Bloodstained’s new playable character and randomizer coming this week

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, one of Polygon’s top 50 games of 2019, will get a free update on Thursday, May 7 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One, with the Nintendo Switch update coming in late May or early June. Players can use a new randomizer mode to mix up their next playthrough of the Symphony of the Night-inspired metroidvania, or play through the game as a new character: the sword-wielding Zangetsu.

Unlike the normal hero of Bloodstained, Miriam, Zangetsu cannot acquire abilities from the enemies he kills, craft new items, use equipment, open treasure chests, or use consumables. Cutscenes aren’t even enabled during a Zangetsu run (because you’ll be doing enough cutting with his big-ass sword). Instead, all of Zangetsu’s damage comes from his blade and some select abilities. To unlock Zangetsu, you need to finish the game and get the “good ending.”

The randomizer is the other new feature in this update. It replaces the once-promised roguelike mode. With this new feature, you can change eight different parameters for your next Bloodstained playthrough: goal, key items, save/warp rooms, items, enemy drops, quests, shops, and crafting.

Depending on what you change, you can craft a completely unique Bloodstained experience for yourself or share the seed with other players. You can change all kinds of settings, making it so key abilities like the double jump can appear inside random enemies instead of a boss.

Between these two features, Bloodstained players have several new ways to re-experience one of 2019’s best games.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.