In a recent post, Shutaro Ida, the director of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer. Ida, who previously worked on the Castlevania DS games, will unfortunately be stepping down from his role as director on the upcoming Bloodstained sequel. In the post, Ida stated the following:
“I, Shutaro, also known as Curry Boy and Curry Sage, have been diagnosed with cancer and have now begun my battle with the disease. I had already started discussing the sequel to Bloodstained and I have various ideas for the game. From now on, I will hand over this work to others. Thank you for your support.”
Castlevania and Bloodstained producer Koji Igarashi further commented on the news:
“Up until now, the DS [Castlevania] series and Bloodstained have been produced primarily by director Shutaro. They can truly be called his works. It is a great blow that he is stepping away from the project, but we will do our best to make up for this. We hope that he will recover soon so we can work together again.”
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a beloved spiritual successor to Koji Igarashi and Konami’s Castlevania franchise. Funded through Kickstarter, the game is available on major platforms including PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS.
One of the game’s most recent major updates, Version 1.5, added Chaos mode, VS mode, and three new paid cosmetic packs for Miriam, one of which being based on beloved platforming character, Shantae. A sequel is currently in development and will release at some point in the coming years. It is unknown who will direct the upcoming project.
Final Weapon wishes Shutaro Ida the best of luck in fighting this disease.
