Limited Run Games Castlevania Ultimate Edition.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve tackled something game related, huh? But this is a bit different from even those seldom articles because this isn’t so much about the games as the package surrounding them. It’s also a bit different in that this isn’t something you can buy anymore.

You might ask why bother reviewing something long since out of production, but I figure this could give an idea of what to expect should you ever order from Limited Run Games, from the experience, the end product, and my overall impressions.

Castlevania Season 4 review

Season four picks up with a six-week catch-up from when season 3 left off. After the burning of Lindenfeld, Trevor and Sypha would encounter many monsters, vampires, and madmen. Some are just plain bad luck, but most are more nefarious, involving worshipers of Dracula and ritual sacrifices- no doubt a result of the mad monks. Five weeks in, this leads them to an attempted sacrifice in front of a statue of Death. Although Trevor points out that it isn’t truly death in the traditional personification, but merely an elemental that took on the name.

More interesting is that the sacrificial site contains a chunk of tile from a town square, something quite out of place in a simple village. The two head to the only nearby major city, Targoviste, where Lisa was killed and Dracula’s rage was first unleashed.


After a fight within the catacombs, the two eventually find an old barn for the night, but respite is still yet out of their reach as more creatures are about. However, it seems the trap was not for them, but a group of mysterious soldiers who enter the fray. In the end, the only survivor among the soldiers is their leader, Zamfir (Toks Olagundoye)

She is the head guard of the underground court; a resistance movement still fending off the night creatures long after Dracula’s death.

And this is where the true core of Trevor and Sypha’s tale begins. Most of their story is focused on the two trying to gain entrance to said court. Zamfir has her own reservations about trusting them, but of course, Sypha has hers as well, particularly after the events with the Judge last season. Not helping matters is that as the story unfolds, it becomes clear the underground court doesn’t appear to be helping the local populace, and in some cases doing the exact opposite. Civilians are completely lost and broken, digging pits to shit in right next to cooking fires, all left without leadership or even common sense.
Being a speaker and well-versed in such predicaments, Sypha takes it upon herself to straighten out the citizens. Making water and food collection more efficient, basic planning and distribution of needs, etc.


But Trevor and Sypha are not the only ones looking for a way into the court. All while helping the locals, they're observed by Varney (Malcolm McDowell) and Ratko (Titus Welliver) Two vampires looking to wipe out the resistance, but can’t find their base in the expansive and maze-like underground.

Varney is a pompous, boastful, and unassuming jackass who was put in charge of handling Targaviste, seemingly just to be forgotten about. He plays an initially small but vital role in the plan to bring back Dracula. While most prevalent within Trevor is Sypha’s narrative, he appears throughout the season helping to orchestrate the ritual, indicating that he is perhaps more intelligent than he lets on.

Ratko is… a ruthless mercenary. Yeah, that’s really all there is to say about him. He exists for muscle and to provide a fight scene much later with some foreshadowing.


Now, unlike last season, Trevor and Sypha have a story which eventually ties into a larger overall narrative rather than just being the main focus. There’s a great deal of setup with name drops or small happenstance that will come up again in later episodes and stories. What this means for now is it’s impossible to continue talking about Trevor and Sypha’s story until we get through the others.

But before moving on, I will note that Trevor and Sypha are the most 'couple like' they’ve ever been-- Sypha even becoming a bit cruder in her vocabulary as a direct result of Trevor, making for some fun mid-battle banter between the two.
As one might expect, however, it's still the more quiet moments where the two get to sit and talk where they’re at their best. This has always been the strongest point of Castlevania's narrative, and the show even tangentially acknowledges it at one point.

These scene are genuinely heartfelt and will see more of it later on this season.

Alucard meanwhile has kept himself busy with his usual daily routine, in addition to staking-- as several more bodies litter the entrance to the castle. But he is in a fairly rough and unkempt shape.

A wrench is soon thrown into his habitual with the arrival of a horse carrying a disemboweled rider. The corpse carries a small script from the town of Danesti, begging Alucard for aid in holding off a multitude of monsters and vampires that are attacking the village.
Taking pity upon the dead rider, Alucard obliges the request. Although it takes a couple of days, he makes the 20-mile journey upon horseback just in time, killing three golems at the gate before meeting the leader of Danesti, Greta (Marsha Thomason).

She isn’t having any of Alucard’s theatrics and needs assurance that he can and will stay to protect the people of Danesti. Many have been lost already and they can’t simply put their faith in a hermit who has impaled bodies outside his home. Alucard reassures Greta that he’s more than capable, but before their conversation can continue they’re interrupted by who else than Saint Germain.

And...boy does Saint Germain get shafted badly this season, but perhaps not in the way you think. We might as well address this right now because the show sure as shit does.

They cram pretty much his entire back story into a compilation. We see him go from a man rising into the ranks of high palaces to slowly dwindling downward into slums. We get a meeting between him and his love, how she was lost in the corridor, a bit of a recap of last season, and finally what happened after Germain entered the corridor. He managed to find his way back to the place he lost his love, but she has already moved onto other realms. Instead, he finds a mysterious Alchemist (Christine Adams) who is capable of controlling the corridor for herself.

Germain initially balks at the idea of anyone being capable of controlling the corridor. But of course, it was controlled by the visitor, it just took a lot of souls for power. She informs Germain that the reason he has failed at his craft is that he never truly dedicated his life to the goals and ideals of Alchemy, slipping instead into an ever downward spiral of filth. She asks of him a willingness to sacrifice for the art, whatever that may be. Only then would he be able to master Alchemy and create the magnum opus: a rebis- a divine hermaphrodite combined with two souls, powerful and capable of controlling the corridor. Of course, doing this would also involve killing many and resurrecting Dracula, as both he and Lisa are perfect candidates for the rebis. Once he agrees, she grants Germain a key capable of opening the corridor wherever he is.

This event sets Germain upon a dark path of torture and killing. He’s horrified at first, but comes around to casting aside all morality for his cause, secretly helping orchestrate the attack upon Danesti and thus setting him up as an unknown antagonist in Alucard’s story.

--And aside from the last part, Germain doesn’t really work in terms of character. The heart of the issue is that we’re clearly meant to be somewhat sympathetic towards his plight. The tragic lengths he’s willing to go for his love, in a manner perhaps not all that different from Dracula and Lisa. The problem is we don’t have a good reason to feel that sympathy.

You may have noticed I keep saying “His love” And that’s because that’s all she is, whoever that is. We finally have a face to put to her, but she’s never named nor do they even have a goddamn speaking role. They just gesture in all the flashbacks while Germain talks. If you want to talk about female characters being an object simply to motivate a male character, this is a terribly egregious example. They don’t even attempt to elicit chemistry between the two, she’s just an object of desire so Germain can play a scheming villain amid our heroes.
It also doesn’t help that all of that is very awkwardly inserted into the fourth episode in an extended flashback that takes up almost the entire episode. That's a lot to suddenly info dump on the audience while Alucard and Greta were mid-conversation. It breaks the pacing something fierce, kind of like I’m doing now.


