Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

We led with a very Metroid game, so it only makes sense to go straight to something far more Castlevania. And you can’t get much more Castlevania than a game made by that franchise’s former producer, Koji Igarashi.

Igarashi left Konami in 2014, but he packed his ideas with him on the way out. That inspired a squillion people to give him $5.5 million on Kickstarter to make a new Castlevania-like, and the widely-loved Bloodstained was the result.

Based on the totally true story of the 18th century Industrial Revolution as it actually happened, Bloodstained tells the tale of how the Alchemy Guild at the time would infuse humans with demonic powers, creating Shardbinders. We play as Miriam, one of two surviving Shardbinders, battling against the other—Gebel—to save England from his vengeful quest.

On release, Kotaku was more critical than most of the game’s failure to advance the formula on which it was based. But it remains a firm fan favorite, with rumors of a sequel always circling.