悪魔城ドラキュラX 血の輪廻

I was really excited to see where this series would go after IV and here I am on the TurboGrafx16 a console I hardly ever touch. Rondo of Blood is a weird little game by being super castlevania and not castlevania at the same time. This time we're playing as Richter Belmont and I was surprised to see that this game has dialogue and cutscenes. If I'm being completely honest, I had no fucking clue what's going on in the story. The game starts off in this epic setpiece on a chariot fighting against death and I was thrilled right at the start. It's rather unusual for a game of this time and overall Rondo of Blood seems like a true modern game in every way. It's the first Castlevania that doesn't feel like this classic arcade-esque game.

Control wise we're back to the roots. Simple and plain whipping in only one direction. No control mid-air. It's hardcore. The only 2 small upgrades we have is that Richter is way more flexible on staircases than in the original and he can do this weird backflip by doubletapping the jump button. I have no idea how to use this move in a useful manner so it basically doesn't even manner. And you know what? I prefer this moveset to IV. It's way more streamlined and it just makes sense. You feel the right amount of powerful. Sub-weapons are back as well and better than ever. They all had a little upgrade and feel smooth and easy to use. Every weapon even has a super move that it can trigger if you have enough hearts and I like the idea but I seriously never used that feature either. I kept it simple you know?

The levels are more streamlined as well and feel way shorter and easier than in the older titles. There's always branching paths you can take but the don't increase the size of the level in any way. I don't know if they wanted to make them seem like secrets or not but you can basically see all of them right away if you're a bit smarter than average. Overall I was a bit disappointed as no levels really stuck with me. Sure the ghost ship is cool but that's about it. I guess there was a burning city but it only looked cool, there were no burning obstacles or shit like that. These are the only unique levels I remember.

The bosses on the other hand are all extremely memorable and feel like proper challenges. Up until this point most castlevania bosses felt like more of a hinderance than a thing to look forward to. But here each boss is a fun challenge with moves to learn unique ways of dodging them and other fun quirks. I love love love the bosses. Especially the Succubus boss before Dracula is ace. Dracula himself is a joke really. I did him after 3 tries and that's a shame, what fucks me up even more thought is the fact that after this "last" fight the game is like: no it ain't the true ending you forgot a lot of hidden bosses that you have to beat in order to see the true ending.

When games do this sorta thing I immediately put the game away after I see the credits. Don't think you can show me the cradits and be like: but you didn't actually finish the game. No. I can't stand this. Especially if you have no way of knowing it when you start the game. It's just frustrating. Say yeah... I didn't save the world but I beat the game.

I like Rondo of Blood but it didn't wow or amaze me like IV did. It's still really really good and sure it looks impressive but nothing really sticks. I'm glad the returned to the original set of controls and skills but I just wished they made it more fleshed out like IV was. Maybe the snes version is a bit better but I just can't get a sense of satisfaction from it. It's good but not stunning in any way.