Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review

December 28, 2023

Platform: Xbox Live Arcade

Total gameplay time: 8 hours, 3 minutes
Review Score: 10/10

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a masterpiece. It brought in a new era for the Castlevania series, making it more exploration-focused rather than having linear level progression. In the game, you play as Alucard and explore Dracula's Castle. Similarly to Metroid games, Alucard is weak at the beginning and gets stronger as you explore the castle and find new weapons and armor. There are RPG elements as well, with Alucard having stats and leveling up as you defeat enemies and progress through the game. The game can be completed in various times, depending on which ending you go for. The full game has two halves; if you fully explore Dracula's Castle and find the Gold and Silver rings, you can unlock the second half of the game, in which you must go through an upside-down version of the castle with new enemies and bosses. This is the ideal way to complete the game, as it results in the good ending where Count Dracula is defeated. Symphony of the Night has very good graphics, using pixel art and enhancing it with 3D models in some areas to make a "2.5D" style that I think works really well. The soundtrack is phenomenal, with a mixture of classical sounding tracks, metal, and jazz. There is variety in the tracks but nothing sounds out of place. There are some issues with difficulty balancing, but overall Symphony of the Night is an incredible game that holds up well and is worth playing to this day.