What is a game? An enjoyable little pile of amusement. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the embodiment of this statement. Saying what this game gets right is very hard to do, because of how much there is. Whether it be the gameplay, the environment, the character or the lore, this game does it all. It’s insanely fun to swing around your sword as a half-human half vampire, and levelling up to move through the constantly changing area of Castlevania (Dracula’s Castle) while re-acquiring your old gear and moving up through the level ranks in order to reclaim your former glory is one of the most motivating things I’ve ever seen in a game.
As stated before, after a small callback with Richter Belmont and the final battle of “Castlevania: Rondo of Blood” which happens a couple years before the events of the game, you are instantly placed in the hands of the main character, Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș, son of Dracula known as Alucard, who had previously made his first appearance in “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse” on the NES all those years ago alongside Trevor Belmont (or in the recently released animated adaptation on Netflix.) Because of the fact that it’s already established that Alucard is a powerful force and a strong-willed character, as soon as he wakes up from his 300 year slumber you are already equipped with the strongest gear in the game, but not long after you enter the castle and running into Death (the character) you are instantly ripped away of your powerful gear, to search for the reason why Alucard has woken up and why Richter has not made his appearance to slay his family’s biggest calamity.
Onto the gameplay, now that you have nothing it’s up to you to make your way up to figure out what the hell is going on. You will come across all sorts of enemies and bosses that you may be familiar with from Castlevania and other types of mythology constantly ambushing you and putting you on your toes. As you slowly make your way up through levels and find new equipment to attack and defend yourself with, you have to make sure you explore as much as you can, because some of the bosses (I’m looking at you Maria Renard) can be a bit challenging at some points. My one problem with the game is probably the inverted castle. Although I don’t mind it as much as other people, it can be a bit draining and you may lose some motivation to play through the game every now and then. But I do really like this game, it's fun, it's simple, it knows what it's doing and it's hard to put down. Yuri Lowenthal as Alucard is also fun as hell.
4.5/5
As stated before, after a small callback with Richter Belmont and the final battle of “Castlevania: Rondo of Blood” which happens a couple years before the events of the game, you are instantly placed in the hands of the main character, Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș, son of Dracula known as Alucard, who had previously made his first appearance in “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse” on the NES all those years ago alongside Trevor Belmont (or in the recently released animated adaptation on Netflix.) Because of the fact that it’s already established that Alucard is a powerful force and a strong-willed character, as soon as he wakes up from his 300 year slumber you are already equipped with the strongest gear in the game, but not long after you enter the castle and running into Death (the character) you are instantly ripped away of your powerful gear, to search for the reason why Alucard has woken up and why Richter has not made his appearance to slay his family’s biggest calamity.
Onto the gameplay, now that you have nothing it’s up to you to make your way up to figure out what the hell is going on. You will come across all sorts of enemies and bosses that you may be familiar with from Castlevania and other types of mythology constantly ambushing you and putting you on your toes. As you slowly make your way up through levels and find new equipment to attack and defend yourself with, you have to make sure you explore as much as you can, because some of the bosses (I’m looking at you Maria Renard) can be a bit challenging at some points. My one problem with the game is probably the inverted castle. Although I don’t mind it as much as other people, it can be a bit draining and you may lose some motivation to play through the game every now and then. But I do really like this game, it's fun, it's simple, it knows what it's doing and it's hard to put down. Yuri Lowenthal as Alucard is also fun as hell.
4.5/5
LyricalFear
2 years ago