Celia Alexis Wagar's CritPoints

If you could make the next 3D castlevania how would i play like? People often say it should be like dark souls but, what about platforming? Or do you like how they did in the “Lords of Shadow” games?

I would normally answer that seriously, Dark Souls is 3d castlevania. Like, Castlevania 3’s emphasis on commitment to attacks and enemy placement plus SotN’s non-linearity, but you got me with the platforming bit.

I don’t think lords of shadow is related to the series in any way.

I mean, I’d make it play like dark souls except you can jump with the interaction button, and instead of shortcuts being blocked off by one-way gates that become two way when you open them, they’d be blocked off at junction points between paths by obstacles you can only clear with a power up.

Powerups would probably include double jump (press jump again to divekick), a charge superjump, slide, dash, free movement underwater, wall kick, and backdash. In retrospect, there actually aren’t many powerups that let you clear obstacles.

Additionally would probably have subweapons instead of items, and those would be fueled by hearts (with the actual heart economics adjusted to make sense). The dagger and firebomb would stay in their existing roles, but made more powerful relatively (axe replacing firebomb perhaps). The Dagger can hit at a range, where the firebomb/axe can hit for more damage and be thrown in an arc (maybe have a feature where holding the item button down displays the trajectory of the weapon before you throw it by releasing the button). Holy water would be added, making a large AOE on the ground that stuns enemies who pass through. Cross would fly parallel to the ground, be a bit larger than a person, flying to the target, then back. This should allow it to hit multiple enemies on the way. Could also fly a set distance, then fly back once it reached that distance or hit a wall. Does not care where the player is when flying back, always returns the direction it came. Stopwatch stays the same, or is nerfed accordingly. Would probably only allow you to hold 20 hearts at a time, and add a stockpile up to 90-200 for extra hearts.

Maybe an estus flask or blood vial equivalent on triangle, since that worked really well for dark souls, and castlevania never had as good a health or healing system. The old games had hidden chicken, which is a basic knowledge test, the newer ones let you heal in menus, which is lame.

It might make sense to have enemies deal damage on contact, and knock the player back more. These would allow them to block the player’s path more effectively, which is part of what made classic castlevania enemies work so well. They were simultaneously a threat and roadblock, so getting past them was as dangerous as fighting them directly. Dark Souls enemies are easily ran past in comparison.