Hello everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review and discussion of Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night! This entire franchise has always been one of my all time favorites. From it's 8-bit beginnings on the Nintendo Entertainment System, to the incredible Super Nintendo and Genesis titles, it features a great selection of legendary games that stand the test of time. Even though I've played them all again, and again, something keeps me coming back for more. I absolutely love the gothic horror themes that run through each one, the fantastic story and characters, and especially the amazing gameplay. You'll find Symphony Of The Night near the top of countless best games of all time lists, and after playing through it again recently, it's easy to see why. So let's get into it, and talk about what makes this game so special.
Castlevania established itself as a side scrolling action platformer game series back in 1986 when Konami released the original title that started it all. It's many sequels stayed true to this formula for a decade, across multiple platforms, before finally changing things up. Castlevania Symphony Of The Night was released in 1997 for the PlayStation 1, and it is an action platformer, but it also has elements of an RPG as well. This is the first time the series featured an interconnected open world style environment that required you to obtain certain items to open up new areas. There was a much bigger emphasis on exploration due to the non linear level design, and there are tons of secrets to be found in every corner of the map. The developers took a risk, deviating ever so slightly from the tried and true formula that fans were familiar with. Luckily for us it payed off, giving us one of the best games in the franchise.
At the beginning you play as Richter Belmont confronting and defeating Dracula himself, but this is only the prologue setting up the events of the rest of the game. Four years later Dracula's Castle reappears, and Richter goes missing. Now you take control of Alucard, Dracula's son, as he arrives at the castle to destroy it once and for all. Since you're not playing as a Belmont this time you wont be using the signature weapon of the series, the whip. Instead Alucard prefers to use a sword, or sometimes his bare hands, to deal with Dracula's army of the undead that roam the massive castle grounds. Along your journey you will also come across Maria Renard, a friend of Richter who fought alongside him, and is searching for him now that he's gone missing. Eventually you do come across Richter, but something isn't right. He tells you that he's the new lord of this castle, and appears to be working with Dracula.
If you manage to find two secret items, and go talk to Maria about this, she will give you something special that allows you to get the true ending, and figure out what is really going on here. These items are easily missable, and without them you will fight the final boss, and the game will be over. But if you do get the true ending, it reveals another castle that is upside down, and the game will continue on with all new, much tougher enemies, and better weapons to find. When I played this as a kid I wasn't aware of another ending, and it blew my mind discovering that there was another castle to get to. That's part of what makes this game so great. You can play through it multiple times, and still uncover new things that you missed. The Inverted Castle, as it's known, is much harder to beat, and a lot less forgiving. But if you're tenacious enough to get through it you'll finally get to see the real end of the game.
Unlike previous Castlevanias, this time you use a sword as your weapon of choice. As you explore the castle you will find hundreds of new weapons and items to use, making Alucard even stronger. You can also equip various pieces of armor, head gear, breastplates, capes, and two miscellaneous items like rings, or necklaces. There are better versions of all these things hidden everywhere around the castle, making it very important that you explore thoroughly. You still get to use the old familiar sub weapons, like the dagger, axe, holy water, cross, and a handful of new ones. You collect hearts from the candles to power these sub weapons just like the older games, but you can find upgrades to raise the total amount you can carry. There are many upgrades to raise your total health hidden everywhere as well, and you level up by earning experience points from defeating enemies.
These new RPG elements add another layer on top of the normal Castlevania formula, and it works surprisingly well, but the changes don't stop there. Another new mechanic to Symphony Of The Night that is very important, and crucial for completing the game, are the three transformations you can find. Since Alucard is half vampire he has the ability to transform himself into a Wolf, a Cloud Of Mist, and a Bat. These abilities are hidden around the castle, and each one can be further upgraded giving you extra powers. The Wolf can run incredibly fast, and can perform a special attack. The Cloud Of Mist allows you to pass through metal bars. But by far the most useful one is the Bat. This allows you to fly around, in any direction, and shoot fireballs at your enemies. Once you acquire these three transformations you can finally access pretty much any area of the map.
Dracula's Castle is a sprawling labyrinth of connected areas, with a creepy atmosphere, and loads of hidden areas. The visuals hold up very well, giving each area it's own distinct look, which makes navigating a little easier. There are tons of different enemies, and each one has a fantastic, creative design. The bosses are especially impressive, and you'll be going up against quite a few of them. Of course, just like every other game in the series, SOTN features some wonderfully catchy music as well. This very much feels like you're playing any other classic Castlevania title, but all the extra RPG elements, and the interconnected world, really make it stand out. This is the game that helped coin the term Metroidvania, basically creating it's own sub genre, and people still make games in this style today. It's not only an important part of videogame history, it's a 2-d side scrolling masterpiece. I highly recommend picking this up, and I'm going to give Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night a grade of................................
A
Thank you for reading my review of Castlevania Symphony Of The Night, I hope you enjoyed it!