Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
A Night to Remember
Experimentation can be tricky when it comes to long-running video game franchises, although some series like Final Fantasy have relied upon them for many console generations. Such was the initial case with Konami’s Castlevania series, with its first sequel, Simon’s Quest, throwing roleplaying game elements into the mix, which the developer would heavily extend with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, initially released on the Sony PlayStation and receiving countless ports for over two decades, among the latest of which is that included in the Requiem collection, itself based on the version unlockable in the PlayStation Portable’s The Dracula X Chronicles.
Symphony opens where its chronological narrative predecessor Rondo of Blood ended, with vampire hunter Richter Belmont vanquishing Count Dracula. Four years later in 1796, Richter has disappeared, and Dracula’s castle rematerializes, with protagonist Alucard arriving in want of sending it again to the depths of the netherworld, along the way teaming with Maria Renard, who had aided Richter in his past crusade against the forces of darkness. The plot is simplistic and spread out thinly, with plot holes involving how Maria finds her way through the castle to chambers Alucard needs to use special moves to access, although there are good twists, and the narrative is at best serviceable.
The translation is based on that for the PlayStation Portable version included as an unlockable within The Dracula X Chronicles, and while it is legible and has some decent lines, many of the iconic ones in the original script are missing. There are also plenty of missing periods at the ends of sentences, misspellings galore, and misleading item and spell descriptions that make it a sub-par effort.
Luckily, the gameplay largely compensates for whatever narrative and translational foibles Symphony has, with most critics and audiences rightfully hailing it as the godfather of the Metroidvania subgenre, even if it builds upon the formula that the first Castlevania direct sequel Simon’s Quest executed. Alucard can move around and jump (with the arc and intensity of his leaps mercifully being far more flexible than in Rondo of Blood), attack with an equipped weapon, and, if his armament is one-handed, block projectiles with his shield, players also able to outfit him with other equipment like armor and two accessories.
Frankenstein was his creator, not the monster himself.
Killing enemies nets Alucard experience for occasional level-ups, points earned from enemies proportional and based on his current level. He also gets several moves with which to explore Dracula’s castle and may occasionally need to purchase items from the Librarian such as a key that opens glowing, blue-outlined doors, alongside other amenities such as healing potions, equipment upgrades, magic spells, and tactics for defeating certain bosses. One item for which players might find use is the Library Card, which instantly conveys Alucard to the entrance of the Librarian’s chamber and can be helpful in case the player finds himself or herself in an undesirable situation, namely if close to death since the game dumps players unceremoniously back to the title screen if they die, with progress lost.
As with the protagonists of prior Castlevanias, Alucard can obtain sub-weapons from broken candles, which can allow him to perform Item Crash abilities that entail throwing axes into the air, throwing a knife directly forward, having a Bible swirl around him, and the like, which consume hearts also obtained from shattered illumination sources. While many sub-weapons can be useful, keeping specific ones can be troublesome at times, since Alucard can’t freely swap between them as desired, and I found myself often and accidentally losing sub-weapons I preferred, since players can’t freely swap between them, although luckily, the locations of certain ones remain fixed throughout the castle.
Exemplifying the Metroid side of the Metroidvania formula, Alucard can find fixed upgrades to his maximum hearts and life throughout the castle, with the latter usually obtained after boss battles. The mechanics largely work decently, although one major scrappy mechanic that even the game’s staunch defenders acknowledge is the method through which to use consumable items, which entails the player to go into the menus, equipping one, and using it outside the menus. There are various other annoyances such as the knockback when contacting foes and/or their projectiles if applicable, which can lead into accidents such as Alucard being knocked into the last chamber, but aside from dated mechanics such as these, the gameplay helps Symphony well.
As mentioned, exploring Dracula’s castle can be enjoyable, so long as players remain meticulous in their exploration, although newcomers may find themselves lost at times. Furthermore, the spacing of save points can be inconsistent and annoying at times, although going into the menus pauses the action, and a suspend save is available if the player needs to quit to when real life calls. The need to go into the menus for item use and the lack of an option to sort items in the player’s inventory automatically are other issues, but otherwise, Symphony interacts decently with players.
Sir Alucard and the Green Knight
The soundtrack is another high point of the game, with a variety of pieces from various genres such as neoclassical that fit the environments well, although those played in the second accessible game map can be somewhat repetitive. The Requiem port also uses the rerecorded voice acting from the Dracula X Chronicles unlockable, which is good for the most part, among the most improved voices being those for a few of Alucard’s familiars. The quality of the sound effects, though, is somewhat poor, many sounds at times dated, but Symphony is easy on the ears.
The two-dimensional visuals remain largely unchanged from the original PlayStation version, aside from the option of smooth texturing that makes them better, which isn’t a bad thing as they still look nice even today, with the character sprites having great anatomy despite not showing much emotion during cutscenes, pretty environments, great animation, and even some 3-D effects involving many monsters and occasionally the scenery. There are a few incongruities such as the graininess of the CG FMVs, most enemies having weird death effects such as catching fire upon their demise, and Richter’s character sprite not reflecting Ayami Kojima’s design, but otherwise, the graphics help the port far more than hurt.
Finally, the game will run players somewhere from six to twelve hours, with things such as unlocking every PlayStation Trophy, completing the automaps, filling out the enemy compendium, varied endings, and even different characters to play enhancing lasting appeal, although there can be slight frustration at times in an initial playthrough, and no New Game+ or adjustable difficulty.
Overall, while Symphony of the Night rightfully deserves its status as the godfather of the Metroidvania subgenre of roleplaying games, given its good fusion of gameplay elements from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, along with RPG aspects such as leveling, that doesn’t automatically render it one of the greatest titles of all time as many have hailed it. For one, there exist many dated elements within and without the gameplay that haven’t aged very well, such as a few scrappy mechanics, a weak translation, and subpar audio quality. Regardless, it’s more enjoyable than classic Castlevanias of yore like Rondo of Blood, and a nice look into video game history.
This review is based on a playthrough of the version included with Castlevania: Requiem to the main ending of the secondary map.
Score Breakdown
The Good
The Bad
- Good combat and exploration mechanics.
- Beautiful soundtrack.
- Nice art direction.
- Plenty lasting appeal.
- Some scrappy gameplay aspects.
- Poor plot and translation.
- Weak sound quality.
- A few dated visual aspects.
The Bottom Line
A decent start to the Metroidvania subgenre.
Platform
PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics
7.5/10
Control
8.0/10
Story
6.0/10
Localization
4.0/10
Aurals
8.0/10
Visuals
7.0/10
Lasting Appeal
8.5/10
Difficulty
Moderate
Playtime
6-12+ Hours
Overall: 7/10