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Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon hits 100,000 downloads with Switch leading the way

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon does a lot to remind players of Castlevania.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon does a lot to remind players of Castlevania.
Image Credit: Inti Creates
@tolkoto

Developer Inti Creates announced on Twitter today that its retro platformer Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon has had over 100,000 downloads since its release on May 24. The Castlevania-inspired side-scroller came out May 24 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, 3DS, and PC.

The Switch version is proving to be the most popular. The platform accounts for 56 percent of the game’s downloads, according to a tweet from the studio.

This continues a trend for the Switch. Indies have been succeeding on Nintendo’s newest console, thanks largely to the convenience of being able to play the Switch on a TV or in portable mode.

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Curse of the Moon is a Kickstarter stretch goal for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a spiritual successor to Castlevania’s non-linear, RPG-style entries (named Metroidvanias by fans). Curse of the Moon takes its inspiration from the older, more linear entries in the Castlevania franchise. Although we knew it was coming because of the Kickstarter, its release came relatively out of the blue and with little fanfare. But that hasn’t stopped Curse of the Moon from getting buzz and downloads.

We don’t know how many of the 100,000 downloads come from Ritual of the Night backers. We’ve reached out to Inti Creates for clarification and will update this story if it responds.

Updated 8:40 p.m. Pacific: Inti Creates clarified that this number does not include backer codes.

Curse of the Moon is clearly resonating with gamers. Konami has stepped back game development, so we haven’t seen a Castlevania game since 2014. It’s been much longer since we’ve had one that played like the 2D classics. Curse of the Moon’s success proves that those games still have an audience. But its success also helps establish the Bloodstained franchise ahead of Ritual of the Night’s release later this year.