Speaking of, Alucard hears something in the distance and it’s a large group of people, mostly from a nearby village 10 miles away. Many others in the group are from the surrounding area, also driven out by monsters. Alucard realizes this is more dangerous than regular night creature attacks. These people are being driven in a specific manner by clever vampires planning something. Germain interjects that- although not a military strategist, the village is simply too ill-prepared to withstand another attack-- Gretta agrees; as thus far they’ve not had much luck.
Germain proposes that the villagers be moved to Dracula’s Castle, which doesn’t please the dhampir. However, as much as he resents the idea, it is their best option and the villagers should be moved quickly before any commanders can put into motion a new plan.



Thankfully, unlike Germain, Alucard is treated much better and is granted a satisfying arc. Like with Trevor and Sypha, we’ll have to finish talking about all his events later. But generally speaking his arc for this season is learning to appreciate people again. The journey to the castle builds a relationship between him and Greta. In between fighting monsters, Alucard opens up about why there are bodies staked outside the Castle and the horrific encounter he endured last season. Greta humorously quips that she had a boyfriend and girlfriend at the same time once, but they never tried to kill her...well, aside from the man’s wife coming at her with a pitchfork.

These moments begin to thaw Alucard’s apprehensive and cold nature, something which continues even after they arrive at the castle. There’s a healthy amount of scenes of Alucard warming up to the company, even playing with a group of kids-- largely orphans.
It’s incredibly heartwarming and a side of Alucard we’ve never really seen before. A very different type of vulnerability and happiness seen prior. Greta, and to some extent the villagers, offer something more tangible and permanent than he has ever had before.

For our third story, we find Hector with free reign within Carmilla’s Castle. The past six weeks have been dedicated to preparing the necessary elements for Hector to raise an army, largely constructing a hammer for demon forging; his preferred tool for doing the job. But progress has been slow due to impurities in the material, resulting in many failed attempts. Lenore warns Hector that Carmilla believes he’s stalling-- and there is perhaps some truth to that. Hector has secretly been placing magical stones within the cracks of the Castle’s walls, blackmailing guards in exchange for magical artifacts, and he’s even been in touch with Varney. Nevertheless, he is eventually able to create the device and begin forging demonic creatures.


Carmilla on the other hand has been preoccupied with refining her original idea. No longer content with expanding out across eastern Europe, Carmilla desires Dracula’s Castle and more. She and the sisters are among the last of the truly powerful vampires, and many regions once ruled by other great vampires are unstable since their demise in Dracula’s castle, making them ripe for the taking. This global conquest horrifies Lenore, who asks even if they were to go through with all this and if they were to be successful and have everything, would Carmilla truly be content and happy? But the truth is, Carmilla herself doesn’t know. She takes, and that’s all she’s ever done or known.


Despite that set up, Lenore this season is a bit more downplayed compared to last, which is somewhat understandable but still a shame. As with the previous season, she has good chemistry with Hector, she even confides in him after learning about Carmilla’s true goal. How she felt lied to-- much like how Dracula lied to Hector, and that her role as an ambassador is simply unneeded in a campaign of total domination. They make for interesting scenes, although one can’t help but feel this dynamic could’ve been delved into a lot more, especially since, ya know, Lenore also enslaved Hector. But it doesn't seem like it's had any particular strain on their relationship.

Our fourth story is with Isaac... Sort of, as his story quickly merges with Hectors.

I’m happy to say that this season Isaac is more intriguing than last. Keying in on what I felt was his best moment in season three, one of the first things we see with Isaac is a conversation between him and the fly demon, FlysEyes *Sic (Gildart Jackson) Isaac has his legion rebuilding the ghost town and burying the dead in the aftermath of last season's battle. FlysEyes can’t fathom why Isaac is using them in this manner, they’re demons whose purpose is to destroy and consume. But Isaac disagrees. They’re tools created by him, and a tool has many uses. A hammer can bludgeon a man, or it can build a house. Night creatures have never known any other way because no one has ever used them as such. They have a choice, and Isaac is making his, hoping that one day the town will be discovered and inhabited. This change in demeanor is further illustrated when Isaac is contacted through his distance mirror by Varney, who hopes to recruit the forger in assisting with resurrecting Dracula. But Isaac has no interest and cuts off the domineering vampyr.

Yet Isaac hasn’t gone completely soft, as once the last body is buried and the last brick set, he readies his army to finally assault Carmilla’s castle.

Pouring from the sky in vast numbers, Carmilla’s forces stand little chance in the surprise attack.

Lenore goes to warn Hector and help him escape, but she is caught in a trap set by the man himself. Hector contacts Saint Germain with a distance mirror, letting him know his calculations are assured before quickly “hanging up”. Isaac arrives at Hector’s quarters, but Hector has no intention of fighting. He tells Isaac of his involvement in resurrecting Dracula and offers his life, only asking that Lenore be spared.

But likewise, Isaac has no intention of killing him. Isaac has grown past that desire, noting that perhaps Hector should move on with his life as well. Isaac only requests that the night creatures be called off, as he needs as many as possible for Carmilla. But the ring upon Hector makes that impossible. He solves this conundrum by borrowing Isaac’s knife and removing his entire finger, thus cutting off the ring and control. He also gives Isaac a magic seal made from the many “failed” forging hammers- it will create a magical barrier straight to the top of the castle, while also barricading Carmilla within. Hector intended it for an eventual escape, but it should suit Isaac’s goal perfectly- and it does.

Carmilla is a formidable foe, her chambers pooled with blood from all the night creatures. But the combination of Isaac’s own fighting prowess and the relentless onslaught of powerful beasts soon whittle down the vampire queen. Not to be outdone by a human, Carmilla takes her own life, destroying a vast segment of the tower in the process. Isaac only surviving thanks to the protection of a, particularly powerful demon.

Isaac’s screen time is rather limited compared to some of the other characters, and it may be disappointing to some that just past the halfway point is the last we see of Isaac. However, the time that is dedicated to him is used well, and I much prefer that over the meandering from last season. While I will admit the events from season 3 to set him on this path were shaky, the end result is a pleasant contrast in his demeanor. Seeing Isaac with less hate and perhaps even a bit optimistic, well, is refreshing. Particularly in a series that is so downtrodden.

There’s a scene in the aftermath of Carmilla’s death where he talks with Hector, and it’s among my favorites of the entire show. Hector is baffled by Isaac’s reluctance in resurrecting Dracula. Isaac explains that this is how they fall into the trappings of despair. They become convinced of an eternal now, never thinking or working on a better future, only survival. Stuck going through the motions. In the end, they were both abused by the world, both lacking in agency, both naive and full of hate. Even Dracula used them as little more than tools. But Isaac grew as a person in his travels and wants something different, something better, something to live for.
In many ways, Dracula fell into the same cycle as they once were in. Even before the passing of Lisa, he never truly existed for anything but the present. No matter how much he traveled, it was just a single long continuous night for him. Perhaps it’s best that he finally has found rest. But for Hector and Isaac, they can make a change their former master never could, and truly live.



Now with that out of the way, we can finally complete the rest of the stories. Get ready for a lot of jumping around.





