This game did not give a good impression to start, but it ended up being a really competent and fun Castlevania-like. There is a fair amount of optional content and decisions to make that affect your abilities. The art is good overall but there is the occasional spot where it doesn't look like it was polished. The difficulty is a good challenge although you have to have patience since classic saving will only take you back to the last save. It's little more forgiving still since you can collect max lives as upgrades and grind if you really need to. I think the classic Castlevania formula done well is a really fun time and this did a pretty bang up job.