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Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is a deep dive into the history of the horror franchise with its characters, stages, and monsters.
Like the Operation Guns DLC did for Contra, this DLC fills your monster-slaying mayhem with various creatures from all over the Castlevania games, digging up all manner of fun creatures from the series’ past. Like with Castlevania, the thing I enjoy the most is just seeing the various bosses and enemies pop up every few minutes, every new group bringing waves of nostalgia as well as crushing danger.
With those creatures come some creative new weapons and possibly familiar characters. It’s nice to see characters like Sonia Belmont from Castlevania Legends show up given how she’s been basically ignored by the series since the days of the Game Boy. That she has a creative take on her whip (a swirling kind of attack), as do all of the whip-wielding characters, makes for some fun variances on how you play. I still like to rely on some solid weapons from the main game, but there are some fun additions that are also pulled from other Castlevania titles.
The best part of Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania has to be the exploration, something that Vampire Survivors has only really done an okay job of so far. Yes, some places in previous DLC and the main game do have a kind of flow to them, but here, you get to explore a massive, varied take on Dracula’s castle, complete with permanent warp points to unlock as you explore. It captured the feeling of meandering through Symphony of the Night with this variety and complexity in the environments (plus with its bosses you need to beat to unlock new areas), and it made my wandering feel far more purposeful as I played.
This is easily my favorite entry in Vampire Survivors so far, and is well worth looking into if you like it or Castlevania.
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is available now on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, and Steam.
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