If I hadn't already made it clear, let it be etched in stone that I would follow Koji Igarashi to the ends of the Earth. However, after finishing Castlevania: Curse of Darkness many moons ago, I wished I could've caught up to him and said, "With all due respect Igarashi-san, what the hell was this?" He'd respond with a bow, a wry smirk, and then draw a croissant-shaped portal with his pinky finger. Before I could even stammer another word, he'd disappear. Honestly though, if that ever actually happened, I'd probably buy five copies of his next game instead of just three. I can't get enough of these systems-driven Action RPGs with their rare drops, voluminous bestiaries, and quirky mechanics that may or may not appear in future games. Even with all this in mind, there's no way that I'd ever revisit his 2005 monstrosity. No way in hell...
Admittedly, the blood of a sicko maniac runs through my veins, which creates a thirst that isn't easily sated. You've already gotten a glimpse into its effects. I've just recently played and written about a string of Igavanias for platforms of all sizes. It isn't enough. As the wait for Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement continues, the thirst becomes uncontrollable. Seconds later, I black out. After a moment of what feels like swimming in the abyss, I awaken to the voice of Russel Watson. The instant my vision recovers, I recognize the Logitech F310 in my hands, and (to my horror) the credits rolling on Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. What I believed was a moment was actually somewhere between 15 and 20 hours. That was when the realization struck me: Either I write something about this damn game, or Dracula's curse follows me into the grave.
The year is 1479. Though Dracula was destroyed by Trevor Belmont and his allies, the dark lord's curse ravages the surrounding countryside still. Seemingly all of Europe has been plunged into an age of endless pestilence and chaos. It is here that we find Hector. Consumed by revenge, he returns to the realm of darkness he once called home in the hopes of finding the man that orchestrated his fiancée's murder. However, not everything is as it seems. Mysterious individuals stalk his every move, all hinting at a grand scheme that could lead to mankind's destruction. If Hector is to solve this mess, then he's going to need your help. Pick up a controller, fire up that PS2 or PCSX2, and lead him down the path of the Devil Forgemaster. Crush the undead evils, obtain powers beyond comprehension, suffer like I have suffered.
On paper, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is everything I could've wanted from a follow-up to Lament of Innocence. The RPG elements that were once abandoned are now at the forefront. Hector doesn't just level-up. He recruits and evolves Innocent Devils (or familiars), all with the ability to level-up and learn new powers. There's now a crafting system where weapons and armor are smashed together from materials that are dropped or stolen from enemies. Stealing is an entire mechanic on its own. Instead of just running up to the nearest fiend and hoping for an RNG blessing, players have to figure out what causes the stealing window to appear and position Hector so he can successfully swipe the goods. It's in my opinion one of the most thoughtful systems to grace the genre. Along with all this, players will explore a larger game-world, fight more bosses, and every moment is accompanied by some of Michiru Yamane's finest work.
You know exactly what happens every time the words on paper are used. I proceed to go on a massive diatribe about how all the cool stuff is actually totally uncool and contributes to a disastrous game. The only difference this time around is I've nearly forgotten to slide in the other overused word pairing in practice. In all seriousness, my feelings on this product are a mishmash of highs and lows. A lot of what's on paper actually works in practice. Everything surrounding the process of character-building is terrifyingly addictive. It's got that Shin Megami Tensei loop wherein every new area is an opportunity to craft a bunch of new stuff, only this time around I've got a real demon watching my back.
The Innocent Devil system is an incredibly unique take on Metroidvania and I'd gladly check out any game that attempts something similar. The basic conceit is that besides a double-jump, Hector completely lacks traversal powers. His abilities remain unchanged no matter how many hours you invest. In order for him to reach normally inaccessible locations, he has to rely on his demonic allies. These friendly fiends are divided in six types, though only five are necessary to complete his quest. Fairies unlock treasure chests, battlers open heavy doors, Mages cast puzzle-solving spells, Birds carry their master across chasms, and Devils allow one to slip underneath small crevices. The Innocent Devils are organized into your "deck" and function as both a persistent ally in battle and a means of opening a path forward. The limited deck size and variety of IDs add up to what is essentially your build. You can personalize it however you like with demons whose skills suit your playstyle.
Evolving an Innocent Devil is as simple as feeding it gems that are tied to whichever type of weapon you're using to slay monsters. These evolved forms obtain new abilities that better serve the Forgemaster in combat or unlock even more of the game-world. There's something oddly satisfying about creating an ID specifically to destroy blood skeletons, which rely on their immunity to conventional weapons to keep Hector locked out of a secret room. Iyeti is rather useless in battle, but he's friend-shaped and Hector can ride upon his shoulders. I could describe the other myriad ways this unconventional progression system influences Curse of Darkness, but in the interest of brevity, I have to call it what it is: a missed opportunity. Obtaining the gems needed to achieve certain forms isn't a natural process. Most players are going to spend an inordinate amount of time in a certain late-game room farming skeletons until they've gotten the IDs to a point where they can access the rest of the hidden treasures and clear the optional combat challenges.
