Among the best Castlevania video games of all time is formally 22 years outdated. No, I am not speaking about Symphony of the Night time, although this one deserves simply as a lot reward, with some contemplating it to be higher than SotN. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2003 Recreation Boy Advance recreation, being the third from the sequence to seem on the platform, and it is wild to me that in ten years, we’ll be in the identical 12 months the sport takes place in. 2035 appeared so far-off in 2003.
Not only a implausible Castlevania recreation, Aria of Sorrow is likely one of the finest GBA video games, interval, being the definitive Metroidvania expertise for the platform. There are quite a few causes to check it to Symphony of the Night time, which additionally celebrated an enormous milestone this 12 months, and considered one of them is its preliminary launch. Each video games had a lackluster reception at launch, with Aria of Sorry shifting little greater than 27k items in Japan in its first month, although its reception within the West was a lot bigger, with 158k copies offered within the US for a similar interval.
In case you’re not aware of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, it affords one thing a bit completely different, going down sooner or later reasonably than the previous, which is a primary for the franchise. Talking of firsts, the Aria of Sorrow launched the Tactical Soul System, an progressive function that will go on to seem in some subsequent video games.
When you may count on to play as a Belmont, as is typical in most Castlevania video games, you really play as a brand new character referred to as Soma Cruz, who’s on a quest to make sure that Dracula’s energy would not fall into the fallacious fingers. Fortunately, the times of desperately attempting to hit your enemies with a whip are over, as you may have interaction in ranged fight with a handgun, although you do have primitive weapon choices, like swords and axes.
I, for one, discover the extent design in Aria of Sorrow to be second to none, and it is simply my second favourite recreation within the sequence – I am a Symphony of the Night time girlie. And it is particularly enjoyable to expertise it once more within the Castlevania Advance Assortment, which additionally options Circle of the Moon, Concord of Dissonance, and Dracula X.
Although we’ve got that assortment, I can not assist however lengthy for a full-blown remake of Aria of Sorrow, particularly with the approaching launch of the Nintendo Swap 2, although I acknowledge that is extremely unlikely to occur. If Konami remakes Symphony of the Night time, Silent Hill 2 type, then I is likely to be a bit extra hopeful.