not as good as the first two to me. the gameplay is much more irritating since your weapons are borderline useless and there's a lot more enemies in the traditionally claustrophobic environments, so you'll get blocked in a hallway by one of the dogs or the giant ass fat guys and there's not much you can do about it. the story is also very underwhelming, especially compared to 2. i think that's because this game spends a lot of time explaining and building off the first game when i thought it worked as its own standalone thing and didn't care much about the inner workings of the cult. it also sets up a lot of elements related to family which i thought they were going to go more in depth with: heather being adopted and growing up without a mother, douglas on the verge of dying completely alone since his son got killed robbing a bank he did out of poverty, claudia's horrible childhood with her abusive father, but none of that ever goes anywhere outside of some short one liners in favor of explaining cult shit, which just fucking sucks. the fact that there's also only two real endings, and one of them requires killing a stupidly large amount of enemies doesn't help at all.
outside my bitching, i do still like quite a bit of things in this game. the environments, ambiance, and music are amazing and it's genuinely fucking scary at points. the otherworld hospital is the first thing that comes to mind, and the ladder playing that heartbeat sound effect. heather is also a really good protagonist with surprisingly great voice acting, especially compared to the other characters. it's a good game overall, but i feel like it could've been so much more.

this game moves a lot faster than the other gba ones due to the dashes you have from the start, which makes it pretty invigorating to play. the graphics are also really good for a gba game, especially in castle b areas. i don't really understand why some people dislike this game as much as they do, mainly when talking about the music, which i think is one of the best soundtracks in the series in how eerie and otherworldly it is.

this game's so fucking funny, everything from the way your guy stops dead in his tracks to stare into the camera as his muscles burst from his shirt to the stupid laugh at the end of every stage. it makes me remember why i like video games, even though i want to castrate the person who made the final two levels

In every frontier, there has to be a settler to tame the land and bring prosperity to the earth.

loved this game as a kid. great music but that final boss made me lose my shit. short, fun game.

the only reason it isn't a half star is because i jerked off to one of the characters like 5 years ago

This review contains spoilers

usually im skeptical about games everybody sucks the dick of, but holy shit this game is amazing. everything from the historical society onward is sublime. i don't think i've ever felt more unsettled and uncomfortable watching a game play out and i felt like i was nearly in a trance by the end. jumping down all the holes, getting pyramid head's sword, navigating the labyrinth, that fucking terrifying prison level, it was surprising how investing it all was. after i killed eddie and was walking around around the hotel with the rifle and dead silence around me, it cemented how good this game was to me.

the most enjoyable of the gba castlevania's to me. the card system is fun to use, except when you have to grind for that one card for the final boss, and i like that it's disconnected from the lore of other castlevanias. it makes the game stand on its own more.

this game is a fucking joke but it's fun once you get the hang of it and accept it for what it is.

there used to be a point in my life where i would just wake up and beat this game once a day. short and challenging, great game overall

when i think of what i loved about higurashi, my mind goes to this one. the themes and character interactions really left a mark on me and are what i remember most about the vns. also that ending, jesus christ.

i love how much content this game has and all the different systems you can utilize to snap it in half. the characters and plot are also surprisingly good for an anime rpg. one of the few games i've gotten every achievement on on steam.

the only horror game that's genuinely scared me. the fantastic ambiance and ost is very immersing and the gameplay is satisfying; you can play this game very smoothly if you know how to play it, and it has great replay value with the short length and different endings it has. the plot and characters are strange enough to have kept me thinking about them for a long time.

this game is really fucking hard but it's very satisfying to play and it grows with you as you get better. nearly a perfect game in my opinion.