Cheat Mode

I feel this will invite a lot of negativity towards Bloodstained's challenge factor, if this mode can be accessed before at least going through the game once straight.

In other words, once (casual) players know of this, some will go and complain that this game in general is too easy and write it off similarly. Iga will not be cool with that, I'm fairly certain.

But I can see this realistically being implemented as DLC (or through an amiibo) and less likely as a traditionally unlocked feature by completing one game cycle.

Well, the main thing about a mode like this to me is that the game will be inherently designed to adjust its own difficulty the more you play it. I don't see it working out for a few reasons:

Nevermind the grinding/difficulty of things - the player is missing the discovery/enjoyment of new things and seeing what's possible. Even with the option to choose/not to choose this mode for the player, the temptation will be too great for many to see and experience these things, and in doing so they lose their interest or motivation (besides plain enjoyment/surprise) of getting those things in the main game. This can work if they're given and then taken away early on as with SotN and Metroid games (yet even in that case, it's not max/best stuff) 
If it's only unlocked after clearing the main game/challenges, then by this time you have already seen the story cutscenes and you're essentially getting the same thing as New Game+. If you want to explore a new story path, have a friend or family member play and have an easier time, or just mess around in a "god mode" fashion, NG+ covers those bases.
So much of the game's flow and progression leads you to important items/weapons/"souls" that in the event you have everything from the start, the game's direction will be hard to follow or not make sense. If you're intended to have a powerful x at a key part of the game, the narrative/stages will likely lead the character to a spot where that will be, and it not being there will be equally both disappointing and frustrating. I don't just mean progression abilities, but things like Claimh Solais, finding that uber obscure hidden wall and there's nothing there because you already have it, the HP/MP-up and weapon areas being empty rooms (or irrelevant) because you already have max things/best things already in your stats/inventory.

The game would be a jumbled mess of "everywhere is a dead end where things I would have gotten are gone, where do I actually go?" At this point, the person probably would go on to do what they would originally otherwise do anyway: watch everything on youtube lol


Now, NG+ isn't quite "god mode" in the sense that your levels/stats are maxed and you have for sure the most powerful gear as proposed. In that case, the game will not feel progressively more challenging. Max stats/best gear in an Igavania game means you literally can't be defeated unless you leave the system unattended during a fight or something. For Symphony's system in particular and the other games a bit less so, the ceiling is extremely high (and extremely hard to reach) to where you only take <1, somewhere to a decimal point of damage at a time that the game rounds up to 1.

The later IGA games had a less crazy stat progression system than SotN and some things could still be dangerous, but those are only a few exceptions and from what has been said, SotN seems like the model for the idea of "all players should be able to clear/have fun with this if they stick with it" and has been cited as around what to expect iirc.

I think this would/can work better somewhat for a more traditional and linear RPG, but the spirit of Bloodstained is one more of seeing what's in the castle at a less pre-determined pace, so that in starting out with everything, rather than saving time, you've more already played most of the game as above - empty rooms and lack of direction.

edit: Note these are my thoughts and not a staff resposne of course