I missed this. What exactly is this? I’m not even sure myself. Maybe it’s the tight controls and explosive combat, or maybe it’s the gripping atmosphere that never ceases to impress in all of Iga’s works. Whatever it is, this game’s got it. It’s been a long while since I’ve blindly experienced an Igavania, so this was a nice breath of fresh air and more importantly, an escape. I’ve recently been yearning for a game to play that would dissipate the thick anxious fog that has been surrounding my mind as of recent, something to sink my teeth into and play without any consideration for real world duties. Castlevania is the franchise that usually satisfies that hunger for me, and thankfully this game was no exception.

While at first the explorative nature of this series may be a bit lacking in the beginning of HARMONY OF DISSONANCE, by the end it definitely picks up. In SOTN, after the first two bosses you’re greeted with an item that greatly expands your playing field, so it’s definitely jarring to enter the expansive castle in this game and be perplexed as to why almost every area you try to explore has locked doors or jumps you can’t make yet.
Progression here is…definitely a bit lacking. I don’t think it’s bad but it’s a bit questionable. The two castles gimmick gets old rather quickly and while paced into the game flow nicely, still ends up being a bore sometimes due to you exploring the same exact areas again but with different enemies. The Vlad parts also seem like an afterthought? Like they’re not obtained by beating bosses and finding them is weirdly cryptic and/or mindless. Two of them are hidden behind an invisible path in a wall which you would have no clue how to get through without the use of a guide, while the other three are just in a random room you walk into. They’re also each only in one castle which is annoying. Doesn’t help that the bosses overall are not good. None of them have fun patterns to dodge, as you can easily get a sub weapon combined with a spell book and tear through them in under a minute.
I may seem very negative towards this game but as said in the opening I still really enjoyed it! The great controls, sexy dash move, visual presentation, music, and exploring the castle are already inherently fun to me. I wish I had more unique positives to say, but that’s kinda it. This game is good because fundamentally it’s a Castlevania game and reuses some pre-established ideas from previous entries (SOTN prominently). Halfway through development I bet they realized exploring the base castle was already way too short so they added a carbon copy and frequent oddly key-required doors to extend game time.
Also this game’s OST is not the best, but still heavily underrated; Offense and Defense is such a banger.