On Alucard’s side of things he becomes busy showing Greta the armory preparing defenses, while Saint Germain takes the opportunity to place stones within the castle walls, much like Hector did in Carmilla’s castle. Germain then signals to an army awaiting within the forest.


At this same moment, Trevor and Sypha finally gain entry into the Underground Court, and it is not a pretty sight. The people in the underground cavern are not much better off than those upon the surface. Broken in mind, malnourished, and afraid. Furthermore, the area is littered with a vast array of unique and magical artifacts, some even one of a kind. Yet the soldiers are armed with more rudimentary weapons, only carrying the occasional odd and often useless trinket. Neither can fathom why such a broad armory is not being put to good use. Zamfir says that the royal family were magicians and possessed many artifacts, but that they do not have permission for their use. Trevor isn’t having any of it and barges into the royal quarters to confront the royals, only to find the harsh reality of their decomposing bodies.

Suffice to say, Zamfir is fairly batshit insane, believing that the corpses are in a form of sleep and that their leaders will return. She has been keeping this secret from everyone else as they “wouldn’t understand” allowing the people to suffer for her delusions. The terrible revelation sparks an argument between Sypha and Zamfir, who also reveals that they killed all the remaining priests. Trevor in the meanwhile rummages through the various artifacts, finding a piece that goes nicely with a dagger he picked up upon their first arrival in Targoviste.

This bickering gauche situation between Sypha and Zamfir is cut short by the unfortunate arrival of Ratko and Varney, who have managed to track Zamfir. Many of the soldiers are easy pickings for Ratko and their night creatures, but Varney is more concerned with looking for something specific.

The situation with Alucard isn’t much better. While well organized and even successful in some capacity, many of the villagers are slaughtered. Their souls curiously travel into the castle, following a path set by the stones Saint Germain placed. The situation turns direr with the arrival of Gergoth- yes, from Dawn of Sorrow.

Everyone falls back to the Castle, sealing and barricading the doors just as Alucard and Greta notice the gathering of souls. Following it up through the corridors, they find Saint Germain conducting the ritual, protected by a barrier Alucard cannot penetrate. As the Castle’s doors are breached, they have no choice but to turn their attention to the fight at hand.

Meanwhile, Trevor and Sypha manage to kill most of the attacking creatures, but in the ensuing fight, Zamfir is killed by Ratko, Trevor avenging her death. But before the two can catch their breath, they notice Varney having discovered a magic mirror behind the corpses of the royal family. Varney passes through, arriving beside Saint Germain. The mirror rapidly begins shifting its view to the surrounding area, so, before it completely disappears, Trevor and Sypha jump in, arriving by Alucard’s side.

And good god does this lead to a spectacular fight sequence. Make no mistake, this season has some great fights but this second to last episode takes the cake. All three get a wonderful showcase of their abilities in unison, both on smaller grunts and eventually Gelgoth itself. Sypha holds off the undead creature’s beam, allowing Alucard to stun the monster while Trevor charges the morning star and slices the monster’s skull.

Afterward, the three split up, each encountering a different obstacle. Alucard faces a teleporting Viking vampire, Trevor a phasing ice monstrosity, and Sypha a group of elite warriors.

As the three are busy, a group delivers the stitched-together corpse of a man and woman to Saint Germain to be used as a vessel for the rebis’ soul.

Varney remarks to Germain how useful he’s been, how easily led he was since they first met- revealing himself to be not only the Alchemist...

but Death.

I really enjoy this reveal. It was teased early in the season and there were hints throughout. But more than that, I love the concept behind this version of Death as less actual Grim Reaper but an ancient elemental vampire that feeds on souls. For this interpretation of Castlevania, that makes the most sense and provides a good reason for why he wants Dracula resurrected, while also explaining why he can’t do it himself.

Germain is horrified at what this truly means, arguing that Dracula would not be the man Death knew, but something entirely new. But that was always the intent, two minds trapped in a single entity, deranged and powerful, murdering on a scale unimaginable. Germain has little choice but to continue, lest he lose the only shot he has at seeing his love and simply die on the spot.


The trio regroups and fights their way through to the top, finally making their way to the ritual already near completion. The souls of Dracula and Lisa are plucked from Hell, and forced into the rebis which enters a convulsive fit. Neither are capable of gaining full control, the rebis switching back and forth between Dracula and Lisa for dominance, as Death watches gleefully.

Trevor finally manages to break through the barrier with the vampire killer, as a repentant Germain quickly moves the portal for the infinite corridor near the rebis, telling Belmont to take the chance. Trevor quickly slices the rebis in two and burns it with holy water, freeing both souls which are sucked into the portal.

But the destruction of the body results in a massive amount of magical energy being released, destroying the tower and creating a vortex around Dracula's Castle, lifting debris and separating Trevor from Sypha and Alucard.

Enraged, Death absorbs the power from the infinite corridor key, growing immensely powerful as he spits the remains near Germain’s body, which was impaled in the explosion.
Trevor yells down that he loves Sypha before turning and facing Death itself.

What follows is a fantastic battle focused solely on Trevor, who has desperately needed a spotlight such as this. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t as if Trevor has been shafted until this point. He’s got some great fights this season, some of the best. But throughout the entire series, he’s never been quite as interesting as Alucard and Sypha due to the more limited nature of his abilities. It actually took until this season to finally give him the boomerang cross, after all. But this?

This is final boss material.

Trevor gets smacked around, gets his arm broken. But he just doesn't relent. In a way, this feels like a do-over to some of the issues I had with season 2 regarding how Trevor was sidelined, leaving Alucard to be the one that ultimately kills Dracula, and in a rather boring manner at that. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but it's gladly welcomed.

The battle continues on, eventually Trevor takes out the dagger he picked up in Targovite, a gem from one of Zamfir’s soldiers, and a sleeve found while rummaging in the underground court. Combining the three charges the weapon as he navigates the swirling platforms, diving towards Death and delivering the fatal blow, vanishing in the blinding light that follows.

Two weeks after the final battle, Sypha exits the Castle doors, having not talked to anyone in that time. Alucard candidly approaches her, Sypha only requesting a horse. She intends to meet up with the other speakers, noting that she is certainly pregnant and will need the assistance her people can provide. Alucard wishes for her to stay, but Sypha insists on having a community, not just burdening him. But, it won't just be Alucard. The residents of Denesti plan to settle in and around the Castle. Greta interjects, saying that they finally have a chance to make something better for their children, convincing Sypha to stay. Plus, Sypha just can’t help but notice and dictate the inefficient methods the villagers are operating on, chastising Alucard for not putting the advanced tech of the Castle to work. Not to mention the irresponsible nature of letting a horse run loose in the distance.

The three quickly realize the familiar black steed is carrying a rider. Rushing to the mans aid, they discover a familiar face.

Just before Saint Germain died, he used the key one last time to open up the infinite corridor. Trevor remembers entering the corridor before waking up face down near the Danube river. He makes sure Sypha is safe, quipping that his biggest fear was that she might actually end up naming their kid Trefor after all. Sypha is flabbergasted Trevor knew, but he merely states he’s managed to stay single all this time for a reason- resulting in Sypha dropping him to the ground. Yet she can't help but admit she loves the fool.

