Last year, in September specifically, a few images surfaced that would rock Castlevania fans right to the core. During the Mighty No. 9 presentation at PAX last year, some printed images were passed around that would hint at a possible new Castlevania game.
Of course, fans being fans, the images were immediately put under a microscope and a few interesting tid bits were found.
One side of the image, particularly, displayed a circular rune with runic symbols and a description that very much read like a Castlevania game.
The bottom paragraph, which actually is the less important aspect of the image, describes this supposed game, with a very deliberate line down the middle.
Prepare yourself, alchemist, for the challenge and deep mystery of _____ the all-new adventure that will turn your world upside-down. (What else would you expect from world-famous game creator, ____?) Travel the lands in your quest to seal ruptures in the fabric of reality itself. Master the dark arts to defeat the demons theatening all of mankind and gain their skills, forging new weapons from the previous materials they leave behind. Because yes, alchemist, there will be blood. The only question is will it be yours, or theirs?
Sure, sounds Castlevania-ish sure enough. But it's the rune above it which apparently held a secret message. Turns out, those rune symbols actually spell out a sentence.
Sure, the argument can be made that those symbols already somewhat resembled our alphabet, but I'm still extremely impressed that someone was able to figure this out. But this alone didn't provide all pieces of the puzzle.
The backside of the original image also had some contents on it. I won't post the entire thing, but instead just show you a screencap of where the important information is.
There is in fact a Twitter user by the name of Quarterwomann, one who mysteriously started to be active on May 1, after only one post since September. May 1st, also being the day which the original Castlevania released in 1987. Quarterwomann is also assumed to be the user IGAVANIA on two different Castlevania forums, posting two halves of an image that combine to make the runic circle found above, with the quote:
The first sign rises with the full moon.
Soon, I will return.
Of course, many immediately assumed that this means the Kickstarter would go live during a full moon, which happened to be on May 3rd. Well… It's already the day after and still no wind of a new Kickstarter from Igarashi-san.
But things aren't so bleak after all. The two halves of an image that combined to make one, is actually the basis of a site called swordorwhip.com, where users can either choose a sword or whip as their weapon. After doing so, the Igarashi Dracula avatar in the middle usually says some sort of witty remark. You can even continue choosing your weapon until you're given a name and clan. I for instance am Eligos the Egotistic of the Rapier Clan. Of course, both weapons are iconic to the Castlevania franchise, with the whip being tied to the very first Castlevania game, while the sword could easily be tied to Symphony of the Night.
What's promising about this is that sometimes the Iga-Dracula avatar states this:
All we have to do now is be patient, and wait for a supposed Kickstarter announcement next week. While Igarashi-san can't call the game Castlevania, due to Konami still owning the rights, this could be a situation similar to Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9 game, which in essence is very much a Mega Man game, but couldn't be called that due to Capcom's ownership of the Blue Bomber.
Are you excited for a Castlevania-like revival? Especially one coming from the father of Symphony of the Night? Sign me up!
*Disclaimer: I fully intend to back the hell out of this game if and when the Kickstarter campaign goes live.
