Carpathian Night Starring Bela Lugosi

Are you looking for a Castlevania that's actually Castlevania instead of a metroidvania? Well, Carpathian Night has you covered. It has all the difficulty of let's say Castlevania III but prettied up with QoL upgrades such as a dash and various skills to unlock. There's hidden gems to find and lore to gather in each level which rewards taking a second look at a bleeding wall or shiny floor. There's 2 characters with differing weapons and abilities, 12 levels, and a "wicked" remix second playthrough that shuffles enemies/obstacles/collectibles. Fully completing the game with the four playthroughs, all achievements, and plenty of deaths to flying skulls took a little over 17 hours. My major gripe with the game would have to be that a few of the 12 bosses look like they needed a little more time in the art studio as some of the pixels just do not mesh well with the heroes or compared to other enemies. Overall, it's an excellent homage to classically difficult Castlevanias of old and a great addition to the genre. I also really don't know why Bela Lugosi was licensed for this but it's kinda fun seeing his face in the game.

This is a fun Castlevania-style platformer that doesn't quite hit the heights of the best of that series, but also plays more than well enough to beat out a few actual entries as well. The pixel art is a bit of a meld between NES-style proportions and SNES color palette, and it looks very nice. I'd have appreciated a bit more animated touches in the backdrops, however, and would have liked for the text in the game to maintain consistency with the pixel resolutions. Those are just small gripes, however. I found some of the music to also be excellent, and I like how one of the last stages mixed things up a bit mechanically. Thematically, it made sense, too. On normal mode, the game isn't all that difficult, you'll respawn very close to where you died. It's a bit more of a challenge if you want to clear each stage with no deaths, as there are some tricky platforming bits. I haven't played Wicked mode yet, so I'm guessing that's quite a bit tougher, and may provide the challenge old-school Castlevania fans seek. Control maps closest to Super Castlevania IV, at least with the character I used. Multi-directional whipping, and full mid-air control of your jump. You also pick up s…

Great action platformer that pays homage to classic Castlevania, but still manages to differentiate itself.

This is fantastic stuff, could be a little more punishing but I haven't tried wicked mode, this is just a great classicvania game.

I like the pixel art and the style of this game, but it is kind of boring and slow. Not a huge variety of enemies either.

I had a blast!