Sypha looks back at Trevor and Alucard, tearing up upon realizing that their fight is finally over.

Ah, but that's not the end of the epolouge.

Many miles away, we see two hooded figures enter an Inn. Removing the hoods, it’s revealed to be Lisa and Dracula. Unlike Trevor, they have no memories of what happened, just that they were in Hell, then not. Awakening naked in a field, and having to steal clothes and coins. Once in their room, the two converse in a heart-to-heart. Dracula admits that after he died, it was the first he felt rational since Lisa’s death, while Lisa was surprised that he came to look for her in hell.
But now that they’re alive again, they’re not entirely sure what to do. Dracula’s going to have to get used to just being Vlad Tepes, given his infamy. (missed opportunity to use Cronqvist, shame)  Lisa laments that their son deserves closure, and perhaps one day they will meet him again, but not now. Dracula suggests that, in the meantime, he and Lisa travel to Whitby, England. Sunshine is rare, population low, seaside view, and there’s even an old abandoned Abbey.

Above all else, they have a second chance at life again, and it won’t be wasted.

Final Thoughts.

Goddamn, what a finale. I think it’s obvious that I consider Season 4 a much-appreciated improvement over season 3.

While the third season was still very enjoyable, it was very uneven. One of the first things that become clear this season is a better balance to all the stories. For the most part, season 4 does a satisfactory job balancing out the narratives, both in how it bounces between the different tales and making sure most of the characters have equal or at least well-utilized screen time. While this does mean that some characters like Isaac and Hector have their stories end partway into the season, the time spent on them is better used with very little in the way of bloat. The awkward timing issues I mentioned with Alucard last season are also gone. In fact, they actually have a three-episode gap between him leaving the Castle and arriving at Denesti, allowing focus on the other happenings and helping to illustrate how much time has passed.


I must also give credit to Trevor and Sypha this season. While the two have by and large reached their peak for character development (said for a few small increments) they still have fantastic moments and by far have the most emotional weight. Even as much as I love what is done in Alucard's story, nothing in the entire series is as genuinely heartwarming as the finale with Trevor and Sypha reuniting.

In fact, the incredibly optimistic and happy ending is shocking, yet greatly welcomed after three seasons of grueling misery around every corner. The previous three make this hit even harder than it normally would for those very reasons.

Still, there are problems, and not every character is granted the same benefit as those mentioned above. Aside from my issues with Saint Germain, you may have noticed I have yet to mention Morana and Striga, and that’s because they’re terribly inconsequential, even more so than last season.

Episode 3 has a moment of them out on the field discussing Carmilla’s original plans and the rightness of it. Morana has concerns not of feasibility, but of the constant struggle. She points out that as much as humans are livestock to them, pigs don’t rebel against humans. The inevitability is that the rest of their immortal lives are going to be dedicated to maintaining supply and quailing uprisings- a sudden attack on their camp proving this point. Striga goes berserk upon the attackers, easily killing them. Yet she jeremiads that these weren’t soldiers, but peasants and farmers. People who were afraid of not just dying, but simply fighting.

This gives the impression that, along with Lenore’s own apprehension, there would be an upheaval among Carmilla’s council. Last season, Morana and Striga’s role was mainly them coming around to Carmilla’s ideas, demonstrating how Carmilla can plant seeds in others’ minds and take root over time. So it would make sense that this season would contrast that.

But of course, this never happens. The two are called back to the Castle to hear Carmilla’s new global scheme, but they arrive right when Carmilla kills herself while fighting Isaac- never learning of her wider ambitions.
The two assume that if Carmilla is dead, then so is Lenore, and so attacking the invading creatures would be pointless. They leave with their forces and that’s it. This is never followed up on, not even in the epilogue. Maybe that was intentionally left open for whatever reason. Maybe plans for a spin-off were already in the works and maybe they were gonna show up there. But it’s still a bit disappointing and comes off incomplete. Much like season 3, it feels like there was intended to be more than there ultimately is in the finished product.

And I supposed this leads me to my overall thoughts on Castlevania as a series.

Throughout all seasons there’s this polarizing nature of the broad strokes and minor character bits. As good as Ellis is at those small character moments that do a whole lot- be it banter, introspection, etc. he sometimes struggles with the bigger picture and even the finer details within, particularly with the middle sections. Isaac is perhaps the best overall example of that, going from a justifiably cynical misanthrope in season 2, to a conflicted soul in 3 that has some intriguing but terribly undercooked ideas, to finally someone nuanced enough to realize the terrible qualities in the world- but also the good that he can do to improve it. Not to mention I’m shocked at just how interesting and different they made Isaac.

Hell, I would even say Trevor assembling the dagger that ultimately kills death is decent example. There’s that nice slow build-up to its assembly in the background for the entire season, but the explanation at the end of the series being this very specific mystical artifact from a crazy magician who wanted a murder-suicide pact with God, and Trevor just happened to find all the pieces to, well, that comes off as hamfisted. Perhaps even bogging that incredible the final battle...but at the same time, you’ve got much bigger emotional weight going between Sypha and Trevor to even bother focusing on the literal Deus ex machina.

In a way, that sort of sums up Castlevania as a whole, for both good and ill. When it builds towards something bigger it's often a bit maladroit in execution, yet the payoff- when it works, *really* fucking works. Be it with either grand set pieces or resolutions you can’t help but enjoy. The good aspects can greatly overshadow whatever flaws there are, not just with visual spectacle but actual substantive characters.


Other times, however, it trips over itself in trying to get characters to a particular point so x event can happen in the narrative. Germain is a great contender not only this season; but the series overall. He never really has a grand moment or deeply engaging conversations between characters to distract from the flaws present. He does important things, make no mistake. But he never feels important or captivating outside of season 3. The moment they finally delve into him, we’re given a woman who isn’t named and never speaks, yet we are meant to feel something because she’s important to Germain for reasons never clear.

Frankly, he’s probably the most disappointing part of Castlevania, and that’s a real shame given how much potential there was. He easily could have been as interesting as Isaac, providing a mirror of his own character arc.


Still, despite those flaws, I can recommend Season 4 and even the entire series if you can stomach the massive amounts of cynicism (and the rather hard to go back to first two seasons). There is still a very unique and captivating show that builds its own fascinating take on the franchise. Never would I have thought that Castlevania would end up getting an adaption such as this, I would've sooner guessed that Paul W.S. Anderson/Jame Wan film that’s been in development hell since 2006 would've came before this. So yeah, I'll take this even if the Castle has a few cracks in the wall. There's still an enjoyable treat under the surface, after all.

As for the next series? Well, we’re supposed to be getting a not quite Rondo of Blood series, which from the sounds of it might actually be a sequel series. It’s set in revolutionary France, so it doesn’t appear to be following the game outside of the period setting and characters. I’m...not sure how I feel about that. But then again this series made a lot of divergences that went into some really interesting places, and if it is a continuation then Dracula really shouldn't be an antagonist.

