Bloodborne Kart took the world by storm when it was revealed a couple of years back. Taking the iconic Bloodborne setting and characters, demaking them into a PS1-era style and throwing them into a kart racer was the perfect recipe for viral success — however, what started as an April Fool’s Joke quickly became the foundations for a real game.

Sadly, after creator Lilith Walther built a team to develop this wacky kart racer, Sony’s legal team came knocking, and Walther was forced to remove the Bloodborne branding and create a game that, while thematically similar, was not what was initially intended.

Lots Of Positives Came From The Rebrand

In a recent interview with Game Rant, Walther shared that she wasn’t “glad it happened” but that “there have been lots of positives.”

In losing the Bloodborne name, Walther shared that she could now do things that Bloodborne had opted not to do. For example, she “wanted to use” roses, something absent from FromSoft’s PS4 classic. She was also able to reinvent some of the game’s side characters, like the messengers being converted into skeletons with a giant eyeball for a head, as well as changing some of the environments, including adding numbers onto the infamous and previously bare Astral Clocktower.

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So, What Changes Did The Team Have To Make?

With just a month until the game’s May 31 release date, Walther told Game Rant that the team were around 40% of the way through the mammoth rebranding process, which included changing the game’s characters, story, environments and key items.

The rebranding process had three tiers, ranging from a simple palette swap to full character remodels. Micolash, for example, was rebranded to Nicholas and fell into the first tier of changes, receiving a new color scheme and hair color and changing the cage adorned on his head to a birdcage, complete with its very own bird. Lady Maria, a fellow hunter and another of the game’s bosses, became Mistress Marie, falling into the second rebranding tier, with major changes to her silhouette and a new hat, replacing the old iconic Victorian headpiece.

While character models and the environment required major changes, so did Nightmare Kart’s story, which had previously, and unsurprisingly, been heavily Bloodborne-focused. Walther told Game Rant, “The pressure is off because it’s a Kart Racer; you’re not really here for the story. I am having a good time writing everything and making sure everything connects and fits together.” Despite the changes, she shared that the game will still feature a full campaign where players can “take on bosses”.

Nightmare Kart will be released for free on May 31, available on Itchio and Steam.