Is it really a hot take to say that while I do think the improvements made to this game are definitely the highlight of it, the game itself feels like a step back in a few places. I'll start off with that Simon controls amazingly here, he's so capable of doing things he couldn't normally do in any Castlevania game. However, I do think this comes with a downside, because he is so capable now a lot of what made Castlevanias challenge is seemingly gone. Take the sub weapons for example, what purpose does the axe serve now if Simon can just whip up and diagonally? What does the holy water serve if the whip is the best course of action to tackle anything. I feel like they made the whip way too good in this game that in the first few stages the game practically plays itself. While accessibility is not an issue, part of what made the original castlevanias so charming is that they were challenging. Every sub weapon served a purpose and was supposed to be use for the situations at hand because the whip itself was very limiting.
But yeah, that's just what I think, this game at the end of the day can still be fun at times so it's not bad by any means. Just wanted to point it out, while its not my favorite. This one is definitely a good entry in the series.