The leveling system, while basic, really made it click with me more than some of the older ones I’ve played. Also, partially because of that, I didn’t find it difficult enough for me to put down the controller.
Which CV game should I play next? I’ve got most of them up until Lords of Shadow downloaded for emulation, and my device can probably run any 3ds entries p well.
I’ve heard the GBA and DS ones are well liked. Been thinking about those next, but which do you suggest?
Aria of Sorrow for GBA is very similar to SOTN. Order of Ecclesia is really good too. Dawn of Sorrows and Portrait of Ruin are okay. Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance aren’t that good but there are worse games.
Will start with that one then, thanks!
It’s a good time! Also it has like 3 or 4 different endings and you gotta do some very esoteric shit to get anything but one of em.
My take is that if you play any GBA or DS (not 3ds) Castlevania you’re going to have a good time. There’s 3 for each system and they span in quality from very good to fantastic.
Not CV but spiritually in the same vein is Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
I see it’s on steam sale right now, if that matters to you. But my personal review is I prefer SotN, anyway. Another spiritually similar game is Hollow Knight, which I think I like more than Bloodstained.
Those are my weak-ass suggestions.
One of the things that makes SotN so good is it’s also glitchy as hell, which lets you break the game in interesting ways and to play it in a manner that’s completely unintended from the original design perspective. These modern games I mention are a bit too well programmed, if that makes sense.
LOVED Bloodstained, can’t wait for a 2nd (non 8bit) one
Aria of Sorrow is undisputably the best of the GBA titles by a significant margin. Circle of the Moon is good but it’s an early GBA title and kinda rough. Harmony of Dissonance is the worst IGAvania and you’re not missing much by skipping it.
Of the DS titles, Order of Ecclesia is my fav, though exploration is fairly limited for half the game and it’s the most challenging out of all of these imo. Also Shanoa is my fav protag of the series (and clearly the inspiration for Bloodstained’s Miriam). Portrait of Ruin is pretty close to top for me too, I think it’s a bit underrated. Dawn of Sorrow is okay, it does have some cool stuff but 1) the shoehorned touchscreen seal system is deeply unfun and by far the biggest problem, 2) the castle layout/progression is awkward and has a bad flow, and 3) going from the beautiful and unique character illustrations of Aria to the generic template anime designs of Dawn is quite jarring. But it does have my favorite bonus mode of the series so at least there’s that.
If you have access to Bloodstained, that’s quite good too. It plays like it’s Aria of Sorrow 3.
The Lord of Shadows series is its own thing, more akin to like God of War. Mirror of Fate is a metroidvania but it’s quite mediocre.
Thanks for the writeup!
Dead Cells is the only game that has come close to scratching the same itch that SOTN did for me
Absolutely love it, got about 100 hours on it
