Castlevania Curse of Darkness

🎮 PlayStation 2 ⏳ 25 hours ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

A New Castlevania Path #

This is a action-adventure game that builds on the legacy of Lament of Innocence, but with a greater focus on RPG mechanics and creature collection, in my opinion it has a lot of similarities with The Legend of Mana when it comes to the pet/familiar mechanics. The MC this time is Hector, a Devil Forgemaster seeking revenge against Isaac, and the game moves away from the classic Belmont storyline, which is a nice change of pace.

Forging Combat and Companions #

The combat is fluid and customizable, offering a variety of weapon types and magic abilities, and the “Innocent Devils” system (pet/familiar), where you raise and evolve demon companions, adds strategic depth. It also adds a replay factor since you can level them up, and sometimes you can’t undo the upgrades, so if you want to experience all their upgrade paths, you are gonna have to put some hours into this one.

Flawed but Beloved #

However, the game suffers from repetitive environments, bland level design, and a lack of visual variety. While not as iconic as the 2D Castlevania entries, Curse of Darkness is a solid experience for fans of the franchise, with stylish action, a strong soundtrack, as expected from a Castlevania title, and decent replay value. This is my favorite one of the PlayStation 2, and definitely a must-play for fans of the franchise.