The game didn't live up to my expectations, even after finishing it.
I didn't like the visuals. The art style feels generic, and many of the animations come across as stiff, repetitive, and unfinished. The story lacks depth, both in its world-building and its characters, especially the NPCs. Their backgrounds and motivations are only touched on superficially, making it difficult to care about them or become invested in the world.
The shard system serves its purpose, and the familiars do as well, but the latter feel poorly integrated into both the environment and the player's journey. Since they're obtained so easily and with little effort, they never really feel like companions. Instead, they come across as nothing more than another bland spell.
The English voice acting is terrible (I can't comment on the original Japanese dub). Both the enemies and the NPCs sound unconvincing, making many interactions feel awkward rather than immersive.
Enemy variety is also disappointing. Many enemies are recycled, and, more importantly, they often feel completely out of place in the areas where they appear. Instead of making each section of the castle feel unique, it feels as if enemies were placed wherever there was empty space, with little consideration for the setting.
The game also relies far too much on fan service from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Many of them go beyond homage and feel like recycled ideas. O.D. is an obvious example (Alucard), they even went as far as adding hitting his chair from below (copy-paste if you ask me), the inverted castle, and even the fact that Gebel is being controlled by someone else, almost exactly like Richter in Symphony of the Night.
The side quests also feel disconnected from the main story. They add no meaningful lore or character development and exist almost exclusively to reward the player with extra items.
In the end, I felt like I was playing a weaker imitation of Symphony of the Night mixed with ideas from other platformers rather than a game with its own identity. I completed the entire game because I wanted to give it a fair chance, but after about five hours, I was no longer enjoying the experience and simply wanted to finish it as quickly as possible so I could move on to something else.
