Review for Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood. Game for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 26/10/2018
Now very little is missing from the twenty-fifth anniversary of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, as we had the opportunity to observe a few days ago with our Back in Time column. Obviously, not only we at Epic Videogames Guide noticed it, but also Konami, which took the great opportunity to launch today on PlayStation Store Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood in conjunction with the debut of the second season of animated Castlevania on Netflix.
As you can easily imagine from the name, Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood is a compilation for PlayStation 4 (the exclusivity is due to a partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment) containing the two aforementioned games, graphically restored. The price (€ 19,99) is not cheap compared to that of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (€ 9,99 on PS Store; playable on PSP and PS Vita), remake of Rondo of Blood also containing the original game and the PlayStation version of Symphony of the Night; nevertheless, these versions for PlayStation 4 are preferable, unless you are specifically interested in the remake contained in The Dracula X Chronicles (of which we will discover vices and virtues tomorrow, with the weekly episode of Back in Time).
Castlevania Requiem goes to emulate and upscale (1080p / 4k) the versions of the games contained in The Dracula X Chronicles, enhancing the backdrops and adding vibration, analog and microphone support to the pad. The choice of these versions as a basis implies some changes as regards script and voice acting, which however do not necessarily constitute a defect, even if in the context of a nostalgic operation like this it would have been preferable to have the possibility to choose.
In general, a certain lack of content can be found. Castlevania Requiem includes the two games and that's it, however, with few options: you can just choose the configuration of the keys, the size of the image on the screen - necessarily maintaining the ratio of 4: 3 - and whether to activate the usual retro graphic filters (lines scanning, interlacing and blending). Basically, there is only the minimum endowment of an enhanced port of this type.
Having carried out these premises, let's first focus on Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo), referring you to our in-depth review from last week for a more extensive discussion.
The title, unreleased in the West until the location of the remake ten years ago, is one of the best "ancient" episodes (those preceding the metroidvania turn of Symphony of the Night, so to speak). This is due not only to the excellent graphics and sound sectors (the latter, in particular, thanks to the new support of the time, the compact disc), but also to an intriguing level design, with many hidden objects and even alternative schemes, which they can significantly modify the various playthroughs, also considering the multiple endings.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, on the other hand, needs no introduction: despite an uninspiring debut, Igarashi's masterpiece has over time become a cult game, so much so that it has been revived with some success on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. (like PS Classics, in this case; note how the retail version had become rather rare and expensive). For the debut on 32-bit consoles, Konami did not abandon the two dimensions, but still managed to give an epochal turning point, helping to shape the metroidvania genre.
Pad in hand, platforming and fighting have not been distorted (even if Alucard is overall more manageable than Richter), but the game structure of the Rondo of Blood prequel, already rich - as we said - of secrets and alternative stages, has been exponentially increased , up to the elimination of the concept of level: in Symphony of the Night there is a single large location, Dracula's castle, made up of countless rooms variously connected to each other; the player must make his way thanks to keys and power ups to be found along the way, with the need to carry out healthy backtracking to return to the rooms where a previously insurmountable obstacle prevented one or more passages. Added to this is also an RPG patina, with a classic level up system linked to experience points and an equally classic one of equipment, which can be found in specific rooms or even in the form of drops of some mobs (which respawn every time you return to a room).
Castlevania Requiem is the easiest and most effective way to recover Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, two of the best episodes of this historic series, so it can be a great way to invest your money. On the other hand, the compilation is rather poor in terms of content, so it does not prove attractive for those who have already had the opportunity to complete the two games, also by virtue of the launch price.
► Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood is a Platform-Action-Metroidvania type game developed and published by Konami for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 26/10/2018
