This game rules, while the Castlevania series in general is essentially a celebratory mishmash of classic horror iconography, Rondo of Blood feels like a celebratory mishmash of Castlevania iconography while also being one of the coolest games out there. This is also the point where everything starts leaning harder into an aesthetic that's more anime and a bit more upbeat. It's made even better by the fact that said anime influence bears far more resemblance to the style of shoujo during that era, with the way that Maria straight up looks like a magical girl being especially fun.
Everything in this feels like an escalation of what was established in previous games, locations being far more chaotic than ever before, each enemy on its own being considerably more aggressive, returning music being waaay funkier, it just hits you all at once, sustains that intensity for the entire game, and brings along some of the tightest level design in the series at the same time. One of my favourite examples of this is the difference in how the player is expected to handle the axe armour enemies. In previous entries these would be handled by a mix of dodging and deflecting if the moment called for it, but here, dodging or anything else similarly defensive will ultimately overwhelm the player due to how quickly these enemies attack now, instead requiring the player to successfully deflect every projectile thrown at them. Instances like this appear all over the game, and make each encounter feel like 2 extremely strong forces being put up against one another, rather than the more oppressive nature of the situations that previous Belmonts found themselves in.
Obviously this is a matter of taste, but I do prefer this feel a bit more in this instance, even though both are good and have their place, it's just that Castlevania in general is so, so good at this specifically that I can't help love it wholeheartedly. I'm also very fond of the way the level design is handled here, feeling like a middle point between Castlevania 1 and Super Castlevania IV, being both a faster paced gauntlet, but carrying on for that bit longer than is comfortable to test your endurance as well. This works well as a way to balance out the item crashes being absurdly powerful, preventing them from being an instant win, but not making it overly tough to succeed if you eschew the use of them either. The alternate paths also go a long way in adding a bit of neat exploration to the experience, never really being a dominant enough force to take you out of that core loop, but providing more depth to the stages and making the game feel fun and varied on subsequent playthroughs as well.
Honestly just one of the coolest games ever while also being one of the most finely crafted in the series as well. In a series of games that I could gladly play through countless times and just continue soaking in everything about how it looks, sounds and feels, this is one of the ones I feel most inclined to play constantly, it's just peak gaming right here.
Everything in this feels like an escalation of what was established in previous games, locations being far more chaotic than ever before, each enemy on its own being considerably more aggressive, returning music being waaay funkier, it just hits you all at once, sustains that intensity for the entire game, and brings along some of the tightest level design in the series at the same time. One of my favourite examples of this is the difference in how the player is expected to handle the axe armour enemies. In previous entries these would be handled by a mix of dodging and deflecting if the moment called for it, but here, dodging or anything else similarly defensive will ultimately overwhelm the player due to how quickly these enemies attack now, instead requiring the player to successfully deflect every projectile thrown at them. Instances like this appear all over the game, and make each encounter feel like 2 extremely strong forces being put up against one another, rather than the more oppressive nature of the situations that previous Belmonts found themselves in.
Obviously this is a matter of taste, but I do prefer this feel a bit more in this instance, even though both are good and have their place, it's just that Castlevania in general is so, so good at this specifically that I can't help love it wholeheartedly. I'm also very fond of the way the level design is handled here, feeling like a middle point between Castlevania 1 and Super Castlevania IV, being both a faster paced gauntlet, but carrying on for that bit longer than is comfortable to test your endurance as well. This works well as a way to balance out the item crashes being absurdly powerful, preventing them from being an instant win, but not making it overly tough to succeed if you eschew the use of them either. The alternate paths also go a long way in adding a bit of neat exploration to the experience, never really being a dominant enough force to take you out of that core loop, but providing more depth to the stages and making the game feel fun and varied on subsequent playthroughs as well.
Honestly just one of the coolest games ever while also being one of the most finely crafted in the series as well. In a series of games that I could gladly play through countless times and just continue soaking in everything about how it looks, sounds and feels, this is one of the ones I feel most inclined to play constantly, it's just peak gaming right here.