The heroes of a handful of 2D Castlevania games come together to tackle old foes in a new way in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Can the normally solitary, exploratory experience of recent âMetroidvaniaâ games make the double-jump leap to multiplayer?
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair borrows five vampire-slaying heroesâAlucard, Shanoa, Soma Cruz, Jonathan Morris, and Charlotte Aulinâfrom multiple side-scrolling Castlevania adventure games, each with their unique abilities intact, letting them run freely through six remixed and recycled castle maps. Players can go it alone or join a team of six to tackle Draculaâs henchmen while also competing against the clock.
Each massive pastiched 2D maze is filled with familiar beasts, loaded with hidden secrets, and ends with a big bad boss monster. This Frankenstein-like work, pieced together from Game Boy Advance, PlayStation and Nintendo DS games, is a curious departure for the seriesâ longtime creator Koji Igarashi. Can he pull off a multiplayer Castlevania game?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3F8ILccop0
Loved
Itâs Fun To Gang Up On Gergoth: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair plays best when done so with a group of up to six vampire slayers. The normally slow pace of trudging through each castle becomes a sprint in multiplayer, with players rushing for treasureâdonât worry, itâs all liberally shared with the groupâand ultimately delivering a serious beatdown to end of level bosses. Even if a team member dies, they can continue to play as a skeleton, tossing bones until a friend restores them to fleshy form with a power up. Playing as a group will also grant access to secret passageways and treasure chests otherwise unavailable when played solo. Want to hunt loot with your friends in 10 minutes or less? Castlevania HDâs multiplayer co-op is the way to go.
Hated
Slow Grind Vs. Reward: Unfortunately, Harmony of Despairâs system of rewarding the player with newer, more powerful gear and abilities is not as enthralling as it should be. Thereâs not enough variety in the armor, weapons, spells and accessories youâll acquire to make replaying the same six environments feel worthwhile, nor does the gameâs shopping and selling mechanic offer enough value to revisit. Later game items just donât feel progressively powerful enough to excite. Since thereâs no real experience systemâplayers can improve spells by using them more often, howeverâthereâs not much motivation to do anything besides open chests and haul ass to the big boss.
Terrible Interface: This Castlevania, devoid of instruction manual and lacking in a helpful âhelpâ menu, does its player no favors. Managing (and understanding) your equipment can be confusing, thanks to Harmony of Despairâs clunky, cryptic interface. More frustrating can be its online matchmaking system, which is not friendly to players looking for custom game types. If you want to solely quick match or only want to play with friends, great. Everything in between that is a chore.
Thereâs a brilliant idea behind Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, but its execution is disappointingly lacking. I was, at one point, hoping that it could be justifiably compared to a 2D Demonâs Souls, since its explore, die, repeat cycle initially seemed to have borrowed from that online role-playing game. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair does not, unfortunately, engross and reward as that game does. While getting together with a bunch of other Alucards, Shanoas and Charlottes and whipping your way through six different castles can be fun, the feeling of advancement, the lure of acquiring some fancy new items quickly dissipates into boredom.
Harmony of Despair doesnât offer the single-player enjoyment of designer Koji Igarashiâs other deeper 2D games, like Symphony of the Night or Order of Ecclesia, but does represent an interesting experiment. It tests the lure of loot, but doesnât dole it out fast enough or with enough diversity to make replaying it again and again feel worth the time.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair was developed and published by Konami for Xbox Live Arcade on August 3. Retails for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15 USD). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all game types in both single and multiplayer modes.
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