Rumored Castlevania remake could resemble Bloodborne
Sony's next-gen exclusives could be spookier than anyone ever expected as they strive to emulate the best Lovecraftian horror game in recent memory.
Sony might be in the process of acquiring a handful of iconic Konami franchises to reboot as PlayStation 5 exclusives, and in addition to rumors about a Silent Hill revival, a new and somewhat sketchy rumor claims that Sony also wants to revive a classic action-adventure gothic horror series by emulating Bloodborne, one of the single best games from 2015.
A rumor recounted last week from Jack of All Controllers resurfaced an anonymous post originally published in mid-January on less-than-trustworthy forum 4chan. These alleged leaks were largely ignored for months until the trustworthy leaker and online publisher AestheticGamer revealed that they'd heard from sources familiar with that matter that Sony wanted to revive Silent Hill from its nearly six-year hiatus for the PS5, but also that the company wanted to acquire the rights to the Metal Gear and Castlevania franchises.
"Castlevania. Full reboot," the original 4chan post reads. "Shutaro Iida x Koji Igarashi x Sony Japan project. Very Bloodborne style. I think more like Lords of Shadow. Not 2D. PS5 exclusive.”
Iida and Igarashi have both worked on Bloodstained and Castlevania games previously, and if this Japanese leaker claiming to be a Konami employee is correct, then the Castlevania reboot would emulate the excellent Bloodborne developed by FromSoftware, which similar to the studio's Dark Souls games but deals heavily in Lovecraftian horror.
In 'Bloodborne,' you play as a nameless Hunter who enters a city being consumed by a literal nightmare.
A Bloodborne-esque Castlevania under Shutaro Iida and Koji Igarashi could be just what the series needs to really shine as it adopts a more fluid, responsive approach to combat that's challenging like classic games in the series but also deeply responsive.
These different reports also specifically mentioned that a Silent Hill reboot has been under development for a year already under video game artist Masahiro Ito, who worked as the background and creature designer for the past four Silent Hill games. That would come alongside the revival of Hideo Kojima’s famously canceled Silent Hills title that never made it to market because of the Death Stranding creator’s public falling out with Konami.
A portion of this information closely aligned with the January 4chan post, which gave the anonymous claims a bit more credibility. Here’s the post in full:
“Hello, I’m an employee from Konami (Sorry for my bad english).
I heard (for a little moment) that Sony wants to buy franchises such as Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Castlevania.
They want to remake MG1 and MG2: SS (just ideologically after the fifth part is suitable). Kojima is involved. PS5 exclusive.
Silent Hill x Keiichiro Tyama (Sony, Gravity Rush/Siren/Silent Hill 1) x Masahiro Ito. Soft reboot. PS5 exclusive. Maybe Ikumi Nakamura involved (She’s with SIE now).
Castlevania. Full reboot. Shutaro Iida x Koji Igarashi x Sony Japan project. Very Bloodborne style. I think more like Lords of Shadow. Not 2D. PS5 exclusive.”
The anonymous poster claims that Sony is also trying to get two Metal Gear games off the ground with Kojima, but it didn’t mention the revival of Silent Hills specifically.
A “soft reboot” of Silent Hill in collaboration with industry veterans who have previously worked on the series is also included in this batch of leaks. That includes Ito, who tweeted in January that he had been hired as a “core member” for an unnamed title that he said he hopes “won’t be cancelled.” That tweet could have been a cheeky reference to the cancellation of Konami and Kojima’s Silent Hills.
Concept art for 'Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge.'
The fighting in the most recently released Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 was described to be similar to the God of War games by IGN and it looks similar to Devil May Cry title, so between that and the Bloodborne reference, that paints a very interesting picture of what the next Castlevania might look like. Sony might try appealing to diehard fans of fast-paced combat games like these. Many recently successful games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Jedi: Fallen Order also included quick, reaction-based combat, so this model of gameplay is definitely in vogue.
Sony’s PS5 exclusive lineup could be spookier and more action-packed than any of us expected.
