After the abysmal release of Mighty No. 9, which is getting pelted by critics and gamers day in and day out, a lot of core gamers nearly gave up on Kickstarter. It seemed like millions of dollars down the drain for a game that failed to deliver, even when utilizing one of the most cost-efficient game engines on the market today. However, Koji Igarashi managed to salvage some face for the crowd-funding culture by releasing a demo of his Kickstarted project, Bloodstained, which is a true throwback to the classic Castlevania titles.

DualShockers picked up a video from YouTuber Lunamorte who posted a half hour video of Bloodstained in action, rekindling the fire of trust and nostalgia in the hearts of gamers. You can check out the footage below from the backer’s demo to see how the game is played and what the team has managed to put together so far.

The animations for the running and jumping look pretty stiff, but I’m glad they went with 3D because they can still retool and iterate the animations so that they can better represent the sprites as they refine the game closer to release.

The actual character design looks decent enough, but what really strikes me is the art-style of the characters. The gothic anime design is very fitting. The lighting still needs a lot of work, but the backdrops look great, and the texture and geometry details are pretty much spot on.

The menus, special effects and GUI setup all have a very distinct, polished look. The enemies are also very detailed; they almost look like 2D sprite designs, which is a testament to the artist’s capabilities. Hopefully they can further refine the main character so that she has the same kind of blend as the enemies — with that smooth, water-colored sprite look.

The combat animations also still need a lot of work, but it shows promise.

Basically, the game looks like it’s on the right track. They just need animations that don’t look like stock rigs, and smoother combat, and they should be all set. The RPG elements look to be good and in place, and the leveling and item scavenge is definitely present.

So long as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night doesn’t get downgraded, they can only go up from here on out. They still have a year to go before the game’s release rolls around, and based on what they’ve implemented so far, I would say they’re well ahead of schedule (assuming they don’t get jammed on the combat or something ridiculous like online leaderboards). For more info feel free to check out the game’s Kickstarter page.