Review—Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

Castlevania is a consistently strong series. Founded on the original trilogy, which is as inventive as it is iconic—yes, even Simon’s Quest (1987) has its moments—the series only grew stronger with the Super Nintendo’s Super Castlevania IV (1991) and Dracula X (1995). Yet all these years later, it turns out that I had been depriving myself from an entire half of the franchise’s catalog, which were released from PS1 onward, and were so influential that fans created a new subgenre of the series to call them by—the ‘igavania.’

As opposed to their ‘classicvania’ counterparts, an igavania gets its name from Koji Igarashi, a devloper that did so much heavy lifting for Konami’s beloved franchise that fans felt it was necessary to parse the catalog according to what he did and did not work on. As Igarashi breathed new life into the series, an igavania layers heavy RPG elements, gated non-linear exploration, and a gothic atmosphere on top of the traditionally tight and brutally difficult Castlevania formula. But Yackson, I hear you ask thickheadedly through the computer monitor, how does a ‘metroidvania’ fit into all of this? I won’t touch that discussion for now. Point is, I happened to try out one of these so called igavanias, and you could say I got hooked on it. Welcome to Yackson’s review of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2008) on the Nintendo DS.

Order of Ecclesia is the third and final game of the Castlevania trilogy released on the DS. It also happens to be the last igavania ever made. Yes, your boy started at the end, but from what I can tell, Igarashi went out with a bang before leaving Konami. After all, a good Castlevania game is about tight controls and kicking ass, and Ecclesia cranks it up to eleven in that department. The premise of the game is that you are Shanoa, a disciple of the ‘Order of Ecclesia,’ an organization tasked with keeping Dracula at bay in the absence of the usual Belmont clan. So don’t go into this game expecting to play as Simon or Richter.

Interestingly enough, this is actually one of the rare moments when a Castlevania game features a female protagonist, and when the game drops you into its opening moments, Shanoa is a well designed character and a certified badass. Unfortunately, the story falls flat almost immediately. Expect amnesia tropes, mind-numbing dialogue, and plot twists that are either nonsensical or a downright backtrack from what the story accomplished earlier. The emotional moments that the writer(s) did intend land like cutaway gags, but not in a good way (see picture below). It’s not that I went into a Castlevania game expecting the story to transcend anything other than ‘you must slay Dracula,’ but in this case, it would have been better if they just didn’t bother with anything more than that. At any rate, a deep story is not what I’m looking for in a game like this.

As I said earlier, Castlevania is at its best when you’re kicking ass, and in this game, you are kicking ass. From the getgo, Shanoa is able to slide, backdash, and jump kick her way through levels, but the core mechanic that makes this game stand out is its glyph system. Shanoa is able to absorb and use ‘glyphs,’ which are essentially magic runes found in dusty corners of levels and occasionaly left behind by slain enemies. A glyph can grant Shanoa upgrades in the form of weapons or special abilities. On the surface, it sounds like a ripoff of Samus’ morph ball or Link’s boomerang, but the real magic happens when you realize that Ecclesia has you combining glyphs for special effects. With a grand total of 73 distinct glyphs that are fully mappable and the ability to store three hot-swappable builds at any given time, Ecclesia’s combat is near perfect with tight controls to boot.

The developers couple this system with levelled character stats and items (equippable, consumable and permanent) to bring the game RPG depth. It succeeds most of the time, such as when I found a ‘heart cuirass’ that allowed me to take damage in ‘hearts’ rather than health (true Castlevania fans will know what this means), with which I invented a strategy that allowed me to survive the most brutal hallways with relative ease. Other times, I found that I accumulated items that sometimes felt useless or unnecessary to the core gameplay, but perhaps these items would have been more useful in another player’s hands. The strength in Eccesia’s RPG elements is that I was greatly rewarded for devising my own ways to overcome challenge. Eventually, I found myself looking up other players’ builds on GameFAQs and tweaking them to my own liking. Either way, the customization and skill expression make for a truly unique experience in any given playthrough.

It’s a great thing that combat feels so fluid and customizable, since this game gets difficult. If you’re a seasoned Castlevania addict, you’ll know what to expect. If not, prepare to feel stuck at most checkpoints. The enemy variety is vast, drawing from new and old Castlevania alike. As far as boss designs are concerned, the developers knocked it out of the park in both mechanics and concept. Bosses are creative, demanding, and complex in the best of ways, which you’ll find out early on as the game has you crushing a giant crab with an elevator. The difficulty curve feels just for a Castlevania game, as each boss seems to trap you in their own unique hell until you learn their particular patterns. As for Dracula himself, I won’t spoil how this game handles his reincarnation, but I will say that it feels right.

Level design has its moments too, but I wouldn’t say it’s where the series peaks. The game has you exploring many different areas connected via a map system, which are varied and interesting enough. However, certain areas definitely feel like padding, meaning that level design in Ecclesia is hit and miss. There are moments right after exploring a vast and sprawling level in which the game essentially just has you go from point A to point B. The game gives you 18 unique levels, and that’s before sending you to Dracula’s Castle, which honestly feels like its own game altogether. Though I could’ve done without certain levels, I will say that the overall experience feels generous and creates a large enough world to get lost in. Exploration is rewarded through hidden glyphs and secret areas, though is sometimes forced when the game requires you to rescue villagers hidden in levels before you can advance.

Last but not least is the artistic direction of the game, including its graphics and music. Here, I truly can’t say enough good things. Graphically, the game is beautiful from start to finish. Ecclesia sits right in that golden era of pixel art—right before hardware rendered it unnecessary, but long enough after developers truly figured it out. Animations are fluid, and it appears that a lot of time was put into making sure every weapon, every enemy, and every boss feels just as expressive as Shanoa. It’s really a shame that Ecclesia marks the end of an era when it comes to Castlevania’s legendary pixel art style, and the Gothic atmosphere is the cherry on top that makes this game feel like a swan song for the series as a whole. The game’s music is a high point as well, composed by Michiru Yamane, longtime producer of baroque bangers to slay Dracula to. The Nintendo DS provides an excellent soundfont for Yamane to work her magic, and I often found myself listening to Ecclesia’s OST outside of my time playing the game. “An Empty Tome” remains in my top three Castlevania tracks of all time, and perfectly encapsulates the feeling of kicking demon ass.

Overall, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was an excellent reason for me to pick up my Nintendo DS again, and it reminded me of what I love about Castlevania as a whole. With a couple of missteps in story and level design, the game excels at what is core to its identity. I would recommend this game as a must play for any Castlevania fan, and downright gem for anyone down for some DS-era platforming.

Yackson’s Score: 8/10