It'll soon be time to don your 'vania hats, team up with not-Alucard and start heading through some dungeons as the in the not too distant future we're going to get the launch of Koji Igarashi's (Iga) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

　　To further increase your anticipation for the game, developers ArtPlay and publishers 505 Games have only gone and revealed the huge host of content that's coming to the game after launch. Most importantly, all of this is completely free content. If you don't want to head over to the website, here's the list:

　　Speedrun ModePure Miriam OutfitBoss Rush ModeOnline & local Co-op and Vs. ModeRoguelike Mode2 Extra Playable CharactersChaos ModeClassic ModeBoss Revenge Mode

　　As to what one of these entails, I've not got the foggiest. What's a Pure Miriam? Does that just mean Miriam will be heading around, fighting in a white wedding dress? The others are fairly self-explanatory, but all being very valuable additions to the game, particularly as they're not going to be paid-for DLC.

　　This isn't to say there aren't any issues at all. There will be some paid-for DLC. Revealed two days ago on Kickstarter, paid-for DLC called Iga's Back Pack which will launch on the 18th of June (25th for Switch). This DLC will include Iga himself as a boss. For those who beat Iga, they'll receive the Swordwhip as a weapon to use in the game.

　　Now, this is somewhat controversial because that content was originally a backer-exclusive for those who backed at $60 upwards. The DLC is being priced at $10, adding to the cost of the game being $40 and I can understand why people are aggrieved that the ones who essentially made the game happen are now paying more than those taking advantage of it. Personally, having exclusive content of that nature, an actual boss and a powerful weapon, is a big no. Still, ArtPlay and 505 should certainly make something, even if only cosmetic, for the Kickstarter backers to offer something to those who rightfully feel hard done by.

　　Pre-empting fan backlash of this decision Roberto Piraino, global brand manager for 505 Games, said this:

　　To try and be as transparent as possible, making this content available to everyone wasn’t just about making money. I mean obviously that’s a part of it, but the chief things I was considering was making sure everyone had a safe and legitimate way to get the full game experience no matter when they find out about Bloodstained, whether that’s 5 months ago or 5 years from now, and that we were being respectful of the price backers originally paid (hence the DLC pricing).

　　As someone who’s pirated games because of bull**** anti-consumer practices, or as a demo to try and then buy (something largely made obsolete by modern refund systems), I wanted to eliminate as many reasons to pirate Bloodstained as possible. All of the above = the “Iga’s Back Pack” DLC. Hope that makes sense. I understand that not everyone will be 100% happy with this decision, but hopefully this helps in understanding the reasoning behind it. And of course all backers entitled to this content will receive the DLC for free.

　　With the raft of post-launch content, the question now is will the base game be up to the quality fans expect without it? We'll know for sure when Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night launches on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One on the 18th of June, with it coming to the Switch a week later on the 25th of June.