Soul of Darkness

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Soul of Darkness is an Action-Platformer released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010, and was later grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when the Nintendo 3DS released. This game is clearly aiming to copy the style and feel of the Castlevania series, with players taking the role of a hero seeking to rescue a maiden kidnapped by an evil vampire.

One thing that Soul of Darkness absolutely nails is the presentation. This game’s detailed, atmospheric 2D pixel art visuals are spot on for the Castlevania franchise, particularly the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS entries in that franchise. Enemies are imaginative, and while this game’s synthesized soundtrack isn’t especially memorable, it still has the same general tone and feel that the Castlevania games are known for. If you told the average Castlevania fan that this was a “lost” Castlevania game and showed them the game in action, they would likely believe you.

Thankfully, the gameplay does a pretty good job of backing up those visuals. To be clear, Soul of Darkness is not a Metroidvania game – this game’s stages are fairly linear and you’re not going to be revisiting the same areas multiple times throughout the game. However, in many other respects this is an experience that feels much in line with the Metroidvania entries in the Castlevania series, meaning that this game largely avoids the “Nintendo hard” challenge level that the pre-Metroidvania Castlevania games were known for.

Really, the biggest complaints I have about this game are that it’s clearly derivative, yet it doesn’t go even farther – I would have been perfectly happy to see this game just take that final step to become the sort of Metroidvania it was clearly designed to play like. However, generally I try not to judge a game for what it isn’t, but rather what it is.

And what Soul of Darkness is is an excellent Action-Platformer that isn’t just a shameless rip-off of the Castlevania franchise, but a genuinely good game that was clearly directly inspired by that series. If you’re a Castlevania fan with a Nintendo 3DS, you should absolutely get this game before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes for good, especially since its $5 price tag makes it an absolute steal.

tl;dr – Soul of Darkness is an Action-Platformer that was clearly inspired by the Castlevania franchise. However, despite its unoriginality, this is actually a really good game, with a great presentation and solid gameplay, all for a fantastic price of $5. If you enjoy Action-Platformers and especially if you’re a Castlevania fan, this is a must-have.

Grade: B

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, Homer Simpin, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, Kristoffer Wulff, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Francis Obst, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}