Just to make one thing clear from the start: this game is many things, but it is certainly not a Metroidvania in the tradition of the Castlevania series. The only nod in that direction is that in most levels there are some small hidden areas with collectables that you can only reach with later abilities. But that means you need to replay an otherwise fully linear level just to reach that small thing in the middle. That is a pretty bad design choice.

But with this caveat out of the way, so that you don’t have false expectations, now to the good stuff and why I still recommend it:

It is a good game, if you look at it separated from its series. The art style and especially the music are of really high quality! The gameplay itself is entertaining and was for me a good mix of not too hard and not to easy.

Gameplay wise it is an action hack&slash in the style of God of War. That means it is mostly linear levels with boss fights at their end. The puzzles are just to break the stretches between fights but don’t annoy. I enjoyed the combat and also most of the boss battles. The best fight in my mind isn’t even the final boss, but rather the one directly before it. Because that fight feels like a knights duel with a very competent opponent similar to your own character where it’s really about being able to utilise your combat abilities most effectively instead of a puzzle boss like the final boss is.

The problem is with how those levels are connected though. The story is sometimes a bit too forced and also disjointed for my liking. It strings together the levels and explains why you are doing certain things, but it still didn’t flow nicely in my eyes. The DLC is even more forced and fast, where certain things happen at a breakneck speed. The development team had problems if I remember correctly, so the DLC had to come out fast. It ended on something that just screams’: we didn’t have money for the proper story, so here is the absolute quickest skeleton version of it. Sadly the result of that is the DLC just doesn’t have a good story.

I still like it however due to the atmosphere of the game, which is simply wonderful. The loading screen to each mission has only spoken text, but the voice actor for the narration is from none other than Patrick Stewart. I didn’t recognise his voice at first, but was simply wondering who has such a great narrating voice. After looking up who the narrator was, I wasn’t surprised anymore that it was such high quality.

The music also helps carry the atmosphere and is something I highly recommend you check out, even if you don’t play the game itself. The Orchestra is really used to its full potential here, producing not only bombastic songs, but also quite and solemn ones. After playing through the game I bought its soundtrack and still listen to it. It fits well to the theme of the level and what is happening in the game at the moment. In my opinion they utilised music very well in this game to enhance the atmosphere of the moment.

Last but not least, while art design is subjective, I really like Gothic spires and architecture in general, so the castle levels were my personal highlights. And especially the later levels are a feast for the eyes.