However, as of this writing, Adi Shankar, who was the showrunner and one of the executive producers; is now suing Netflix for breach of contract since he apparently has no involvement. Don’t really know what to make of that, but I guess we'll see how that unfolds.



All that said, I'll be back with another review hopefully not too long from now. I planned on covering one more thing for October, but surgery left me unable to work on it. I'm on the uptick now, so hopefully it won't be too long. In the mean time, if you like what I do and want to help out, you can toss a dollar at me on my Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/kamen_writer

Castlevania Season 3 review

I remember when Castlevania season 3 hit last year, I didn’t know what to think. Season 2’s ending was quite a bit different than what was expected and it left the doorway open to various possibilities. Whatever would be in the third season would escape any possible confines of the games, tangentially only using concepts from Curse of Darkness. What ultimately resulted is something of a mixed bag, but we’ll get to that in due time.

The third season can largely be broken up into four main areas, picking right up about a month or so after season 2’s ending.

Bloodstained Ritural of the Night Review

At some point, I had to review this. This is a title I have been waiting a long time on. Not just with the kick starter, I've been waiting since completing Order of Ecclesia all those years ago. We've had a lot of indie titles with Metroidvania like elements but nothing that really played like a Castlevania game, nothing with that level of detail and fluidity that I desire.
I have waited so long for a game like this and it's finally here.

Bloodstained is just about everything I've wanted in a follow to OoE and even though it isn't, mechanically it feels like that. The first six hours I played ROTN was the most fun I've had in a video game in years. It captured the feeling that I've missed of not just the Castlevania experience, but just playing a really fun game I can get lost in with no depressingly modern bullshit like buying skins or getting fake money with real money for the "free" stuff added, bullshit roadmaps as an excuse for lack of content. It's just nice to have something enjoyable...that also wasn't a Nintendo IP.
It was a goddamn blissful experience. While I can give general praise all day, let's focus on specifics.

Story.

Story-wise...it's fine. Let's be real, the story side of Castlevania was never a super strong suit, it's not a full-fledged RPG. It should come as no surprise it's much of the same here.

The general plot outline is that as the industrial revolution kicks off, wealthy investors shift their money from spiritual endeavors to more practical technology-oriented ones. A guild of Alchemists warn that should this continue, demons will invade that earth. The alchemists themselves going about the summoning, using children as catalysts for the ritual, binding them to demonic crystals called shards. Although one, Miriam, would end up in a coma for 10 years and be of no use causing the ritual to be flawed but still serviceable. Another child, her dear friend Gebel, would seemingly go mad and command the armies of hell himself in revenge for the atrocities inflicted upon him by the alchemists. Miriam, awaking from her coma, sets out to stop the person who once gave her hope at her lowest moment, promising to free him from his corrupt path by any means.

Along her journey, she is joined by Johannes, an alchemist who was strictly opposed to the guilds doings. He provides assistance by creating weapons and enhancing abilities for Miriam.

And Dominique, an exorcist with ties to the church and their trade, running a shop for Miriam to buy supplies from.

Finally there's Zangetsu, basically the not Belmont who at first treats Miriam like any other monster.





Really the biggest complaint story wise is that there are a lot of moments of characters just saying exposition rather than the dialogue sounding more natural. Which there are times when characters are actively explaining things to others and it sounds fine. But there are also characters simply talking and then very awkwardly slipping in backstory via a very contrived and forced manner. "You're doing this out of revenge for your parents" That sorta thing. There is a way to have characters announce their intent and thoughts without coming off like a Madlib bio, but this isn't it.
The plot twists are also painfully predictable, everything plays out exactly how I expected, which again isn't surprising either. OoE had that same issue where you knew the person that seemed bad was actually good and the person who seemed good was actually bad. You can see this coming a mile away.



That said, while the story and some exposition exchanges are a bit of the drag, the voice acting is really good.
Erica Lindbeck, Kari Wahlgren, David Hayter, Ray Chase and many more do such a fantastic job in their portrays. Plus Robert Belgrade returns in a surprise roll (I like to call his character Alucart) and goddamn his voice is still fantastic to hear. It's aged up quite a bit of course, which basically makes him sound like a rougher Alucard. You can also switch to the Japanese voices at any time, which I greatly appreciate. So hey, if you ever want to hear Ryōtarō Okiayu instead, there ya go.
I should also the lip flaps are all over the place in quality and syncing. I suppose that might the consiquince of the Japanese audio being included.


One minor issue I did find is that sometimes the subs are off or different from what's being said.

The actual voiced line is "Try me, you'll see"
That isn't too uncommon, I've seen the same thing happen in really big games multiple times, sometimes the VA reads it differently and they keep the take. Although I've never seen a sub box seemingly without an entire word and a gap where it should be.

The scripting for the flavor text also doesn't account for you possibly being ahead in some instances. For example, you get little chitchats with the two shop keeps in the game which sometimes provides where to go next or just general background stuff. I visited the shop and Miriam expressed surprised that the regular shop runner, Dominique wasn't there, after it has already been established that she had gone off. The same occurred on a second visit with getting a letter from Zangetsu saying to "cut the moon in the Garden" again, something that had already been done much earlier.

You just came from there Miriam! This is what happens when you eat food from behind a wall, your mind starts to go.

But, I don't want to dwell on small stuff like that, lets really move onto how it plays.

Gameplay.

The controls feel fantastic, everything feels spot on to any Castlevania title by Iga- although I did change the back dash button from L1 to Triangle. Aside from feeling more natural to me, almost all of your spells are mapped to the shoulder buttons so it just makes more sense. But you can customize them however you want. Using your spells or "shards"  feels really smooth, it's easy to just cast stuff here and there while attacking with a regular weapon. Again mechanically this feels a lot like OoE with more refinement, so if you've played that you've got a good idea on how this feels. You kill a creature and you can get an ability from it, the simple formula we've seen before.
You get five different sections for spells;
Familiars which act just like you would expect; flying swords and ghost knights to attack enemies, faeries that can also assist with healing items.
Passive; usually stuff that provides healing or a raises in a certain stat, prevents poison.
Directional; You can aim these with the right stick before firing them off and it's surprisingly easy even during combat to shot off everything from daggers to fireballs.
Summon: This ranges from anything to summoning giant fire pillars to conjuring animals and beasts.
Manipulative: which are more utility. These are things like using a giant hand to move pillars, draining your MP to heal a small amount, a duplicate shadow for attacking, etc. These are probably the most seldom used.
Finally, you have skill shards which are upgrades similar to passive but that you can have multiple ones active and they're permanent upgrades that you can turn on and off. Walking under water, double jump, high jump etc.
In addition to the shards you also have spells that require button inputs, but they're relegated to special techniques performed with different weapons, similar to the shield rod in SOTN.



