There are few video game genres as satisfying as the Metroidvania, but it could be argued that this has become a problem of sorts.
The basic structure of the genre is perfect for a medium where progress is one of the core principles. By not going for a series of linear stages and instead offering a large, non-linear world which slowly becomes more accessible as you gain new abilities, being able to backtrack and defy those barriers that previously hindered you is constantly fulfilling.
As a result of this – not to mention the fact that designing a 2D game is often cheaper and more straightforward than a 3D one – these days you can’t move for Metroidvanias, meaning for every Animal Well, Hollow Knight, Guacamelee or Ori there are hundreds of others that struggle to climb to the top of the pile and gain recognition.
Saturation of the market makes it increasingly difficult for a Metroidvania game to get noticed, then, but there are of course two exceptions – the two series the category is named after – meaning any time there’s actually a new Metroid or ‘vania, people pay attention.
Astonishingly, despite being one of the two founding series of a genre that’s been perpetually popular, there hasn’t been a new side-scrolling Castlevania game for 13 years (the last being the excellent Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate). This makes the arrival of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse all the more exciting, and having played it at Gamescom for an hour, excitement continues to be the overriding emotion, even if what I played felt relatively safe.
Belmont’s Curse is set 23 years after the events of the NES game Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse, which saw Trevor Belmont taking on Dracula in the year 1476. It’s now 1499, and Trevor’s been informed by a bishop that Paris has been overrun by demons. The problem is, Trevor’s now 43 years old, and while the spirit is still willing, the body is weakening (I’m 43 too Trev so I fully understand, mate).
As such, Trevor has called on his daughter Rose to travel to Paris with him, so she can basically do all the legwork while he sits back and gives advice as some sort of backseat vampire slayer.
Just to make sure he definitely doesn’t get involved, Trevor gives Rose the Vampire Killer – the legendary whip that would later be passed down through the Belmont clan from generation to generation – so she can use it on her quest to save Paris from evil. And if you don’t think Dracula’s going to be involved in some way, you must be new to this.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/castlevania-belmonts-curse-doesnt-seem-to-raise-the-stakes-but-should-still-be-worth-sinking-your-teeth-into/
