5/5 ★ – holymedium's review of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Well, in the interest of writing more detailed reviews of my absolute top games, here's this one. SOTN is so unbelievably special to me in so many ways that it may be hard to articulate all of them succinctly, but I will certainly try. I think one of the main reasons it's so difficult to enumerate all the ways in which SOTN is one of earths greatest pieces of software is that so many of them are nigh ineffable. At its core, through a modern lens, SOTN is a solid exploratory action game with gorgeous pixel art and a bangin soundtrack, but it is so much more than that. Let's start with the first thing anyone notices in any game, the visuals. It's well documented at this point just how badly a lot of journalists in 1997 were on the wrong side of history with this game. 3D gaming was the new, hot thing at the time and to a lot of people this game seemed to be living in the past with its pixel art, 2D design and understated story and atmosphere. The other way to look at what this game was doing visually, however, is that it was using decades of knowledge about pixel art and leveraging that into one of the most visually striking games of all time. It wasn't a death rattle for pixel art but a celebration of the magic you can make when using a well-worn visual style to its absolute maximum potential. While some developers were building barren, lifeless 3D worlds just because the PlayStation could render it, Koji Igarashi and the rest of his team were building one of the most lived in and detailed worlds in gaming by painting with a brush the gaming industry had been using since the dawn of graphics. That experience really shows. People are often surprised when I tell them that to this day, this game has my favorite visuals. Full stop. Are they the most technically impressive in 2023? Well, no, obviously not. Hell, games like Blasphemous have more impressive visuals even in the realm of pixel art. They are my favorite though. The creature of chaos that is Dracula's castle in SOTN is simply one of my favorite places to be. You can get absolutely lost in the detail of the backgrounds. Each new screen has a seemingly endless piece of gorgeous art behind the play-space that beautifully communicates how grand this setting is. The stacks upon stacks of old tombs in the abandoned mine, the 18th century era science equipment in the Alchemy labs, and the rows and rows of pews in the central room of the Chapel that draw the eye to the stunning stained-glass windows that somehow seem miles away in a 2D game; these are just a few examples of how jaw dropping the background art in this game is. It conveys depth, mystery and a true sense of place that I find to be unmatched in any other 2D game. The visuals are more than just backgrounds of course. Another immediately noticeable delight is the animation here. The myriad enemies are beautifully drawn, but the real joy is watching them move. They shuffle back and forth, attack and dodge Alucard's blows with a grace only a mastery of 2D animation can provide. Enemy death animations are incredibly detailed, varied and melodramatic. So much love went into making these adorable little servants of the dark lord die real good. Giant knights will fall to their knees and release one last desperate attack, zombies will spew blood from their throats and an ancient warrior will mourn his beloved pet owl. Again, the word is love. It truly feels like the animators were just having a blast making these death scenes. Now for the star of the animation show, our main man Alucard. Alucard is one of the coolest motherfuckers to ever grace a CRT and the animators really want to communicate that to you. Even in the very first scene of him dashing through the forest towards his dad's big monster mash castle, a trail of translucent doppelgangers follow behind him. They do this every time you move, communicating that he is beyond human and just endlessly and effortlessly rad. Contrasting the slow and methodical Belmont clan from the level-based games, Alucard's movement is silky smooth with full air control, a dash and of course a myriad abilities he collects throughout the game. Each time you move whether it's a duck, a dash or just turning around, Alucard's sprite animations flow effortlessly into each other creating a sense of satisfying locomotion. The sheer number of frames in each movement put in a lot of work here. Lots of games have great movement, but I don't think I've ever seen another in which the animation plays such a crucial role in why the game feels so great. Combat in SOTN is certainly a simple affair but due again to the perfect animation it is wonderfully satisfying. The "thwack" sound and red flash when landing a blow on an enemy never gets old and the considerable knockback dealt to Alucard when being hit by a dangerous attack adds a real sense of weight. The bosses are often quite simple as well, but the spectacle of the sprite-work, animation and music does a ton of heavy lifting to make each encounter extremely memorable. Speaking of music, I'm not sure there is another series out there with a better musical reputation than Castlevania. Even the "bad" ones (I love Simon's quest fight me) have incredible music. That having been said I don't state this lightly. SOTN has the best soundtrack in the history of games. Michiru Yamane went full Doom Slayer on this OST. Even after all these years and hundreds of playthroughs I can barely hold onto the controller when the guitar comes in on "Wandering Ghosts". Likewise, during the organ breakdown in "Crystal Teardrops" I still to this day inadvertently bob my head and move in my seat. The music here is gothic, poppy, and wholly unique. There are odd time signatures, wild instrument choices and some genuinely creepy tracks like the creaky, dread filled ambiance in the abandoned mine. At its core, however, it is beautifully composed Goth-Pop on a PS1 sound chip, and it is perfect. I won't spend too long on structure here. It is well worn territory now and was revolutionary at the time. Obviously non-linear 2D action had been a part of gaming for decades by the time SOTN came out and I certainly wouldn't want to steal any valor from Metroid (even if the series isn't particularly my thing) which certainly invented the type of secret filled, interconnected map design that SOTN iterated on here. What this game adds however are RPG elements. There is an endless amount of armor, rings, cloaks, consumables and most importantly weapons, many with entirely different move sets, to collect. The sheer amount of stuff in this game is staggering. I have, as previously stated, played SOTN hundreds of times. I've done speedruns, challenge runs, Richter mode, you name it; still to this day I will sometimes get an enemy drop that I have never seen before. There must be a thousand unique items here. Some argue that this makes the game "bloated". While I won't necessarily counter that point, I will say that I personally love it. The seemingly endless piñata of equipment that spills out of this game adds so much replay-ability, character, and challenge run potential that simply doesn't exist in a more curated Metroidvania experience. It's the reason the Iga-Vania style is so special to me. This game is bloated. Some of the gear is absolutely busted and will break the game, making it a cakewalk. The little details like a cloak with RGB sliders, the ability to watch the life cycle of a bird, being able to sit in chairs, a functional confessional booth and so many more are totally unessential, and the game would be great without them. With these details, however, the game is SOTN. Symphony of the Night is a wonder of loving detail. It has no aspirations to be a balanced or cinematic experience. It is tailor made for pure fun and unending discovery. I don't think I could name a single other game that feels this ineffably, lovingly crafted. I love this game so much I had to delete a whole section of this review about Ayami Kojima's gorgeous painterly art and what it adds to the menu screen. THE MENU SCREEN FOR GOD SAKES. Thats how special this game is to me. It is a little place I can go for comfort. It is a warm hug in game form. Alucard calls Dracula's castle "A creature of chaos". Well for me, it is my perfect little palace of excess, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. That is the difference between something that is perfect and a piece of art that is perfect for me.