In the end, I suppose it's all just philosophical differences. The ID system was designed first and foremost for combat; traversal skills are just a bonus. More to the point, these are not the mostly inconsequential familiars that inhabit the likes of SOTN, Sorrow, or Bloodstained. Build an Innocent Devil up and it'll annihilate whatever gets in your way. Every type of demon has access to some incredibly powerful skills, and they're often beefy or evasive enough to fend for themselves. Having a mage that can drop a screen-wiping star or a demonic samurai that slices up bosses is positively lovely. It almost makes me forget that the moment-to-moment combat is a step down from the previous game... almost.
Lament of Innocence didn't have the deepest combat, largely due to its pitiful enemy variety. However, it was convincing and satisfying to engage in. Learning the intricacies and utilizing advanced techniques such as perfect guard led to encounters that were consistently fun. Curse of Darkness got the enemy variety, but everything else was compromised. No matter what he's wielding, Hectors attacks are stiff and lack gratification. Instead of short yet consistently executable combos, he has a long attack string with a plethora of finishers, but nothing stays alive along enough for any of them to matter. Even while "locked-on" it's painfully easy to whiff a lot of moves, limiting the viability of any weapon that's neither fast nor has a horizontal slash. This game's constant desire for more came at a pretty huge cost.
Besides utterly disappointing, there's not much else I can say about the combat. Hang on, there are still bosses to discuss, and they're all quite decent. I'd refrain from giving them too much praise, and that's mostly due to how much they vary in difficulty. Before continuing, I'd say it's well-established that delivering strong boss battles is particularly difficult in a subgenre where players are always finding new ways to break everything in seconds. Both Harmony of Dissonance and Portrait of Ruin have a technique called "damage-stacking". Once you master it, almost every boss devolves into a speed bump. I'll give credit to this game for designing bosses that have unique traits and abilities. If you're trying to steal their rare treasure, then that leads to more opportunities for them to show off their large repertoire of attacks. Mainly, I believe my issue with them is simply a matter of numbers. The mid to late-game features a series of surprisingly tough battles against archfiends that hit like a truck. Players, believing that the end-game battles will be even harder, spend extra time building up Hector's stats and IDs. What happens next is that the final bosses are quickly slaughtered. I can't get too hung up on this. It's a tricky balance to get right. Also, I could try playing on the "Crazy" difficulty for what is sure to be a real challenge, but we both know that's never going to happen.
This leads to the part of the game that buries all its other qualities, both the fantastic and the middling. Do you remember how I gave Lament of Innocence a bunch of shit for its constant deluge of hallways & rooms? Curse of Darkness takes that number and modifies it exponentially. The entire game is just corridors leading into hallways leading into... corridors leading... into... more hallways. Those instances where I'm expected to do anything besides run forward are as rare as Crissageims. Even the previous game tried doing things besides locking its protagonist in a room and filling it full of monsters. There were jumping puzzles, using the whip to reach platforms, and... it all feels so far away now.
Leon Belmont's method for moving at any speed besides sloth involved duping glitches and axe-charge spam. Hector doesn't even have that going for him. If this man had a car, he'd be driving 10 kph on a 45 kph street. He's so consumed by revenge that it has taken the form of a giant boulder and chained itself around his neck. It's invisible at first, but after a dozen hours you too will see it plain as day and it will crush your spirit. I can't understand it. Would the game be broken if this guy ran like he gave a damn about anything? The same applies to unlockable vampire killer Trevor. Just the thought of watching him jog through countless tubes of rock and dirt for hours sickens me.
The excruciatingly slow running speed is abetted by every hallway being nearly infinite in length. Again, I don't know what this accomplishes. Whatever constitutes good pacing died the second Hector took his first step. Stretching that into infinity does nothing besides break my brain. Worse still, it's not like there's much to look at. This game's abundance of flat lighting and boring backdrops creates an experience that can only be described as dull enough to kill.
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| Imagine trekking through nearly eight floors of this shit. |
At one point in Dracula's Castle, I wanted to hunt to steal some Sun Tears from Efreets so I could make the weapon necessary to unlock the hidden ID Pumpkin-type. Now this castle is big, but like every other location, it's big in every which way except good. Also, as you've no doubt noticed, its layout is halls and rooms shift + inserted ad nauseum. Efreets are located somewhere in the middle floors. Not exactly a convenient farming location, but I figured I could make do. Embarrassingly, I somehow got turned around and ended up heading right back where I started. Once the realization hit me, my mind went straight to "Fuck this. I'd better just finish the game."
There's a lot in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness that makes me tolerate what should've been intolerable. It's because I know that there's a kindred spirit within. Whatever this being is, it knows exactly what I want to see in a video game. Having so personalized an experience is like having a hole in the wall that was made for me. Finally, a place where I fit in, or so I thought. If this game hadn't decided to double down on all of its predecessor's flaws, it's possible that my entire outlook on gaming could've been shaped into something that my pitiful vocabulary wouldn't have dared to put words to. Who knows? Maybe The Scarlet Engagement will combine absurdist mechanics with non-glacial pacing, sending my soul away to a world of endless bliss, or at least that place in the wall where I can finally know comfort.
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