Release: 2024
Developer/Publisher: Konami
Gameplay Stats: 77 hours, 52/52 achievements
Konami did the thing again! They re-released all of the DS Castlevania games in a collection like they did with the Advance games a few years ago. How do they hold up? Listing in the order I played them.
Order of Ecclesia- I think this is my favorite of the bunch this time. You play as a woman that can absorb glyphs from fallen enemies so you can change up your magic arsenal as well as your your equipment. It's cool that you get to rescue villagers from the various levels and they populate the town that you get to check in on between levels. This game has a world map with various small levels that all contain secrets as well as a giant Dracula's Castle level that is as big as the entirety of other games. I felt like I really got to sink my teeth into this game, it was a good time. The plot being slightly more complicated than "go kill Dracula" was also good.
Portrait of Ruin- I felt like this was an under appreciated gem back when I played on release, but now I'm not so sure. I think this game was the weakest of the 3 but I did really enjoy that Dracula's Castle contained paintings that led to distinct maps. Having more distinct areas to explore let the developers play around a bit more and it felt cool. I do wish that the portraits were all unique instead of having dark/negative versions of the 4 paintings. I liked the change in theming, but not really being able to change characters. It made for too much menuing in my opinion. Changing up 2 sets of gear and equipable spells/skills was too much. Interesting story though.
Dawn of Sorrow- Direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, my favorite of the bunch from the Advance collection released a few years ago. I think this game was the middle of the bunch. The plot was probably the most interesting since it followed the person tapped to be Dracula's successor instead of the Belmont successor and how he undermines a plan to make him into the master of Dracula's castle. I didn't really like that the souls had multiple levels depending on how many of each enemy's souls you collect, it seemed like it led to a lot of grinding. It really seems like this game was the inspiration to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night now that I think on it.
The achievements for these games made you play through each one again as the 'bonus character' that unlocks after completing the game the first time. I have mixed feelings about it. It really did highlight the action systems that were built here, but all of the bonus characters feel pretty severely paired down compared to the first playthrough of the games. No changing equipment, very small ability to change spells/sub-weapons. I didn't really use the slowdown or reverse feature in any of my main playthroughs, but I did pretty liberally with the bonus character plays since they felt a bit more tedious. I think I'd recommend the Advanced collection over this one, but I am very glad we have both! Next up we must be getting Symphony of the Night, right??? 2027 will tell.
Comments
Post a Comment