Castlevania SOTN is an ill-conceived fossil of mediocrity

[Dark Jaguar]

Honestly, I've never played more than a few minutes of SotN.  I did play and enjoy several of the Nintendo DS Castlevania 'Metroidvania' games, but other than that I haven't really played the other ones.  I have liked a few metroidvanias, including those two and some Metroid games, but in general it's not a genre I play all that often since I prefer knowing where I'm going in a game instead of being expected to wander around until I figure out what to do... so yeah, I've played very few of the massive number of indie 2d Metroidvanias that have released over the last some years now.

As for SotN though, my general assumption has long been that it's probably alright but I'm not sure if I actually want to play it.

Life's already been figured out after all.  Just DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD and life is easy!  Why doesn't everyone just do that?  The 50's perfected living and it can't and won't be improved upon.  There is nothing in this world a firm handshake can't get you.  The system's not the problem, YOU ARE!

That was a bit of a diatribe I just went on, sorry there.  But, a lot of Metroidvanias do "sign post" where you should go rather well.  Did you reach a dead end with an obstacle you can't get past?  Congratulations, you went the right way!  Now you know to come back here when you get a certain ability!

GR, I know what you mean.  SOTN is a legendary game, but there's whole sections that don't actually "do" much except provide an alternative but otherwise unnecessary path.  Circle of the Moon has a bit more "intentionality" in the map design, learning some lessons, but then again there's a massive section of the map DOMINATED by nothing more than the game's boss rush mode.  Later games would wisely cordon off the boss rush to a menu option.  Harmony of Dissonance did the reverse castle, but this time flipped left to right instead of upside down.  It's a great game worthy of it's praise, but I think Aria of Sorrow has it beat thanks to it's very flexible combat system.  There's even a chain-sword thingy that you can use if you miss the "whipping" style of combat from traditional Castlevania games.  Dawn of Sorrow takes that and improves upon almost everything... except the art direction.  Where all the games since Symphony have used this very nicely done renaissance painting inspired art style for everyone, Dawn of Sorrow loses that and just goes... "generic anime style".  I mean, whatever your stereotype of what "anime" is, that's what the portraits and FMV look like.  Portrait of Ruin manages to get a distinct identity again, but never quite captured that wonderful art run they had going.  The problem I have with Portrait is how much more linear the design is, with a bunch of different castle "levels" you visit.  Order of Ecclesia is also an amazing game that goes back to the unique ability system using like... back tattoos instead of souls, but also kind of has this broken up nature.

And then, well we have to address this.  The franchise died like literally everything else at Konami.  So, let's mention
https://www.gog.com/en/game/bloodstained..._the_night .
I think this one perfected the formula without actually being Castlevania, but it totally is.  It's basically a sequel to Order of Ecclesia, but with lessons learned, and a return to a singular massive map.

I forgot something very important: This is the box art Konami slapped together when they made the "best seller" release.