Strangely you do not have a second hand, so you can't equip a sword and knife, there are no shields that aren't also weapons. You get a single weapon to equip and that's it. I'm fine with that, it puts more emphasis on using spells along with your main weapon and I think overall just cuts out the middleman of having to equip spells to a certain hand.
The one thing I wish is a quick menu for selecting your spells. The bottom left shoulder button does eventually serve as a quick change of sorts- but it does everything. Your accessories, your spells, your weapons, it's the whole load out and I never used it outside of setting up a Luck based outfit for farming. I never find myself wanting to switch everything so drastically in regular gameplay, it's usually just spells and weapons I end up changing. I suppose there's nothing keeping you from saving multiple slots with everything but the spells the same- but that would mean you'd have to go through and change all of them every single time you got a new piece of armor or weapon which will happen semi-frequent enough. Honestly, I just stick to the menus like always. You can, however, favorite any item or shard which will always list them at the top, I highly suggest doing this for anything needed to traverse the castle. I do hope in an update they might add a quick change for just the summon and direction shard spells, the circle button on the controller as far as I can tell currently has no use outside menus, so might as well map it to that.

As for the shards themselves, I believe most people will use a large variety until they get into a groove of their favorites which they'll then focus on upgrading for a while before discovering new favorites. It really helps to be a little flexible and experiment. For my part, I love the welcome company shard which is a shield of portraits, very helpful with annoying floating heads and just damaging enemies in general.


The shard system is also quite deep. Not only can you enhance shards to make them better, but you can also combine a shard with a gem and create new powers you can't get any other way.
Crafting is a big component of ROTN and it's very well done. Aside from the shards, you can also craft weapons, armor, accessories and even food.

While you can find plenty of really good stuff from drops and especially chests, the absolute best components come from crafting them yourself much like in OoE. They also don't cost anything aside from the materials, so there's a lot of incentive to do so- although you don't actually have to if its something you're not interested in but I would highly recommend it. Materials can be dropped by monsters and chest but can also be gotten via quests which you receive in the local village outside the castle. Specific villagers will provide quests for killing X amount of specific monsters, asking for mementoes to bury for the dead, or something to eat. You'll usually be rewarded with material or rare items including accessories and weapons for completing these. Their inclusion is brilliant as not only additional content but as a way to encourage crafting new items and food.
They are not infinite though, so you will eventually clear all the quests.

The possibilities are nearly endless for crafting. Swords, spears, boots, knives, whips, axes, flails and muskets. The latter of which has an entire plethora of special bullets you can use with it, although ammunition is limited, requiring you to buy or craft it. As such, I never had a desire to use it myself and simply stuck to the usual weapons and putting more effort into armor rather than a special bullet.
Also if you're wondering they do keep naming weapons after mythological ones from around the world.

There is far more customization and crafting than just your abilities and weapons. Even Miriam can be customized to have different hair styles, hair colors, eye colors, skins colors, clothing colors, etc. Some of the items you can equip even become visible on your person. Usually hats, masks, helmets, glasses. But some dresses also change your main outfit. Although most of the time, if you're like me, you prioritize stats over looks and end up looking like proZD.
And yes, everything that you can find as drops can be crafted provided you have the recipe. Likewise, a few of the accessories have humorous secondary effects'; a voice changer that makes you squeaky in cut scenes- can't wait to see that at a GDQ run, squeaky shoes when you walk.

While crafting is all well and good, the real meat is the castle map itself and I'm struggling to describe how it is in any great detail. Frankly, all I can say is it is very much like Castlevania in terms of navigation. Navigating the castle is insanely fun for the most part. Finding little hidden areas with goodies, seeing an area you'll have to return to when you have a new power. The powers here are very different from those in Castlevania titles yet perfectly suited. While you do eventually gain a double jump and even the option for a high jump, everything else is different or has a twist on an old concept. One of the first major upgrades is the reflector ray, which allows you to bounce off mirrors in small areas. (Kinda reminds me a lot of Paranoia's attacks.) But it can also be used without a mirror to squeeze into tight gaps. This one is a little finicky, it didn't always work but I found double tapping the button would usually solve that issue.
Bloodsteal does exactly what you think and is probably the most questionable one as it's only ever needed to unlock one major area and it's general use is more niche, it's like a less good soul steal combined with Dark Metamorphosis- you have to actively spread blood by attacking enemies before you can use it correctly. Invert is one of the final movement upgrades and arguably the most important. It's the one the funnest abilities to use and I much prefer it over the old high jumps in Castlevania. It's also an ability that doesn't have to be equipped, simply input down, up and jump and it'll activate. Miriam is the only one that has her gravity inverted, so everything else including enemies stay in place, this can help you get out of a pinch and it's really interesting to use for boss fights.


There are some weird bits when it comes to exploring. The strangest to me was for the underground water area you can't swim and the way that you're supposed to navigate the water seems wrong. The actual intended way is to farm one of the enemies for a shard that allows you to shoot a water jet, which you can then use to force yourself into the water and move around, using the right stick to aim your shot kinda like an old Atari space game. I honestly didn't believe it at first, it felt more like a sequence break. But sure enough, you navigate the water until you find the next location where you can then acquire the ability to walk underwater.
One final note about travelling is that usually, your get movement speed upgrades very late in the game, here that is not the case. You can get an enhancement to walking faster barely a quarter in. Very very happy to have that. You can get a faster and much more traditional super fast upgrade late game if you beat a ninja in a race.

The map system is also very good and improved over past Metroidvania. You can zoom in super fine to see if you've missed anything and the minimap in the corner can be made more transparent, larger, smaller, or gone entirely. You don't have to hug corners to complete sections either. My one gripe is there's no legend system so you'll often times be confused as to what some of the icons on the map are. I also have a strange pink dot stuck on mine indicating a person...who isn't there now. You also can set custom waypoints post patch with a little rose icon, but they're all the same color and I would have like at least three for marking specific areas. There are a few odd oversights like that, such as the archive system in the game.

You can look up anything from current and past quests. Past and present collected items and their stats, crafting recipes, various monsters and they'll even show what they can drop and where to find them, yet for some reason, you can't sort alphabetically. Likewise, if you look at certain items they'll list which creatures can drop them, but you can't highlight those monsters to immediately switch to the bestiary to see where they're at. It's small, but I think some quality of life updates like that would help. Especially as right now there is so much missing information online. Go try to look up "Bloodstained Dies Iraes sword" You'll just get the defunct company.


So... one thing I haven't touched upon yet is difficulty. Bloodstained's difficulty is a bit chaotic. I found the first boss a bit challenging just because of the way the camera zooms in and out and the ship bobs up and down and being limited as you are in a Metroidvania during the first part. The second fight, on the other hand, was goddamn insane for that early on. Holy shit it was hard.
This is a weird comparison, but ROTN reminds me a lot of Mario 3 where the difficulty is a bit all over the place. Some early stuff can be insanely hard, some later stuff easy. Sometimes the areas are harder than the bosses and sometimes its the opposite. Generally speaking, the initial part of the game can be surprisingly difficult and after a while it gets easier as you get more gear, shards, etc. You get the hang of everything only to then run into a crap ton of other stuff as it ping pongs from there. Remember fleamen? Classic fleamen that are hard to hit. This game has monkeys that are like that and also Ninjas, which are like the damn martial artists in RoB. Imagine a room with seven of those. They fucking hurt. But as I said the difficulty can be weird. The second boss you fight in the game you end up having a rematch with, the rematch is nowhere near as difficult despite the added move set, it's far more predictable. In fact, some of the bosses aren't so much hard as absolute sponges. You usually end up taking damage just because of how long the fights can last. In my encounter with Bloodless, I didn't really do too bad until the last quarter simply because the fight had been going on for nearly 20 minutes and I was getting fatigued at the repetition. It's very much a case of them not trying to defeat you so much as outlast you. I was playing on Normal btw so even on that you want to exploit weaknesses as much as possible.
I can see Bloodstained being a hard time for beginners so do be advised and bring a lot of potions and food to every battle. Also, don't forget to craft to be in tiptop shape for dmg and def. Food is very important.




