Romancelvania, a sensual Castlevania filled with sexy monsters

Drac is heartbroken and depressed. All his strength did not benefit him, and he failed to relieve the pains of love. That’s why he’s lived in solitude for centuries and has ruined his castle, leaving it (depending on the gender you choose at the start of the game) as bait for his servants who no longer care about him freely. The situation is very serious, Drac’s part of the universal balance between good and evil, so Death decides to intervene. He takes her out of the castle with a game, traps her in a reality show full of monsters to fight and sexy monsters to meet and hang out with or seduce if necessary. After all, Drac is so handsome in both versions, and knowing he’s drowning in his sadness is a waste. But before he can open the dance, Death takes away all his immense powers, which he must regain during the show. Never let him have an advantage and the public will get bored watching him work.

The plot intrigued us. Tried Romancelvanianever be disappointed.

love at first bite

As the title suggests, Romancelvania is a Castlevania clone with an injected dating simulator. The odd mix between the two seemingly irreconcilable genres actually seems to work just fine. In the game demo published on the occasion, Steam Next Fest In October 2022, in the final version, between disco demons running completely naked (there is no need for underwear in hell and disco), there were only three of the many monsters with whom we could have an absolutely procacious enchanted relationship. pumpkin women and the lamp’s lovely genes.

The very short first part of the game takes place in Drac’s castle and is basically a instructive which explains how to act and fight. Interestingly, the castle has graphic elements reminiscent of 8-bit Castlevania, although the game is represented in classic 2.5D, just to make the title’s reference even clearer. Here, Drac is immortal and at full strength.

Despite the sadness, Drac advances like a tank eliminating living skeletons and following the instructions given to him on the screen. His repertoire consists of all of metroidvania’s classic moves, including deadly sword attacks (does 666 damage, check this out), double jumps, and the use of various vampire powers. Even explosive barrels seem to have nothing against him. However, after exiting the tutorial, the transfer starts. As said earlier, Drac has been “reset”, some power left, but it will all be redone. The only thing Death doesn’t take from her is that she’s sexy by nature, that is, her pretty look with well-formed abs and pectoral muscles, and a dress that fits her perfectly, emphasizing her body shape.

After the presentation of the reality show “Love at First Bite”, we are allowed to choose again. sex Drac, with the warning that this is a permanent decision in this case. Then Chapter 1 begins with getting to know the first three monsters and, if necessary, developing a relationship. It is up to the player to decide who to seduce and who not to seduce, as modernity demands. There is no gender restriction in this, and the important thing is to satisfy the desires of the various partners, to win their hearts and perhaps their bodies. The game itself basically remains that of a metroidvania that will be revisited later in the game, where you roam the locations where the reality show takes place, kill monsters and mark inaccessible areas without specific powers. In this sense, the formula is fully respected.

Once you reach a dialogic monster (let’s say), you get missions necessary for the game’s purpose, developing love stories and progressing the character, and also to know where to go in time. to time. The dialogues are conducted in a visual novel style, with the possibility to choose the answers to be more or less friendly and, if necessary, a little flirty (at least in the demo you can also decide to be friends with everyone). The developments in the various subplots are very interesting, there is always the reality show in the background. In short, the mix works just fine and after the demo one wonders why no one thought of it before.

metroidvania

Speaking of the Castlevania episode, it’s exactly as expected. Surrounding monsters are clearly inspired by those that fill the episodes of the Konami series, starting with the skeletons of Training and Death. The settings come from there, but with lots of different touches like heart-shaped platforms and flower petals popping up everywhere. Accompanying Drac on his adventure is a bat commissioned by Death, who always catches his attention. Basically we are the heroes of a game. TV showIt’s okay not to forget that.

So the tones of the game are extremely ironic, but really close to the main inspiration of the action development studio. Don’t expect it to be easy though, because some creatures hit very hard and there are no bad animals to kill. In addition, the game world is full of secrets to discover, making exploration particularly exciting and compatible with other games in the genre.

this major flaw What will be verified with the final version is related to a certain slipperiness of the collisions. Nothing compromising, but you notice it, especially if you’ve played a lot of metroidvania before this. We’ll see.