I had trouble finding a copy of this game. Well, a PAL region copy anyway. you see, I’m fascinated by the rare and elusive cross-console connection. In this case, having Castlevania Judgment on Wii (a poorly received 3D fighting game with radically redesigned characters) and Ecclesia on DS unlocks a few characters early and exclusive accessories there, and an early item and mode here. And despite the DS not being region-locked, it seems that when you connect like this the games must share a region, and the Wii is locked.

Anyway, moving on. The early unlocks were good because as with the two previous DS Castlevania games that I played and loved, I don’t see myself conquering Hard Mode. This game is challenging; venture too far and the tension rises as you try to make it back to safety, realising you’ve overstepped yourself. It’s gripping.

So OOE isn’t too different from said prior instalments. It’s a wonderfully crafted 2D action platformer with a great soundtrack and crisp spritework, and perfectly fluid control. The particulars have been tweaked; you now have a world map with selectable locations. Some are small, straight corridors, others are Portrait of Ruin-style mini-areas to explore. It isn’t until you get to the traditional Castlevania twist point that Dracula’s castle rises up and you get a huge linked map to roam. Having these different locations allows variety in the environments, but despite this they tend towards blandness.

Shanoa is your protagonist: it’s great to have a capable woman as a lead, but the plot involves a cliche case of amnesia and even worse, loss of emotions. It’s not explored too thoroughly, and in fact the plot itself is a bit barebones besides a few key scenes and a nice massive twist that re-casts the whole first half. You do get some fun interactions with the villagers though: Wygol village is a safe haven with NPCs that you rescue. They form the basis of the quest system, which returns from Portrait of Ruin as well although they’re often just “bring me this item”. This also ties into a new loot system, where set chests will be refilled when you enter a zone with some randomness.

I like the equipment system: Glyphs are a combination of weapons and souls (from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow). Some enemies may drop a new way to attack, and dual-wielding gives you more options. Enemy weaknesses also encourage you to switch it up, but I found that a few key sets were enough and experimentation was not super necessary. Even mastering a few attacks feels good, but I invariably will double up attack Glyphs to make it simpler.

People say that this is harder than the previous two, but I found it on par with them. Maybe my leet skillz are improving. But overall it really is more of the same, and that’s no bad thing to be sure. A notable change is a return to the detailed gothic style of artwork, seen in dialogue portraits, in the style of Ayami Kojima’s work on past games (although in this game it’s done by Masaki Hirooka), as opposed to the more generic anime style adopted by DoS and PoR. The new map structure also helps the feeling of pursuing your adversary around the countryside, and restoring the villagers is rewarding. But really what it is is another very good Castlevania game.