As for issues that shouldn't be, like glitches, this is where things get interesting. Every game has glitches of some sort, how impactful and harmful they are is another matter. Generally speaking, Bloodstained was quite good in this regard. Initially, during my first day of playing (the first 6 hours) I encountered a minor graphical hiccup with a platform flickering near the castle entrance, the beams in the chapel area holding up bells also had no hitboxes in that you actually walk through the beams rather than standing atop them.

That one seems to have been patched, thankfully.


An enemy froze after attacking while in the castle, again patched out now. Mostly minor stuff. I did at one point clip badly into the environment and got stuck in the twin dragon's tower, I couldn't see myself at all, this wasn't at all like the chapel beams. I could only wiggle around and see slight camera movement. If you've ever seen a Castlevania Speedrun at GDQ where they clip to zip around, that's the sorta glitch I got- except no zip. I was able to get out with a wayward stone. This same glitch also happened much later in an underground lava area. Thankfully had a wayward stone again. Make sure you have a stock of those cause they're cheap and can save you a lot of backtracking, regardless of any glitches.

Speaking of, the lava area flickered Reallllllly bad. The lava was glitched to hell as if being super bright wasn't bad enough. I think the latest patch fixed that issue, I haven't noticed anything since and the brightness seems to have been tweaked too.
Something that the patch didn't fix was a framerate issue with a late-game boss called Valefor. You've probably seen him in the trailers where they slam poker chips together.

The framerate absolutely shits the bed during this segment, it slows down like an SNES game with too much going on.

But again, mostly minor and some of it even fixed. Then things started getting weird. I started going back through areas I've been in multiple times, taking the same pathways and stuff started respawning. Stuff that shouldn't, like HP and MP ups that I had already collected or some that weren't there before. I was in the Underground Sorcery Lab, dropped down into a hidden alcove and when I popped back up there was suddenly an HP up to my left. Another area that I've had this happen- and on multiple occasions- is the garden area near a Gazebo. You can kick jump off a fairy to collect the HP up and I've collected at least three from there and it's not the only one.

I've also collected two capacity ups for bullets in the chapel area in front of the teleporter just across from where the barber. I've returned to areas where I've collected upgrades to find more. I've even had that happen with chests that aren't supposed to reset.


But aside from getting stuck, most of those aren't actually harmful, or game breaking. Well, maybe the HP ups but not in a bad way. But now I need to talk about the major issue, the big ugly blight that happened upon this otherwise fine game. Update 1.02. This patch added in boss rush, speed run mode, and also fixed some of those weird graphical glitches. The problem is that it also somehow fucked up the possibility of progress for those playing before the patch went live. Many chests, some containing plot important items for progressing the game, were all opened. Now, I had already played 6 hours by the time I finally updated, I played 8 when I heard about it, I played 9 and a half once I found chests open in an area I hadn't reached before. The general suggestion was to just start all over as that did fix the issue.

I can't even begin to describe my reaction when this happened. It was almost a sort of heartbreak, dramatic as that sounds especially as I'm not one to get truly worked up over frivolous things like that, usually just frustrated. I know it seems silly and overly passionate to describe it in such a way, it isn't as if this is some super important societal issue. But as far as enjoying a piece of media goes, on the level that I was- because Castlevania is my favorite franchise and this is as a close to a new one I've gotten in over a decade- it was devastating at the time to learn of something so horribly game breaking. Taking in all that I have missed dearly and getting all that I wanted- only to suddenly be presented with a brick wall for playing it sooner than later, felt such a slap in the face. Inadvertent as it was, it felt like punishment for paying for the game before it was out and then playing ASAP. By the time I ran into the issue with the chests it had been nine and a half hours of total playtime 50.6% of the map complete, various shards upgraded and collected. All that appeared to be just wasted time and effort at the moment.
When I usually replay a Metroidvania it's because I've already played through once and I love it that much, not because the game apparently broke partway through. I own a physical copy, so I was able to uninstall the game and then reinstall it while blocking the patch, which did reset the chests I was looking at prior. Although I have still seen some chests open, nothing super important. Which kinda makes me wonder if there isn't already a flaw that the patch exacerbated.

As far as I can tell the Twin Dragon's tower is the only major one with a key item, which is where most people were having trouble, which I had already done. Still, getting really good weapons and recipes from chests is really important too, it's practically needed by the end game, not to mention keys that open up bonus rooms/bosses in the castle.

As shitty as this is, it at least happened super early on, not like a week later. But with this happening does it sour my opinion on the game? A bit, yeah. I can't sugar coat it and say it was fine because it's not, I got luckier than a lot of others and again we still don't know what the future holds for other patches or if this one can even be corrected. We have 13 DLCs coming and 1.03 could do something similar for all we know.
If I did have to restart I would have been probably even angrier, but at the same time, I enjoy playing the game so much that I probably would have anyway because there is so much to enjoy. That is a testament to how fun the game is. It's still certainly my favorite MV since Order of Ecclesia in 2008, nothing else feels like this, it was satisfying a desire for a game that played, looked and sounded far beyond what I could even imagine. It still provided the most fun I've had with a game in years. But I can't ignore the problem of what happened. Regardless of any fixes that may come, this is something that affected many people and shouldn't have been in the first place. Especially the poor people on X-Box, they're not even getting the patch for a week from release because of how stupidly slow patches work for each console. So honestly they probably shouldn't even play at all or at least not update until completing the game or getting all the important stuff.


Please do not misunderstand my complaints here, there is so much in Bloodstained I love, so much love from the makers that went into crafting a fantastic game and I feel truly horrible dragging it out like this because I know how hard and stressful the development process had to be for this. Multiple platforms two of which died during development- now that's a serious time loss. Several delays, a massive overhaul for the graphics (For the better I might add). This has people behind it that care. I want this to do good, I know IGA and his team were really putting their hearts into this and I can feel that even now. But this was still a bad thing to happen and I'm worried about how impactful this issue will end up being because this was a first impressions scenario. Bloodstained has a solid foundation but there are some cracks in the walls. Enough where because of this accident, I don't plan on preordering a follow up immediately should it happen (and I do want one) yet I wouldn't blame anyone else for taking such a cautious approach either. I'll wait to see what happens next time before I play.


