it doesnt have that much going for it over the castlevania series it exists to usurp, but it does a good job standing among those games as another solid entry. its like aria of sorrow with a bigger map and a crafting system. if those things sound cool to you, you'll like this game. if you want a game that advances the ideas those older games pioneered, you'll probably be disappointed. ritual of the night plays it very safe, and this safety is what i think holds this game back the most. it's ultimately just another game that plays like symphony of the night. if that isnt enough to tell you whether or not you'll like this game, you should try symphony of the night or aria of sorrow instead. the rest of this review will reflect the thoughts of someone who played this game way too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ much and got herself thoroughly sick of it, so take them with a grain of salt:
the full 3d style reveals a whole lotta cracks that were never present in the old sprite-based castlevanias. though the imagination and talent put into each of the game's assets is clear, it feels as if every one of them was designed to be as appealing and eye-catching as possible in a vacuum, with little consideration for how all of these elements would fight for your attention the frame. the pieces the environments are made of are lavishly detailed and a feast for the eye whenever you stop to take a closer look, but the soft, bland lighting of most areas puts that detail to poor use. the game lacks a singular unifying "look" for each area's visual design to adhere to and subvert as it sees fit, and it results in a persistent feeling of drabness despite all the bright colors. the enemy designs, as lovingly rendered as each of them are in the bestiary, feel more like a grab bag of whatever monster concepts they could think of.
on top of all this visual dissonance is the straight up jank, particularly in cutscenes. clearly, the people making this game are very experienced making snappy and precise 2d action platforming gameplay, and not so skilled at making visually compelling scenes. the cutscene animations all throughout the game are laughably stilted and jarring, and the camerawork never does a good job of selling any scene well, usually showing the action from bland or confusing angles and rarely moving between those points in an interesting way. taken as is, it hardly matters, because you're not here for the storytelling. but watching cutscenes that look *this* bad does have a psychological effect on me, that makes me notice all the little imperfections present in gameplay that much more. its so strange, even when skipping all the cutscenes on repeat playthroughs, i still think about them and have it subtly affect my view of the rest of the game. it makes me that little bit less excited to listen to the game's repetitive voice lines and walk through its long hallways at just slightly too slow a speed for comfort. its weird ♥♥♥♥!
so yeah, cool game that does what its going for well, but its a package that will grate on you over time if you pay too close attention to it. most of the extra ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ they added after launch isnt worth playing either, just get a rom of castlevania 3 for the famicom like fr that game is SO ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good
