2026 Special - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Persephone

I don't want to make a habit of reviewing romhacks, but since this is one of the few methods for playing through Aria of Sorrow with a female character, I figured why the hell not. Alright so the deal with this particular hack is that instead of Soma, you're playing as Persephone. In the original game, she's the maid who kindly greets you and then immediately busts out the kung fu. Here she's much more versatile, utilizing both kicks and magic to slay the adversaries who would dare vie for her lord Dracula's power. 

Besides a new story, a typical play-through of this romhack is quite similar to the original. You'll explore each area in the same order as before, contending with the same foes in the same places. Thankfully, that feeling of sameness never takes hold, and that's due to two factors. One is that Persephone is skilled in magic and can dish out some mean kicks, but her choice in armor leaves a lot to be desired. In short, she's rather squishy, so rushing headfirst into baddies is a bad idea. Two is that the order in which she obtains souls has been changed significantly. The drop-rate is also much higher than usual. This allows players more opportunities to customize their favorite butt-kicking maid. 

The first 2/3rds of the game are surprisingly challenging. It never occurred to me just how much I relied on decent armor, so having to go without led to some pretty rough sections, particularly in the arena. That said, it's around this point that Persephone can pick up some serious upgrades. The Valkyrie boots give her a Kaiser Knuckle-like multi-hitting attack that shreds most anything. The armor she picks up practically doubles her defense, which is huge. Several other weapons and accessories become available shortly afterwards, turning what was once a humble maid into a warrior goddess. I can't complain about that, since getting ridiculously strong is in my opinion one of the Igavania series' finest qualities. 

There's not much else to say here. If you're itching to replay the always enjoyable Aria of Sorrow, but are also craving a fresh twist, then the Persephone romhack is an easy recommendation. Increasing the drop-rate of souls and mixing up the order in which they're obtained was a brilliant move. Some of the skills are also entirely new, even offering a little synergy that wasn't seen in the vanilla game. Altogether, it's an enjoyable little romp. Head on over here if you're interested.