With all of that being said, it is important to keep in mind this is a new franchise made almost entirely from scratch by an indie developer. You naturally want to compare it to IGA's last game; OoE. I know I have plenty already and that's also not completely fair. OoE was made for a single console that they already had two games on prior. The closest thing you could compare it to would actually be SOTN, but even that isn't fair because SOTN used a lot of art assets from past Castlevania games and was still an exclusive. As much as ROTN does play like something made after OoE with a lot of its mechanical elements in mind, and as much as it doesn't feel like an indie project for how high quality it is in most areas, it's still an indie development and it's important to remember that. Everything here is new and by a small team. Hopefully, should we get a Bloodstained 2, the familiarity of this production will help prevent futures issues both minor and major.
The chest glitch was legitimately shitty, but there are far more egregious game breaking glitches from big developers that don't have an excuse and go months without a fix, or none at all. Just look at Bethesda.



Now that we have that cleared up, I'm gonna praise the shit out of this game's music.

Music.

Castlevania's own wonderful and brilliant Michiru Yamane serves as the primary composer for ROTN and Goddamn is it satisfying. She left Konami shortly after her work on OoE which she did alongside Yasuhiro Ichihashi. Yamane became freelance and you've probably heard her work in titles like Skullgirls. It's great to have her for this and also without any limitations on compression. With a majority of Castlevania titles being handheld after SOTN, we never could hear her compositions without the restriction of FM chips. Don't get me wrong, I love those too and there is some merit to limitations pushing for better melodies. But CD quality is certainly where she shines and is the most comfortable.
I can't go through the entire soundtrack praising each track, but I think probably one of the best compliments is that upon hearing the tracks you will instantly know what sort of setting they're supposed to be in. You listen to Gears of Fortune, hear the fast paced strings and instantly know it's perfect for a tower with a lot of rotating bits. You hear Theme of OD and think Library. Forgotten Jade- calm watery area. Bibliotheca Ex Machina- a torture chamber or a death trap.

Surprisingly they keep things pretty traditional in terms of instruments. There is a couple of rock elements but not much else which I'm fine with, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd like to hear something a bit bluesy again like Wandering Ghosts.

I also would be remiss if I didn't note that there are other composers on the soundtrack as well, including Ippo Yamada- who has composed for many Megaman Zero games, Shutaro Iida- a former Castlevania programmer and designer, and finally the group Noisycroak. But I'm not able to find what specific tracks they've actually composed for.

Graphics.

When Bloodstained was first shown in a 2.5D I was a bit apprehensive and became more so as time went on. It wasn't a deal breaker, but the game initially to me just looked slightly better than a PSP title. The graphics would eventually get improved but I still kept wishing that they went with an HD spite look instead. Then the graphics updated again and looked beautiful. I can safely say the final product shut me up.

This is gorgeous and exactly how it should look. The 2.5D is also used wonderfully in a few areas, from spinning towers to sudden turns. I wouldn't have it any other way now.
The color palette is also just lovely. So many gothic games go for bleak atmospheres from environments to creature design. Not Bloodstained, it's vibrant and lush in most instances. Every environment is just so spot on with backgrounds that rival anything that's come before. Nothing here is overly or needlessly bleak looking, it's colorful yet gothic. Highly Detailed but never overdone, even for the area that's almost entirely ornate gold.

The creature design is something I am two minds about. I appreciated the bright coloration and there is a lot of creativity and diverseness in appearances. Stuff like a Lion's head with spinning wheel legs straight out of the Ars Goetia is right up my alley for weird design. In fact a lot of the monsters and bosses are from or at least named after those in that grimoire. Dantalion, Decarabia, Gamigin, etc.
You also get more down to earth designs like Dragons, demons, axe knights, spear Knights and werewolves. Weird stuff like demonic bunny girls and rocker chicks. Plus monsters clearly being fill ins for Dracula's legion, such as Slime creatures with cannons instead of Dinosaur skulls shooting fire. One of the goals for the kickstarter was to have your pet included so there's a few giant dogheads and a couple of massive demon cats that look hilarious.




While there is a focus on the 72 demons of Solomon, they make sure to have folklore creatures like the Welsh Cyhyraeth, Greecian Celaeno and Ocypete, Mesopotamian Lamashtu, even Titania from a midsummer's night dream.

If there is a flaw here and there really no getting around it- of all the things in the game, this is the area where you notice it ultimately isn't very Castlevania. That isn't to be insulting or deriding the work put in here, more so that it's an inevitability. ROTN has everything other thing Castlevania did and more- except the luxury of being decades old and having a back catalogue of great designs and framework. When SOTN came out they already had over a decade of stuff to choose from that didn't require as much work, plus if you wanted to redesign something it's easier when you already have a prior base. Look at Death, he's different in each game and has new attacks, but generally speaking, is a skeleton that conjurers scythes. Pick any monster that was originally 8-bit and had to be made in 16. It's a lot of work to make it look good and move in new ways, but you have something to work off of.

With this being the first entry that isn't an 8-bit side game, you'll notice some oddities and a lot of recolors, which every game has variants but Bloodstained's are more noticeable than others. There's a desert area that has bone Dragons, frogs, a giant dog's head and mystical floating shards- all basically reused assets and enemies with the Bone Dragon being new but ultimately just a deskined dragon. No mummies or sphinxes or even scorpions which you can't help but notice are absent. I'm a bit confused as to why they didn't reuse one of the female enemies like lili and retexture them to look pharaoh themed, perhaps named after Ammit.
Some of the creatures are reused to death and its hard not to notice how much emphasis is put on the "Morte" family of creatures. It's Bloodstained's equivalent to Castlevania's Skeletons and it just does nothing for me. I do not care for their Candlejack T-1000 designs especially with how much they're used, they just don't have the versatility of a skeleton. Some of the other designers are also a bit out of place, the Bat and some of Knights looks incredibly cartoonish for my tastes to be quite honest.
Thankfully other demons like the Grinder knights, Carabosse, Sabnock and Barbatos are much more in line with my preferred aesthetic.
What issues I do have I can give a pass since this is the first in a new series.

Final Thoughts.

Overall Bloodstained is the game I've waited years for and it gave me everything I wanted, if albeit with a very big initial bump in that road. While no game is perfect, ROTN delivers on so much for starved Metroidvania fans and is a fantastic game in its own right. I can't recommend this enough to those that are desperately craving a new title to sink their teeth into. It might not technically be a Castlevania, but when it plays and sounds just as good, do we even actually need it to be? Even if we ultimately never get a Castlevania '99, we have this and that's more than enough. I have no problems with Bloodstained replacing Castlevania as my favorite game franchise. I wish IGA and his team well and hope that we get a Bloodstained 2 in the future. But for now, they deserve a good rest but I suppose the DLC is next.

For those interested, I hope this review was informative if a bit long. That's just the sort of fervent passion that's inspired when I become enamored with something.
As one final note, if you do plan of picking Bloodstained up, be sure to wait on the patch and take your time. As enticing as it is to just dive in, it's safer to wait. So if your game isn't patched, please, don't play it. But you probably won't listen to me anyway, will you?