Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

"Not the best for those new to the series, but veterans will love it."

Of the three Castlevanias for the DS, many fans were holding out for this to top the mediocre Portrait of Ruin, and the polarizing Dawn of Sorrow. It is the most challenging, but is so in a very fair way. The game feels fresh, full, and well-polished, and it quickly became one of my favorites in the series, not just the DS library. While it may not be the best game for beginners due to its slightly different battle system, it is well worth it for series veterans and those who have played only a few entries to check this one out.

Graphics and Atmosphere 8/10
Konami seems to have half-broken the trend of recycling sprites from the immediate prior game. While there are some recycled sprites, they have at least been retired for a few years. I haven't played anything before the GBA Castlevanias, excepting the Nintendo ones, though.

The atmosphere in this game is wonderful. Fog helps to make eerie places eerie, and the hub village is strangely unsettling. For once, the game takes place in more natural settings, making it feel more realistic than the equivalent of one of the great lakes being underneath Dracula's castle. When you do get to Dracula's castle, it is superbly done, each area having its own unique feel, unlike some of the previous areas which copied off each other, though not to the extent Portrait of Ruin did.

Music: 5/10
Let me make this abundantly clear: a five out of ten is mathematically average. The music is fine in quality (Remember Harmony of Dissonance? It's nothing like that), but there were very few songs that I could actually identify a melody to. The style is more reminiscent of Dawn of Sorrow and doesn't feel as atmospheric as it could be. There are a few songs that kick ass, and the village song in particular is very chilling, but overall, it's very average.

Story: 4/10
Let's be honest. No one plays Castlevania for the story. Dawn and Aria of Sorrow both had good ones, but in every game it ultimately boils down to: Defeat Dracula. The story here is partly hard to follow only because it takes so long to get to the next part of the game that actually progresses it.

Gameplay 8/10
Order of Ecclesia takes both a half-step back and forward. Both the layout of the world and the battle system have changed, one evolving, and one stepping back to the days of the Pre-SotN Castlevanias.

The battle system is much the same as it has been for the past ten years, but with an important twist: every attack now consumes MP. Fortunately, your MP regenerates at a very quick rate (it takes no more than 5 seconds to refill completely), and as such, is very rarely a problem. However, there are some enemies and bosses that can inflict the Curse status on you, completely depriving you of anyway to attack or defend yourself. While this is unfortunate and somewhat rare, you can usually just stay out of the action or use an item to cure yourself.

The other large change to the battle system is the exclusion of standard weapons. Your weapons are now referred to as "Glyphs", which ultimately serve the same purpose. You can equip two glyphs at a time, plus a third one, which generally allows you to summon familiars and grants new movement capabilities(analogous to the R-button used skills in the previous games). Glyphs are used by pressing the X and Y button, alternating between the two will allow you to use them very quickly. Because of this combo feature, some weapons, notably the rapiers, have become extremely deadly. However, you do not need to equip the same glyph to both buttons. The glyphs can be thought of as the cards from Circle of the Moon, in that pairing a fire glyph with a sword glyph and using their union (similar to a critical hit, and uses hearts), will result in a fiery arc. Experimenting combinations of certain glyphs will provide very quick, efficient ways to defeat bosses.

Bosses in this game are very cleverly designed; they all have a pattern and you are actually meant to be able to beat them without getting hit, and the game will even reward you for it (a useless medal, but it's better than nothing). The bosses are new and fresh, and seldom stereotypical Castlevania enemies, ranging instead from a Giant Enemy Crab to a very well thought-out Centaur. My only gripe about the bosses is that some of them seem to have way too much health, despite the relative ease at which you can dodge their attacks.

The level design takes a step back, but this is not to say it is worse than the previous DS titles. While a few rooms are recycled, the level design does not suffer or feel empty as Portrait of Ruin's did. Instead of having one castle to traverse (as in Dawn of Sorrow), Ecclesia splits between half-linear levels, having a few or multiple exits, and Portrait of Ruin's style. After completing a level (there is no time limit), you are returned to the world map, and can select a region to travel to. There are a few alternate exits which must be taken to gain access to the next area, but they are seldom hard to find, especially with the Internet close at hand. While the maps are actually not too stunning, the final one, with a well-concealed exit leading to two bonus dungeons, is very well designed and actually made me feel as though I was in completely different areas.

Another new element to this game is the increased importance of quests. As you progress through the game, you will find kidnapped villagers, who will return to the village and ask you to fulfill their wishes, typically finding items and returning them. While these were also present in Portrait of Ruin, they are much more important here, as completing them leads to more items for sale in the store. Not completing any quests will lead you to a very tough time, since the store sells only very basic items. Completing this quests typically necessitates beating an enemy over and over to get its item, but depending on how lucky you are, you'll enjoy the added interaction.

Extra mode(s): 5/10
The previous DS CV games had unique special modes: Dawn of Sorrow offered the much loved (except by me) Julius mode. Portrait of Ruin offered players to relive the past by playing as Richiter and Maria, as well as offering super hard level caps, and the gimmicky, uninspired Sisters mode. Order of Ecclesia continues this tradition with what fans have affectionately named 'Easy mode', where you play as the other protagonist, and the game is made far, far too easy. This mode is incredibly fun, requiring as most extra modes do, nothing to do with equipment or item management whatsoever, but it also allows you to destroy enemies extremely quickly, teleport around the screen, and generally kick ass. The mode is not without its flaws, including a mind-bending fight with yourself that should have taken place against Shanoa, but as we know, the CV series isn't known for putting effort into the extra modes.

There's also a level 255 cap. Yeah. 255. At that level, I'm guessing you can beat the final boss in one or two hits, so it's a little excessive.

After beating the game, there's your typical boss rush, split logically into only 2 courses now (thanks a lot, stupid Portrait of Ruin), another obstacle course-type thing that is scored strangely, and Wi-fi versions of these. It's pretty average, but we shouldn't be expecting that much, anyway.


The bonus content in the main game is somewhat lacking, even if it is a first for the series. It's made of two dungeons, the Large Cavern, like the Nest of Evil in Portrait of Ruin, and the much more interesting Training Ground, which is more like a playground or obstacle course. The Large Cavern cycles through a total of five enemies, but has a new boss at the end of it. It could have been better, especially since the enemies hit incredibly hard, but after finding a cheap tactic, it becomes much easier. I had much more fun with the Training Ground, even if its rewards were less spectacular. It put my maneuvering capabilities to the test, and actually made me smile while playing it.

Miscellaneous Nitpicking
Unlike Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow, characters in these games act appropriately. There is no dialogue that will make you cringe, although keywords like [Dracula] are bracketed, and the art style has taken a welcome step back from anime. There are still rotten food items, but with no skill to safely consume them, they become simple tools to decrease your health at the benefit of stat gain from a certain equippable item. The equippable items in this game are much better than before. There seems to be a lot less filler, and more rings that actually effect your stats in some way, and I applaud them for that. AP, the stat that increases attributes used by glyphs (Fire, strike, etc) maxes out at a rather insane 65,536, at which point the damage triples. While this is a little excessive for completionists, it doesn't matter so much as actual strength does. Finally, there is an extremely easy and exploitable tactic to gain money, making buying items so much easier.

I recommend this game to series veterans, though they have probably already bought it by now, and to those who have played a few Castlevania games. It's the most solid out of the 3 for the DS, and quite possibly the increasingly hard to find GBA ones. If you're new to Castlevania, you might want to try one of the others first, before you dive into a new battle system and increased difficulty, but if you're willing to take a risk, go right ahead.

Final score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/09

Game Release: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (US, 10/21/08)