This is not the first time M2 has done a remake of a Castlevania game, having previously made the Wiiware title, The Adventure Rebirth, and Haunted Castle Revisited does does take cues from that title. This is not just a case of redoing the visuals and enhancing the music, although the game does have that as well, but rather this is a full remake where smart decisions were made on what to change and what to leave alone.
Haunted Castle revisited is not as extreme a remake as The Adventure Rebirth, but does change a few things that are evident right off the bat. The stages have been partially redesigned, and some of the more questionable aspects have been replaced, such as obstacles like the wall in stage 1 that flings bricks at you, which is now swapped for a new stage obstacle.
The best thing to say about Haunted Castle Revisited is that the game no longer feels unnecessarily unfair. It is still a hard game, but now the challenge feels fair and more in line with the classic games. There are some aspects that are notably easier, such as falling in pits now just takes off a bit of your life, and your health refills between stages now, but the game still throws a lot at you.
M2 did an amazing job with the visuals in this game, as Haunted Castle Revisited beautifully reimagines the look of the original stages in bold new ways, and the already great soundtrack has been enhanced to be among the best in the series. Simon no longer has a constipated look while moving, and the game feels faster in general. The bosses have also been given an overhaul both visuals and in terms of how they act, and feel like much more satisfying encounters this time around, with the final battle being a particularly improved experience.
The weapons and subweapons have been changed as well, and now veer closer to traditional items, with some nice touches added to them. Gone, however, are some of the items that blatantly broke the original game, but that works well with the overall changes M2 made. I would say M2 did such a great job here that this may be better than some of the beloved classic style Castlevania games that have come out before.
This leads me to another point. I am hopeful that Haunted Castle will not be the only game to receive the Revisited treatment. If M2 was able to do such as amazing job with Haunted Castle, imagine what they would be able to do with a game like Castlevania Legends, or even Castlevania II Simon’s Quest. revisited versions of these games would be ideal and a way for the games to truly live up to their potential, especially Simon’s Quest which had some design choices that held it back, but ended up laying the groundwork for later titles such as Symphony of the Night. A Revisited version that corrects the problems and enhances the visuals and music could be a truly amazing experience.
Haunted Castle is something truly special. Beyond just the fact that it is the first new Castlevania game in a long time ( not counting Grimoire of Souls), but it provides proof of something else. Rather than focusing remakes on games considered all time classics, we should look to remakes of games that had potential but failed to live up to it, or games that were written off as duds before. These are the games that benefit the most from remakes and Haunted Castle Revisited is proof that remaking a bad game can lead to some amazing results. This title was announced in passing in the Dominus Collection trailer but is almost worth the price of entry alone. It is that amazing.
A review of the rest of Castlevania Dominus Collection will be coming next week.
Disclaimer: A Review key was provided
