not bad, but the basic igavania formula is feeling well and truly tired by this point in the series. the egregiously boring, superfluous story that the game wastes way too much time on certainly doesn't help either. castlevania narratives can be a lot of things, but never ever should they be tepid and forgettable (same reason why the netflix show sucks ass). partner system does a decent enough job at differentiating the game from the rest of the series, i guess - it adds some strategy to positioning during boss encounters, but it also doubles the inventory management which is really pushing things. also thought that the world design was pretty bland and restrictive from what i played. banging main theme though.