3.5/5 ★ – MegaBlastoise's review of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

Platform Played: Switch (Advance Collection) Date Reviewed: Mar. 15, 2023 Rating: 7/10 Released in September of 2002, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance has often been called the worst of the GBA trilogy. And if you were to ask me, I feel that this label is (for the most part) not true. But why, you may be asking yourself? Let's find out, shall we? Harmony of Dissonance takes place 50 years after the events of Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. Juste Belmont is next in line to get rid of Dracula. After his childhood friend Lydie has disappeared, Juste and his other friend Maxim enter Castlevania in order to find her. To be honest, this game has a similar feel to Symphony of the Night in both story and gameplay. Gameplay wise, this game is basically Symphony of the Night (which has led many of the game's detractors to call it "Symphony of the Lite"). Juste might as well be a clone of Alucard since the two play almost the exact same. Juste has animal transformations, sub-weapons, a dash that can be spammed to hell and back (but not quite to the extent as SotN). Like CotM before it, this game has its own gimmick in the form of Spell Fusion. Throughout the game, Juste can find 4 elemental and 1 summoning books. With these books in combination with the sub-weapons, he can pull off a multitude of attacks. I personally find this system to be much better than the DSS bullshit from Circle of the Moon, as you can switch between books with the shoulder buttons and there aren't as many combinations to worry about. Like with the rest of the games on the Advance Collection, the graphics are extremely good and the brightness issues were fixed. Juste has a blue aura surrounding him which can get distracting, but the animations are very smooth. Harmony of Dissonance has a (mostly) original OST that was also fixed in the port. Although in my personal opinion, this game has the weakest soundtrack of the GBA trilogy. It's not bad, but it's a small step backwards from CotM. Overall, Harmony of Dissonance is an improvement over its predecessor (despite it just being Symphony of the Night with a different coat of paint) and a game I feel gets hated on a little too much. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a game I would recommend to those new to Metroidvanias.