whipping enemies so well positioned in its many places - with wonderful in-game-universe gothic architecture and amazing in-our-universe level design, with secret paths leading to alternatives levels and a lot of verticality, causing the sensation that you are exploring dark places and fighting hideous monsters. you can also play as maria, a girl that ritcher rescue in stage 2! some people say that playing with her is the "easy mode": not exactly. while ritcher is a lot more weighty and slow, turning the game into a strategic action where you must react with cautious while positioning yourself in the level's geometry, maria is a lot more agile and light, turning the game in a platformer action where you kill monsters with a cute girl - she can even double jump! however, the difficulty is more about controlling your jumps and agility to not suffer from your mistakes. the bosses and enemies itself are great! it's a little frustrating deal with flying enemies - as well with bosses' projectiles - but the patterns aren't hard to learn. the sound direction is suberb, creating hype and tension with amazing songs - i love the VA too!!

rondo of blood is not only the best classicvania - and probably the best castlevania? but also one of the greatest videogames of all time!