I have a story to tell…

I am instantly reminded of when I was a child, in my room, taking a spiral notebook and using markers to draw out the stages of my Castlevania game. You see, since the late 1980’s, Castlevania has been my favorite video game franchise. Sure, I definitely enjoyed many others which include Mega Man, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy and many more. But it was Castlevania that spoke to me the most. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the dark and gothic theme. Or the monster movie creatures (I did enjoy watching horror movies growing up). Either way, with each installment, my appreciation for the franchise just grew more and more.

It all began when I played the very first in the series for the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES) at my cousin’s house. I hadn’t heard of the game but was enjoying it quite a bit. Then not too long later, I was able to enjoy the second installment, Simon’s Quest, at another cousin’s house. But things wouldn’t change until one summer, using my birthday money, I bought Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse from K-Mart. My entire video game playing world forever changed. From that point on, I was hooked. Of course, I went back and bought the first two but would continue to buy every new release as it came out.

Now, fast forward to 1994. It was the year Castlevania: Bloodlines came out for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. In Europe, it was referred to as Castlevania: The New Generation and in Japan, Vampire Killer. There was something about this game that immediately made it my favorite in the franchise. And it very much still is. The characters, the sprite art and level design, the music. It was all amazing but sadly, it didn’t receive much love at the time. Super Castlevania 4 for the Super Nintendo (or SNES) was grabbing all of that attention.

One of the best parts to Castlevania: Bloodlines is that they introduced two entirely new characters to the series: John Morris and Eric Lecarde. And that was it. They weren’t spoken of until over a decade later with the release of Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS in 2006. And even then, while it was a good game, I didn’t feel that same spark that I did with Bloodlines many years earlier.

So, where does that bring us? I feel like Konami (a great company putting out great games) sort of dropped the ball with these characters, especially with our spear wielding, Eric Lecarde. This is where The Cult of Blood comes into the picture. It isn’t a Castlevania game. Nor will it ever be. It is its own series with its own storyline and game mechanics. However, in the series, we do follow the Lecardi (notice the minor spelling adjustment) bloodline and their many exploits across historical Europe.

The Cult of Blood is my way of bringing those childhood dreams to fruition.