I think this game is a masterpiece and, at the time of writing, the best game in the series. SOTN and Aria are really close and I think there are aspects of them that are better than the other. Like, I think SOTN is the clear winner in terms of music and art design, I also think it has a stronger start. But Aria has a big list of things that really appeal to me. It's an insanely polished game that inherits a lot of the fun design that SOTN brings but also still has some more challenging bits of gameplay that feel reminiscent of the early games. I love the enemy design in Aria. It knows exactly when and where enemies should be placed to challenge the player just enough to feel a struggle. The game also has a huge reason to fight them in the soul system. Enemies will rarely and randomly drop their souls that Soma inherits to use as a sub weapon. This is one of if not my favorite mechanics in the series. There's so much variety to what they do. I think some are more rewarding than others, but that adds to the fun of the roulette of getting them. It's a much needed evolution of sub weapons that fits so well in the metroidvania mold. I think the progression, level design, and item collection are overall more rewarding than SOTN. There are a lot of times in SOTN where I would find an item and it would be useless compared to my current build. But Aria does a much better job at giving you items with more interesting perks and drawbacks that getting one still feels good. And the games more strict pace means you are usually getting more steadily strong items as the game goes on. I do think SOTN has more freedom in its level design, and I think that's an aspect that sets it apart from Aria. But Arias more streamlined design allows it to have a good pace and difficulty curve like I previously mentioned, and I think it still feels properly big. The bosses in this game are somewhat uneven. Some of them are a bit dull, but when the bosses are good they are some of my favorites in the series. I think it has my favorite version of the death fight and, not to go into spoilers, but the penultimate fight is my favorite in the series and so so hype. I think the story has a lot of merit and the emotional core is a bit stronger for me than SOTN. It has a really strong cast of characters that aren't necessarily deep, but serve a purpose and have their own little dynamic with Soma. Soma is my favorite character in the series, I love his design and the stuff that goes on with him is super cool and you should not spoil it for yourself. The only complaints I have are minor. I think the official translation is really lacking, and it makes the story have bits of unintentional humor. This story is a really good castlevania story and it would've been awesome of the translation was good. I also think having to grind for two specific enemy souls to get the true ending is kind of a drag. But in my experience I didn't really have to grind for the Flame Demon all that much, and Medusa wasn't too bad. The games new game plus also removes the grind for it as well. This is a must play game in the series and one of my favorite games in general.