Castlevania: Circle of the Moon: Practise Makes Vacant

The Castlevania series is something I wish I'd grown up with more.  I've played most of the older ones, and enough of the newer crop to see the appeal, but it's the kind of history and experience I wish I could track in relation to my maturing.  The original Castlevania is a shining gold star of level design and understands how powerful the simplicity of 2D linear gameplay can be.  And even with that, the game still manages to be full of secrets.

Castlevania is a lot like Dark Souls.  Or perhaps Dark Souls is a lot like Castlevania.  Mastery of the game comes from understanding the limits of your character, and relying on a set of distinct rules you base your play around.  Rules like You can stop small fireballs with your whip or If you can see an enemy from where you are, you can kill it from there.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon takes the newer approach to the series, popularized by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  Instead of linear action-platforming, the game takes a sprawling, non-linear style and adds RPG elements such as equipment, consumable potions and other items, magic spells, and a leveling system.

I won't pretend I'm not a perfect target for this kind of game.  Satisfying control, distinct advancement and player empowerment lots of secrets, challenges, unique bosses... it's targeted squarely at my joy department and massages with gentle grace.

But there's an itch this kind of game doesn't scratch.  Circle of the Moon is a large enough game to keep me entertained, but it's the kind that doesn't leave me with a strong feeling of satisfaction.  The original Castlevania, Dark Souls, Vanquish to an extent, these games are frustrating and difficult, they leave me beating my head against my controller.  Sometimes I make the mistake of going to these games for light enjoyment and some basic abnegation.  Circle of the Moon is that kind of game.  It's not easy, but it's not so complex that I can't just tune out and wade through halls full of skeletons, whip out, spells flying.  The secrets and upgrades the game has are almost never so interesting as to make me reconsider my play style, and the few that would be are found so early that it feels like I'm deliberately crippled without them.

Again, the game isn't easy, and it is entertaining, but it doesn't have that sense of mastery that the original could manage.  And this isn't just Circle of the Moon's problem, either.  Symphony of the Night has the same issues.  When I am so powerful that enemies basically explode if they step into my country, I can't go back to that original dis-empowered beginning without feeling a sense of annoyance at how much work I need to do to have fun again.

 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon will entertain, and to its credit , beating the game unlocks new play styles to vary the experience which is great.  But I don't see myself returning to it.  Or maybe even returning to this style of Castlevania game.  I feel there are better venues to tune out and do nothing, and while I respect the difficulty of designing all this game to work with so many varied styles, I don't ever find myself trying tactics more complex than "Whip it and jump away."  I still think Symphony of the Night is the better example of the style, but I haven't played all the myriad of games in the style.

Next up on the 100 Games: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.