had been working together,” he wrote (via machine translation). “It would not be an exaggeration to say that many of the titles hailed as masterpieces could not have been achieved without his contributions. His talent was unparalleled.”

“I feel that the success of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was largely due to his strong support. Before I knew it, he had been supporting me for over 20 years. He was a person who always thought about the games and approached production with a passion that burned like his very life.”

Later on in the post, Igarashi also spoke about the development of Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, calling it a “precious work infused with [Iida’s] spirit.”

“So as not to disappoint him, we will carry on his legacy and complete it with care,” he wrote. “We kindly ask for your continued support and encouragement as always. Our thoughts are with the bereaved family, and we sincerely pray for his soul.”

Generally speaking, the Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement will be an evolution on top of the foundations laid down by Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The title will seemingly feature a similar style of metroidvania gameplay that melds sidescrolling platforming with fast-paced action, epic boss fights, and even plenty of exploration.

According to the trailer’s description, the game Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement will take place years before the events of Ritual of the Night. The protagonist this time around is Leo, who is teaming up with the Black Wolves in order to storm the Ethereal Castle and take on the rising darkness.

Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement doesn’t yet have a release date aside from a 2026 window.

The final update adds the long-awaited Chaos and Versus modes. The former supports local or online co-op, where you play through rooms with random arrangements of enemies and bosses, earning upgrades.

Versus is PvP, but it’s a rather unique approach. Both players will face waves of enemies and earn Souls to upgrade their weapons and armor on top of effects that hinder their opponent (like fog or reversing the controls). The first player to survive emerges victorious. Versus supports local and online play alongside matchmaking, but cross-platform multiplayer isn’t available in either mode.

Version 1.5 also brings three paid cosmetic packs and a free pack, which allows Miriam to dress like Shantae from WayForward’s classic platforming series. Though this is the final update, ArtPlay is still working on premium DLC Classic 2: Dominique’s Curse, which doesn’t have a release window. Stay tuned for more details on this in the coming weeks.

A few days before that, Madden NFL 24 will join the Game Pass library on February 8. Specifically, it will be available for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers via EA Play (on console and PC). A day before that (i.e. today), Dovetail Games’ Train Sim World 4 will become available for subscribers on console, cloud, and PC.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is another notable title included in this month’s lineup, and arrives a week from now, on February 14, for console, PC, and cloud. Meanwhile, A Little to the Left and PlateUp! will be added on February 15, while Return to Grace arrives on February 20.

Igarashi talks about upcoming content for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night being delayed because of technical difficulties, as well as the effects of COVID-19 over the last few years. According to Shutaro, work on an online mode for the game is currently underway.

The video goes on to show off the online mode, which seems to revolve around a competitive speed-running mode where two players will co-operatively go through the level, and at the end, each player will be scored and rewarded for their performance throughout the level.

The video also showcases new paid DLC coming to the game, including new costumes and Classic Mode 2 (which is heavily inspired by Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest). The video ends with Igarashi and Iida celebrating the fact that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

While development on the sequel has been going on for a while, the first game is still getting update since ArtPlay is still fulfilling the various stretch goals promised by the game’s original Kickstarter campaign.

The former sees two players co-oping and completing random objectives, from not using Special Moves to slaying all enemies. VS is a more competitive mode where they collect and spend Souls while killing enemies and nabbing bonuses. Players can also customize their appearances. There will be more details for multiplayer on September 14th.

As for premium content, three new costumes are coming, and Classic Mode 2, Dominique’s Curse, was announced. The latter sees Dominique as a playable character, exploring Limbo and fighting off monsters and bosses (including a returning foe from Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon). A release date for the new content wasn’t announced, so stay tuned.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android and Amazon Luna. Check out our review here.

The new section, dubbed The Tunnels, is hidden behind a secret entrance. The Tunnels is inspired by the imagery and level design of thatgamecompany’s critically-acclaimed Journey. The Tunnels features a cavernous maze, culminating in a fight against the level’s guardian.

To be able to access this new area, players will have to have freed Gebel and unlocked the Den of Behemoths. Upon doing so, players’ maps will indicate the location of the entrance to The Tunnels.

Alongside this collaboration with Journey, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night also got an update fixing various bugs, including issues with the randomiser, and a timestamp error on the Nintendo Switch version of the game.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.

Transported into the world of Bloodstained without knowing why, Aurora fights with the Sword of Matildis. Her companion Igniculus is also close and can either slow enemies temporarily or heal Aurora. Johannes is also around for transmuting items and helps to improve Aurora’s abilities with Shards.

Aurora will also age as the journey progresses and bosses are defeated, conferring abilities like hovering. Overall, it should be interesting to see how her play-style affects one’s playthrough. For more details on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, check out our review for the base game here.

Aurora wields the Sword of Matildis and has Johannes to transmute items from chests. She also wields the Light Ray skill while Igniculus either slows enemies or heals Aurora. Upon gathering Shards from enemies, Aurora’s abilities can improve. Additional abilities are unlocked upon defeating bosses while aging will provide more movement abilities and access to other areas.

Update 1.30 goes live tomorrow for PC, PS4 and Xbox One with Nintendo Switch players receiving it at a later date. Stay tuned in the meantime. For more details on the base game, check out our review here. ArtPlay confirmed in June 2021 that a sequel was in the works, albeit in the “very early planning stages.”

Developer ArtPlay recently took to Twitter to confirm that while a sequel to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is being worked on, right now, it’s “in the very early planning stages.” Which is to say that the game is still a long way off from release, since it sounds like it’s still in early pre-production right now.

That said, it’s not like there’s nothing for Bloodstained fans to look forward to. The developer also states that currently, the development team is largely focused on creating new upcoming content for the first game- though, of course, stops short of sharing what that content exactly is.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android.

Regarding recent reports, @505_Games and @ArtplayEN are in very early planning stages for a #Bloodstained sequel. However, current development resources are focused on completing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's upcoming content. We have a lot planned for you. pic.twitter.com/yPV0n31gBX

— Bloodstained: RotN (@SwordOrWhip) June 4, 2021