Castlevania in 2018 is a Harmony of Despair

After Koji “IGA” Igarashi and Hideo Kojima left Konami, it was clear all the company’s franchises were in danger of “traditional” extinction. This included Castlevania, a series which received a steady amount of new installments across multiple platforms since the series’ introduction in the late 80s. But with the departure of the aforementioned two producers and others, Konami completed their shift away from developing too many games for the “hardcore gaming” (or “traditional”) audience.

The future of Castlevania was easy to see, as Konami shifted their focus to pachinko games. This included a straight-up bizarre adaptation of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for a pachinko game with “Erotic Violence,” a theme that made it seem like they were trying to piss off some former fans. There was also one that mostly adapted reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, except with a new female character. Basically, nothing surprising has been done with the franchise as of late, outside a surprisingly-good cartoon series on Netflix. But this newest announcement showed how it’s still possible to feel disappointment with the series’ current predicament.

Konami announced Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, a new mobile experience coming to iOS devices. It’s a co-op platformer that will allow up to four players to venture through the a series of levels based on areas from previous games, with each character controlling and strengthening familiar characters from the series.

The main character will be Genya Arikado, a member of a top secret Japanese government agency. It’s a paper-thin disguise for Symphony of the Night protagonist Alucard, in the same appearance he assumed in Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. His appearance shows how this game will occur after the official death of Dracula in 199X, around the time of the Sorrow games. Working with Arikado is Lucy, a researcher and highly competent magician capable of serving as support in the battle against the Grimoire. The game begins when Alucard/Arikado receives a letter saying Grimoire intends to revive Dracula, despite supposedly being dead for good. The story isn’t attempting to be anything close to original, but that’s not necessary for a multiplayer-driven game like this.

The other playable characters will include the iconic Simon Belmont, Charlotte Aulin from Portrait of Ruin, Maria Renard from Rondo of Blood (and not SOTN, unless she’ll be confirmed later), Soma from the Sorrow games, and Shanoa from Order of Ecclesia.

The concept of a Castlevania co-op platformer that allows for players to use several characters from the franchise’s history should sound familiar; this is essentially a successor to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. The biggest difference this time is how it’s using 3D models instead of the franchise’s long lineage of 2D sprites, with a style that looks reminiscent of the PSP remake of Rondo of Blood on Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.

Any (former?) fan of the franchise should have seen a project like this coming, but it still hurts to see thanks to how its concept could have been applied differently. I wouldn’t mind seeing a post-IGA Konami team take another shot at a Metroidvania Castlevania game, since it wouldn’t be too much of a budgetary risk. Super Bomberman R offered a little hope that a new Castlevania game of this type could be made for consoles, a game that originally released for Switch at launch and will be ported to other platforms in June. But Grimoire of Souls was announced just in time to show how this is less likely to happen with Castlevania.

What hurts even more here is that artist Ayami Kojima is contributing to this project, whose artwork is rarely seen these days. For a while, fans wanted to see her art associated with a new Castlevania or Castlevania-inspired game, but this clearly isn’t what they had in mind. Her artwork is still fantastic, however.

This isn’t the kind of Castlevania project most fans wanted, but it could be a fun pastime on the phone while someone has nothing else to do. Konami didn’t mention a release date, but mobile titles tend to be announced and released in quick succession. A closed beta test will be held in Japan shortly after players who sign up are contacted in mid-May, so it could release shortly afterward in June or July.

Anyone depressed about the state of Castlevania (and Konami in general) can take solace in how several other developers have made and are making Castlevania-inspired titles — in both old school and Metroidvania varieties. The most notable one here is Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a new IGAvania without the Castlevania name from ex-Konami developers crowdfunded nearly three years ago. It’s taking longer than expected, but it seems to be coming along now and could get a release date in the very near future. But it sure seems like this will turn out better than, say, the much-maligned Mighty No. 9, so there’s nothing to worry about yet. Hopefully it scratches the gothic-aesthetic Metroidvania itch that Castlevania won’t these days.