Chronicles of the Wolf

If you're a castlevania fan from the days of yore, and haven't played this game.....then you have a serious problem to solve. This game, and their previous free game Lecarde Chronicles 2, easily rival the best castlevanias made by Konami. This developer deserves to be the official Castlevania developer hired by Konami going forward. These folks actually get it. And you should get it!

One of the worst Metroidvanias I've had the misfortune of playing. The spritework and music are (usually) strong points, but the game absolutely does not respect the player nor their time and lacks basic QOL you expect in the genre at this point. Past the beginning area there are many "new player traps": Pitfalls obscured by making it unclear if something is in the foreground or background, inescapable bosses appearing without warning so far above the player's level they mathematically can not deal more than 1 damage and die to a single hit from the boss, instakill traps which look like ambient decoration, killing your character instantly and unavoidably in a cutscene, enemies which spawn and jump in from offscreen on top of you in the middle of a jump over a pit, etc. They only get you once and then you know where they are, but they only need to work once to set you all the way back to the previous save point and damn there are a lot of them. Your character walks like an OG Belmont, so travel times between regions are very long and warp gates are rare with poor placement on some; there is no backdash and the faster slide is only unlocked after the second dungeon. If you are an…

Just beat this one. This one really took me by surprise. I liked Wallachia, but it was pretty difficult and more of a classic action platformer. Wolf takes that basic design and makes it into a Metroidvania. It really hooked me and I've been playing it every chance I get. The graphics are 16-bit style and charming. The controls are definitely a bit clunky. The jumping is stiff and feels like the original Castlevania. That said, the clunky controls make it feel retro and engaging. What grabbed me though was the how big the game truly is. There's a ton of meaningful backtracking, a lot of upgrades, and tons and tons of secrets. And without spoiling too much, just when you thought the game was wrapping up, there's entire new areas to explore and more to do. I will say, the game is completely obtuse. It reminds me of the first Blasphemous where it feels like there is no way you could figure out some of this stuff yourself. One of the most frustrating aspects of the game is there are numerous moments that are instant deaths. You'll walk into a room, read some text and then die. I played through a section that took 30'ish minutes, explored a bit more, ran into one of these scenarios, …

Very solid indie symphony of the night. Be warned that it tries to emulate that retro feel, so it doesn't play exactly like a modern metroidvania. It's a flawed gem and it's worth a shot if you really like the classic castlevania games.

The game is pretty good at what it aims to be: a lost entry somewhere between the 16-bit Castlevania games and Symphony of the Night. That's both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. The movement is stiff, as plenty of people have already pointed out. On the other hand, the art direction and atmosphere are excellent, and the progression system isn't too far from your standard IGAvania—which is a plus in my book. The soundtrack is a mix of generic gothic tunes with a few absolute bangers sprinkled in. If you like metroidvanias, you'll probably enjoy this one. Just remember to save often, because there are plenty of trigger-based instant deaths.

A well polished experience. Hooked me from the start.