All hail IGA

Pros:
- Refined Castlevania Gameplay
- Equipment & Shard System
- Exploration
- Enemy Variety
- Bosses & General Difficulty

Mixed:
- Graphics
- Music
- Weapon Abilities (way to restrictive/hidden as I hardly ever used them)
- Crafting System
- Basic Quest System

Cons:
-Cutscenes (Very rough looking)
- Character Models (They just look bad besides Miriam)
- Guide is practically required to beat the game (although this is unfortunately a series staple)

Overall, with me not having played any of the DS Castlevania games yet but having played the rest, I was hoping for a bigger evolution from Aria of Sorrow to this since this is clearly trying to be like that style of Castlevania game that started with Symphony of the Night. Still, it does add a few things like familiars and directional magic which I really like. However, the graphics, cutscenes, and character models look very rough compared to the stellar 2D sprite work used in older style games. Frankly look better despite being 20 years older than this title due to the pixel art. Additionally, I do think this game could have benefited from a map marker like the Ori series on where to go next, particularly for finding the final section of the game. Had this game combined all of the best ideas, similar to what Aria of Sorrow did but modernized, I feel like it could have been the best one. Still, it's a great title and I gotta hand it to the devs on supporting the title for years. I also played the dlc and I was pleasantly surprised by that as it is literally Castlevania 2 but fixed and plays very well. I'm interested to see how the sequel goes as it could fix many of the criticisms I had with this. 8.0 with base game but 8.5/10 w Dominique dlc.

Superb game.... a little bit grindy... will play it through all characters...

Not bad. It plays like a metroid/castlevania style 2D adventure game. Many many many options on how you want to make a build but I stuck with ATK/STR/DEF/CON/ swapping to a luck build during grinding sessions for mats. The game starts kinda rough in the beginning but smooths out as the build starts to take shape. The map felt kind of big, but I've never played a castlevania game before so I don't really have a frame of reference. It was very horizontal. The puzzles were neat. Whatever you do, don't turn off the blood, it might make figuring out some of the puzzles a little more difficult.

never played castlevania. glad i picked this up

It's a good game, but you will have to grind a lot if you don't use a mod to increase drops.

Por fin un metroidvania normal que no intenta forzar elementos de Souls en su gameplay, super recomendado

Very nice, but short game

Toy shoes work as advertised 10/10 would squeak again