Should you play Castlevania: Grimoire Of Souls?

A few weeks ago I was surprised to hear about a new Castlevania game coming to Apple Arcade, but I guess it shouldn’t have been. Apple Arcade has been wisely incorporating desired properties into its portfolio to increase the value of its subscription service, and Castlevania is a great option. Grimoire of Souls was previously released as a mobile game in Canada, but this new incarnation of Apple Arcade offers the opportunity for American gamers to try to defeat Dracula and his minions once again. The reworked mobile game also keeps Apple Arcade’s promise of being completely free from microtransactions and other predatory practices.

That is a strong tone and it captured my attention. As a Castlevania fan, I haven’t enjoyed a new entry in the franchise in years, and Apple Arcade has increasingly become my favorite to play on my phone; the assurance that I won’t have to deal with MTX nonsense is a huge draw.

Grimoire of Souls makes a strong first impression. The beautiful parchment / charcoal style art helps tell the story of the last threat to humanity, and the ever regressive nature of Dracula and the threat he represents. The familiar music from the previous entries builds up throughout the opening sequence and continues through the various stages of the game; This is a great candidate for putting on your headphones and listening to those memorable tunes. The side-scrolling visuals mimic the look of a Castlevania game, as does the deliberate yet time-based approach to combat, filled with quick weapon strikes and dodges.

The concept of the plot is a bit hackneyed, but it manages to do the job of assembling a group of recognizable heroes from the series’ history. Evil has begun to seep from the great books on the history of Dracula and his castle, and you must enter the books to stop the spread of darkness. Thanks to the top stars in these books, characters who previously fought Dracula join your fight, including many of the heroes’ greatest hits including Shanoa, Simon Belmont, and Alucard, among others. Each hero has their own weapons and powers to upgrade and improve, and they bring unique combat styles to the table. Players can freely jump between their favorite characters.

Trips to the books take the form of linear and relatively bite-sized stages, usually with a few additional goals to pursue for additional rewards. Structurally, this reminded me more of the early games in the series, rather than the great exploration-focused dynamics of Symphony of the Night. You can also tailor the difficulty of a given stage with dynamic modifiers (think of no MP regen or the inability to continue if you die) and these add additional rewards to the mix. Fight through stage after stage, defeat the boss at the end of each Grimoire (which is made up of many smaller stages), and constantly stem the tide of evil.

The levels you fight through do a great job of remembering previous locations in the series and feature a good variety of enemies. However, I was not impressed by the tier designs, many of which feel quite off the charts from a structural perspective. Even in a linear Castlevania game, I would have liked to see more secrets, interesting platforms, and discoveries along the way. As it stands, most of the levels exist as accommodation for some fights. Those battles, on the other hand, start to rise in interest as the game continues, challenging players to pay close attention to the enemy’s attack patterns and juggle which enemy to face first.

Grimoire of Souls’ biggest problems stem from the game’s legacy that was before it came to Apple Arcade. While I never played that older version, it’s clear from playing the Apple Arcade launch how little has been changed to capitalize on the new formula without MTX. You keep collecting a seemingly endless number of coins and sometimes have to deal with daily or weekly rewards that are meant to encourage repeat play. The upgrade systems are almost intentionally confusing, in that way many free gacha-style games can be.

Although you don’t actually have to pay money, you are forced to use time-consuming progression systems to upgrade equipment, buy new weapons, or upgrade your character. After many hours of play, I still did not fully understand some of the systems that were imposed on me; In a free game trying to get extra microtransactions, that’s a common tactic to get lost in the various updates and currencies, so you go wrong and eventually buy what you need. That’s exactly the kind of nonsense I want to get away from when playing a game on Apple Arcade, so this quickly frustrated me.

Even if I’m not a fan of progression and effort for materials and currency, I was happily impressed by the solid controls. Mobile action games often struggle to offer decent on-screen controls, but Grimoire of Souls feels manageable. An optional auto attack option changes your basic attack when enemies are in range, while jumps and special attacks have dedicated buttons at the bottom of the screen. Like many mobile games of this style, your best option is a dedicated gamepad, but if that is not an option, you will be able to go through the levels without problems.

Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls looks, sounds, and feels like a true game in the franchise, and longtime enthusiasts will enjoy the introduction, not to mention the frequent callbacks to the story the characters bring up throughout. your conversations. Glad to see a new entry for the franchise on Apple’s excellent subscription service.

That said, it’s really a shame that Konami didn’t choose to do more to adapt the game to the no-microtransaction model and remove some of the systems that were clearly in place to generate purchases in that older version. While the side-scrolling action formula is acceptable, the real success story would be a genuine new team-based exploration game on Apple Arcade, in the vein of Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, or Portrait of Ruin. Barring that reveal, Grimoire of Souls partially removes the itch players feel for a new Castlevania game. You’ll love that it’s a mobile Castlevania game with no free shenanigans, but you’ll certainly feel its lingering presence in its many interlocking upgrade systems.