Shutaro Ida has passed away aged 52 after a one-and-a-half year battle against pancreatic cancer. The news was announced by his family via a statement on Ida’s official X account on February 15. Longtime colleague Koji Igarashi has vowed to finish the designer and director’s upcoming metroidvania Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, the sequel to 2019’s Castlevania-infused Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Shutaro Ida (sometimes romanized as Shutaro Iida) worked at Konami from 1996 to 2015, mainly as a programmer. His biggest contribution was to the Castlevania series. Starting with the GBA title Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and PS2 game Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Ida played a key role in bringing the gothic action games into the sixth and seventh console generations, even directing Castlevania: Harmony of Despair on Xbox 360 and PS3. He was also a lead programmer on Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain.
Upon the invitation of former Castlevania series producer Koji “Iga” Igarashi, Ida joined ArtPlay, the indie dev company Igarashi co-founded. There, Ida designed and directed the crowdfunded game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, with Igarashi as producer. The game was well-received, and widely seen as a spiritual successor to the Castlevania series. In our review, we gave it 8.8, noting it “plays and feels almost exactly like the legendary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.”
Reflecting upon two decades of making games with Ida, Igarashi noted in his tribute: “I’ve been working with him ever since Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. It’s not an exaggeration to say that many games hailed as masterpieces would not have succeeded without his contributions. His talent was exceptional.”
“I feel that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night’s success was also in a large part down to his incredible support,” Igarashi continued. “Looking back, he’s been supporting me for over 20 years. He was the kind of person who always thought about games, tackling game development like he was burning his life away. I hope he can rest peacefully now as he was always running at full throttle.”
Ida’s final game, Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement is still in development and is due out later this year. Igarashi described it as an invaluable work that Ida poured himself into. “We will take on his aspirations for the game and see that it is properly completed, so as not to disappoint him.”
Ida last tweeted back on January 30, saying that he felt the end was near as he was getting weaker each day. He finished with a simple request: “Please love Bloodstained 2 and all the games I made.”
The statement from Ida’s family echoed this sentiment: “Shutaro’s adventures in this world have come to an end, but his creations remain. We would be happy if people could continue to enjoy the games he made.”
Image credit: Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement YouTube channel.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
