Inti Creates returns once again with another Classicvania. This time it's not Curse of the Moon 3 but it is instead Grim Guardians, a game that, of all things, is a GalGun spin-off, which makes this game one of the funniest games out there conceptually. Just the simple thought that the ecchi rail shooter series put out a pretty banger Classicvania with a surprising amount of (pixelated) blood is hilarious. It's also worth noting that the game isn't anywhere near as degenerate as actual GalGun, though it's association does still show. Just way less.

If you ask me, this game easily clears both Curse of the Moon games in basically almost everything. It is visually more appealing, level design is better, combat is better. It even does the "second loop" thing better, which is surprising because i would've normally taken off points for that. Combat is the main thing though, both Shinobu and Maya just click and the game is well balanced between the two of them (Penguin V2 kinda breaks the game but whatever). I really like that you gain additional subweapons after each boss, which sounds standard, but in both CotM games, you could only have one subweapon and some characters lived and died by which one they had. Like Robert was ass unless you found the rapid fire pistols. Stuff like that isn't the case here, although Maya does have the better sub-weapons (but Shinobu does have a really good hookshot). Bosses are cool.

Unlike most Classicvanias i think, this game allows you to backtrack inside a level most of the time. This is necessary, especially in the second loop if you want to see everything there is. I liked finding additional upgrades and the missing students and i especially liked that the missing students hang out later in the game and they each have their own name and design. What i don't like is that this game is a Classicvania that kinda tries to be a Metroidvania. The only map you get is the area previews at the start of each one. So when you consider that there is shit to find here, it makes you wonder why you can't just pull up a map in-game. There's a compass and it's actually pretty damn useful when combined with taking a screenshot of each map but honestly, it's not ideal. It's not as bad as it sounds though. I was frustrated with that aspect at first but i mellowed out. It's not that deep. I am not 100%'ing the game tho lol.

Because of that though, i think this may end up being one of the longer, if not longest Inti Creates games. Going for the normal end can probably be done in one day but if you want to get at least all the upgrades and items and save every student, you'll be here for a bit longer. Only other Inti Creates game i can think even lasted that long was Blaster Master Zero 1, which required you to find all the upgrades if you wanted the true end. "Long" by Inti Creates standards is like 10 hours at most lol.

Once again, Inti takes another W.

If you really liked Inticreates' Bloodstained games, and are itching to play another Castlevania-like, then I'd recommend Grim Guardians.

What ends up being Grim Guardians' double edged sword is how it tries to imitate Rondo of Blood. The game isn't a metroidvanaia but it does allow you to backtrack to older levels to find secrets and collectibles that you might have missed. The issue I have with this is that there is a lot to collect and the game does very little to let you know how much you've collected other than the initial collectibles you 100% need to get the Normal Ending. The other two ending require a lot more backtracking and collectible hunting and the game doesn't do a great job of letting you know how close you are to fining every collectible in a given level. I went through the levels around 4 times each and I still can't find the last two or three things I need to fully complete this game and its annoying how something like this could have been a little bit more accessible with just a little but more information on the map screen or on the pause menu.

Grim Guardians started out as what I'd consider one of Inticreates' best games but after playing it for hours and hours just trying to find the last few collectibles really soured my experience. And to reiterate: I'm not mad that the collectibles that I missed are hard to find, I'm mad that there isn't a really great way to track how many collectibles I need to find.

I picked up Grim Guardians because I love the classic style of castlevania and while it does scratch that itch decently the problems of this game hold it back from being anything but mediocre. For starters the first playthrough is rather dull and easy. Then you have to play through it again to get an ending which then opens up item upgrades and the collectibles. The enemies get stale quickly and the bosses while decent don't offer much of a threat. Switching between characters is really fun though because each compliments each other rather nicely. The levels are pretty big and while it's not a metroidvania per se it does have many paths and secrets to explore.

Now is where the game really loses points with me. There are a lot of collectibles that you need in order to get the good ending and all of the achcievents. The problem is that they are littered throughout the whole game which forces you to play through everything again. Then if your a completionist you need to find and collect all the students and panty collectibles which are massive and one only spawns when you find the other. This makes a really annoying treck back and forth looking for items with no map system or any clue where to go. It's a really annoying and I became quickly frustrated. If you can pick this up cheap and play it casually it might be worth it but really it's a hard recomendation.

I'm down bad for a Castlevania which resulted in me playing this. Its a solid Vania. Saw some people on The Internet mad that its not a metroidvania but that seemed pretty obvious to me from the trailer. The characters are both fun and unique; its not a one to one to Portrait of Ruin's "physical and magical" set up. Bosses are a hoot too and pretty tough on the second run. I could have done without the pervert shit in the second run though. I guess that's my fault for buying a GalGun adjacent game but it sure seemed like it was going to be normal based on the trailers and first few hours.

man i wish someone would just make a new portrait of ruin

(i generally like the inti sidescrollers ive played and this looked castlevania-ish so i did no research on this before getting it. unfortunately this means i didnt realize it was a spinoff of some ecchi series, so i really didn't like the story or setting. this game is definitely a sequel to their curse of the moon games, (of which i only played the first and only kind of liked) and plays a lot like them.

the music was bad the whole way through, the levels were standard and not that interesting, and the bosses were a fair challenge but the rest of the game being so :/ really brought them down to me. unlocking new abilities to get around stages was kind of fun, but they were all just awkward enough to use that they never felt all that freeing or exciting to use.)

well if nothing else, this game has at least kind of put me in the mood to go back to/restart touhou luna nights, so that's something i guess