See, now THIS feels like a portable, lower budget take on the SotN formula, instead of whatever the hell Circle of the Moon was trying to be.
Yeah sure it looks kind of crusty, the soundtrack ranges from "hey this is pretty good" to calculator music and the story is yet another "protagonist's friend/acquaintance goes bonkers from too much Dracula juice" deal, but I actually had fun this time.
The spellbook system is neat and it actually rewards exploration instead of having you farm them from enemy drops, there's a lot more variety in terms of equipment, and Juste makes me feel like fucking Sonic Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog when compared to Nathan's movement speed/options.
There are two things that pissed me off though. First: the merchant system.
Why in the unholy name of Vlad did they think having a merchant that only spawns under certain conditions was a good idea? And he doesn't even carry anything THAT mind blowing to make up for it! (Shop theme is pretty funky though)
Second, and this is me going full hypocrite mode: Two castles.
Now, SotN is one of my favorite games of all time. Yet even I will admit that I'm 1000% biased because it was part of my childhood. The inverted castle blows tremendously, and it's a gigantic shitstain on what would otherwise be an actual perfect game.
Dissonance brings back the two castle shenanigans, and actually does it MUCH better than SotN. The two castles exist "at the same time", meaning that things that you do in one version of the castle will affect the other. So if there's an impassable boulder in Castle A, you can go to Castle B and find that the same room now has a giant Armor dude that you can knock back to break the boulder on Castle B, then boom! Boulder A will be gone.
It's a VASTLY superior system to SotN's, and yet... I still groaned like a zombie when Death explained that there were two castles to explore.
Look, I get it. These games were made on a shoestring budget, so they had to compromise and find ways to expand the game. But I GUARANTEE that more people would be satisfied with like, 2 extra areas that are unique, instead of an entire castle that's just the first one with a few layout changes and new enemies. Would that make the game shorter? Possibly, yeah, but I personally think it would make for a more enjoyable and rewarding experience.
It's still a big step in the right direction though, don't get me wrong. Rewarding exploration, busted subweapons, fun movement options, Lydie is a baddie, and furniture collecting is a thing. Dissonance may not be my first choice if I'm ever in a Castlevania mood, but it's far from the last either.
Yeah sure it looks kind of crusty, the soundtrack ranges from "hey this is pretty good" to calculator music and the story is yet another "protagonist's friend/acquaintance goes bonkers from too much Dracula juice" deal, but I actually had fun this time.
The spellbook system is neat and it actually rewards exploration instead of having you farm them from enemy drops, there's a lot more variety in terms of equipment, and Juste makes me feel like fucking Sonic Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog when compared to Nathan's movement speed/options.
There are two things that pissed me off though. First: the merchant system.
Why in the unholy name of Vlad did they think having a merchant that only spawns under certain conditions was a good idea? And he doesn't even carry anything THAT mind blowing to make up for it! (Shop theme is pretty funky though)
Second, and this is me going full hypocrite mode: Two castles.
Now, SotN is one of my favorite games of all time. Yet even I will admit that I'm 1000% biased because it was part of my childhood. The inverted castle blows tremendously, and it's a gigantic shitstain on what would otherwise be an actual perfect game.
Dissonance brings back the two castle shenanigans, and actually does it MUCH better than SotN. The two castles exist "at the same time", meaning that things that you do in one version of the castle will affect the other. So if there's an impassable boulder in Castle A, you can go to Castle B and find that the same room now has a giant Armor dude that you can knock back to break the boulder on Castle B, then boom! Boulder A will be gone.
It's a VASTLY superior system to SotN's, and yet... I still groaned like a zombie when Death explained that there were two castles to explore.
Look, I get it. These games were made on a shoestring budget, so they had to compromise and find ways to expand the game. But I GUARANTEE that more people would be satisfied with like, 2 extra areas that are unique, instead of an entire castle that's just the first one with a few layout changes and new enemies. Would that make the game shorter? Possibly, yeah, but I personally think it would make for a more enjoyable and rewarding experience.
It's still a big step in the right direction though, don't get me wrong. Rewarding exploration, busted subweapons, fun movement options, Lydie is a baddie, and furniture collecting is a thing. Dissonance may not be my first choice if I'm ever in a Castlevania mood, but it's far from the last either.