505 Games and Koji Igarashi have given the latest update on the status of the performance improvements promised for the Switch version of Bloodstained: Ritual of The Night.

According to Igarashi, the development team has been making progress on the optimization of the game on Switch. 505 Games Senior Community Manager Jason Ryan also revealed that they have moved resources in order to prioritize the Switch performance improvements.

However, it seems the performance patch will be delayed further, which was expected to roll-out mid-July, as the team now plans to release each and every improvement in one go. Previously, the plan was to release a number of small patches so that players won’t wait much longer for one big update.

Initially we had planned to release a number of small updates to give incremental improvements. After looking at what needs to be accomplished, our goal is to bundle performance improvements into (likely) one patch. Doing so eases the submission process and will result in an overall faster completion. Since this is still in development, we don’t have a firm ETA. We will update everyone when we have a more concrete release window.

That said, a small balance update has been released for the Switch version today which also includes bug fixes and localization improvements.

Lastly, 505 Games shares that no work has been done yet regarding the planned cosmetic DLC. The outfit survey poll is still ongoing and you can read more about it here.

Read on below for the full update:

Development Update: Upcoming Patches and Platform News

As we round into summer’s home stretch, we’ve got some news from IGA and the development team about patches and DLC.

Development Update

Hi everyone, IGA here.

We apologize for the continued inconvenience for certain regions this far after launch. Especially on the Nintendo Switch, we are making progress on the optimization to make sure the gameplay improves. We will do our best to deliver this as soon as possible.

Aside from the improvements, we are also working on the DLC at this very moment.

There have been many changes in the upcoming patch so it might be worth visiting back to it, even if you may have already beaten the game.

Nintendo Switch News

As mentioned above, we have moved resources around to give priority to Switch performance improvements. This includes additional resources from WayForward as well as assistance from the Epic/Unreal team. It’s a slow process, and we apologize for the delay. When we do push out optimizations, we want it to be worth the wait.

This doesn’t mean every single person on the team is typing away on Switch code, but it is currently getting the bulk of dev time.

Initially we had planned to release a number of small updates to give incremental improvements. After looking at what needs to be accomplished, our goal is to bundle performance improvements into (likely) one patch. Doing so eases the submission process and will result in an overall faster completion. Since this is still in development, we don’t have a firm ETA. We will update everyone when we have a more concrete release window.

But there is a smaller Switch update happening today!

Update 1.02 is being pushed live right now and will be available for download any minute. This update includes:

* Bug Fixes and Balance Update #1: Details Here

* Localization Improvements

DLC Survey

“OMG! Why are they working on new DLC when they haven’t even fixed the Switch or the other stretch goals. FAIL!”

Excellent question. Planning comes before the actual work to build new content for the game. The outfit survey gives us an idea of what the community would want from cosmetic DLC…in the future. (Yes, we are aware that some people don’t want any DLC). No work has begun on this and isn’t even on our production calendar yet.

---

Whew, that’s a lot. We still have Zengetsu, our third playable character, and more modes coming, but that’s for another post. Once we complete the updates mentioned above, we will be able to focus all of our resources on those content updates and be able to give proper ETAs on their release.

As always, we appreciate your understanding and patience as we work to improve the game across all platforms.

More to come!

Thanks.

Jason “Question” Ryan

Sr Community Manager – 505 Games