There are few series that have been able to release as frequently as Castlevania that retains both its ingenuity and a high level of quality. Order of Ecclesia is a well put together game, and if it were released before its predecessor, Portrait of Ruin (2006), it would have been a groundbreaking entry in the series. Instead we have a game that, like almost every post-Symphony of the Night (1997) entry in the series, plays almost identically to its well-developed forerunners, but it advances the formula in baby steps and baby steps alone.
"... plays almost identically to its well-developed forerunners..."
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Like Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow (2005), Ecclesia uses a system where the abilities available to the player are acquired by either finding them on the map or by defeating an enemy and hoping they leave one behind. Glyphs, as they’re called in this game, are the "souls" found in previous entries. While innovative in 2003 (when the system debuted in Aria of Sorrow on the GBA), gaining abilities this way has become tiresome and boring, especially since enemies are decidedly stingier with drops than those in previous entries.
The glyphs do have an interesting feature that the soul system didn’t, and that’s the ability to combine them into other attacks. Equip a rapier and fire magic and you’ll have access to an oversized flaming sword. Of course, these attacks are tied to a finite supply of hearts, so once they’re gone you won’t be able to use them again until you replenish your supply. The combinations are fun to experiment with, as you never know what kind of attack you’re going to see, but some of them could have used more balancing. Creative players will uncover devastating attacks that probably shouldn’t have made it into the final release.
Of course, most players will be thankful they exist, as this is the hardest ’Vania in recent memory. The sheer volume of equippable glyphs allowed the developers to diversify the enemy types and their weaknesses. Skeletons have a different weakness, than say, a merman. It’s not a difference of a couple points of damage, either. If you don’t equip the proper items against new enemies in the later areas they won’t go down without some serious effort, and you’ll likely die before the end of the level. There are three slots to choose from, so it alleviates the irritation of constantly switching items to some degree, but it can still become tiresome, especially when fighting one of the game’s uber-powerful bosses for the twenty-fifth time.
Many of the bosses will destroy you, and multiple times, but almost always for different reasons. Getting past several of the fights comes down to straight-up old-school pattern memorization and well-executed attacks. Others require creative weapon and ability management to persevere. There are others that require imagination and observation, because the solution isn’t the most obvious one. Don’t expect to equip your strongest attack and get out of almost any these fights. This isn’t Dracula’s typical gallery of rogues, and it’s arguably one of the freshest groups in the series because of it.
"... the hardest ’Vania in recent memory."
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In addition to the new enemies, many of the traditional baddies make a return as well. However, this is the first entry in the series that has almost all original enemy sprites in a long time, returning foes or not. A new look for the Peeping Eye is a small consolation when one considers they’ve been fighting them for over 10 years, but at least it’s better than fighting the same antiquated sprites as well.
The biggest change in Ecclesia is the level progression. While it’s prominence is somewhat lessened by the existence of Portrait of Ruin, it is refreshing to play an unusual 50 percent of the game outside of the titular castle, in fact, before even gaining access to it. The levels are gorgeous and diverse, aside from a few color-swapped setting repeats. This means that the castle may be smaller than those in previous games, but the entire game is less prone to repeated styles and textures. The actual level design, however, suffers from a great deal of copy-and-paste syndrome. There are quite a few areas that have rooms which are identical to other rooms in the same area. Sure, the enemies are in different places but it kills the fun of exploration to a degree. When you get right down to it, who wants to explore an area they’ve already seen?
Order of Ecclesia may be mildly innovative, and it taps that addictive series magic that has somehow remained fresh for so long, but even that is starting to stale. A new ability system could have taken this game from "decent" to "essential." What’s here isn’t bad by any means, but the formula is approaching its expiration date.
