It’s time for a new Castlevania adventure. It’s sure been a while since we got the last one so I had to pre order this right away. I haven’t been a fan of the series since it started though, I really just got into it recently thanks to all of the collections that came out. I was curious how this one would handle quality of life features and things like that. Well, I can happily say that this title really stuck the landing in every way possible. The graphics and gameplay are extremely smooth and the Metroidvania or should I say Castlevania elements are as good as ever. You feel stronger as you traverse the castle with your level ups and power ups. Additionally you have the roguelite elements here where you can die anywhere and it warps you to your last respawn point. You never lose any progress.

That’s right, you don’t lose any currency, exp, items, etc. That takes a load off of you because now you can just enjoy the adventure. You can take more risks and fight really aggressively with the knowledge that you will return. I absolutely understand how some wouldn’t like that but personally I think this was a great way to approach the game. As you play, you will continue learning the enemy movements and will be dying less and less.

The general plot sees Rose and her father summoned to Paris. Dracula is about to return and as the last Belmonts it is their job to destroy him. Unfortunately it won’t be easy as Dracula’s minions are all assembled to stop any invaders. Rose has always had the potential to be the next most powerful Belmont but she will have to realize that potential right now. There is no further time for training or preparation. Along the way she can capture any boss that she defeats which forces them to be her allies and use their abilities in her service.

This also makes for some pretty nice banter. Like Medusa intentionally giving the wrong advice all the time. She may be forced to help Rose physically but verbally there is no such requirement. That was a nice change of pace. The story is definitely solid with a lot of great voice acting all the way. Dracula and Death make for really solid villains as always. They really have the personality and aura farming down as a fine art.

The visuals are also really good. The backgrounds really pop out at you and the main art style is fairly similar to Hades. It may not match that legendary title but rather than be a knock against the game, I would say that it is a pretty good copy. The game also has a few cinematics which are solid and multiple endings which is always a lot of fun. Even after you beat the game, there are plenty of routes for replay value as you try to get to the true ending. Don’t expect this to be a quick journey.

As mentioned before, the gameplay is super good. It feels very satisfying to be crushing all of the enemies that get in your way. Additionally the various movement options like air dashing means that the rooms never feel too large. There are quite a lot of platforming traps along the way too. More so than in any other Castlevania game so I hope you are good at jumping around. If you’ve played Mario Maker then that will definitely help. The game doesn’t hold your hands as all here.

Now at one point there started to be a few puzzles and I was getting worried but then they vanish as quickly as they show up. They are mainly present in the astrology chapter and I gotta say those puzzles were a little too complicated. I just had to spend a grinding session trying all star alignments until I got to the answer. I still don’t get what they were talking about with the picture hints. Yeah this game should stick to the combat.

My favorite weapon to use was the cross that you throw forward but gradually I had to start using the fire blast because of how many aerial foes there were. My favorite item to have equipped on hand was the quick sword but then I stuck to the whip as soon as I unlocked that. The game goes out of its way to make this the strongest weapon in the game and that makes sense. The whole franchise is built upon that assumption after all. If the Belmonts didn’t have the whip then the world would be in a much more dangerous spot.

The music is definitely great as well. You’ve got several remixes here in addition to the original tunes. I would say the original tunes are where the game really shined. I enjoyed the Paris backdrop quite a lot. It’s very mysterious which makes sense with how it has been taken over by the villains. This could easily be leveraged into a whole new saga of games depending on how the true ending wraps things up. I would be eager to play another installment and hope I don’t have to wait 5-10 years for that.

I will say, this might be the only game I can think of where the intangibility item is basically pointless. Usually that is one of the strongest abilities since you can walk through everyone but instead it has way too many limitations. Certain objects can hurt you anyway and some bosses can bypass it as well. What is the point in that case? It feels like the kind of item that may have been broken initially and then there was an overcorrection so it ended up being pointless. Ah well, there are plenty of other ways to get really powerful in this game but that just stood out.

You probably just need to try out all the abilities to see which ones are your favorite. In that way the early abilities will always have an advantage because you get them so early that you become used to them. Later on in the game you get a blood ability which is pretty handy. I used it to beat one boss but otherwise I stuck to the older ones. I dunno, they just felt more natural to me by that point.

Overall, Castlevania really returned with a vengeance here. The game is absolutely terrific and I am definitely glad that I got to be here day 1. It’s the kind of title that is just really fun to play and I give credit to the devs for making everything so intuitive. The menus have a great UI, the consistent save points are also well spaced, and the game is a lot of fun to play. There are no real slow points where you want to put the game down for a while. The pacing is always high and there is a lot of bonus content to keep you around. This one has a good bang for your buck and is a terrific title. I highly recommend picking it up.

Overall 8/10