Curse of Darkness | Konami's Last 3D Castlevania Game 🗡🧛‍♂️

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness PS2 retrospective review. Konami were growing increasingly risk-averse in the 2000s. Looking at their catalogue from the time, it’s likely they were deciding which franchises to keep on and which to ditch. Curse of Darkness needed to be a huge success if it was going to save the Castlevania franchise from being killed off forever.
If you’ve seen the great Netflix Castlevania animated show, you will probably recognise the names Hector, Isaac and the term Devil Forgemasters. Seasons Two and Three of that show took a lot of inspiration from Curse of Darkness. The show did a good job of taking the characters and setting of this game and adapting it.
I would rate Curse of Darkness in the top half of all Castlevania games. But for the team size which Konami had committed to the production of this game, it sold about the same as one of the GBA or DS games which were made by like a dozen people.
Curse of Darkness wasn’t the final Castlevania game. But there was never another console game in the main Castlevania canon.
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Sources
web.archive.org/web/20070429191913/www.konami.jp/gs/game/CV01/chronology.html
archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_102_January_1998/page/n39/mode/2up
web.archive.org/web/20110522124136/www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3152109
castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/Castlevania_Timeline
www.vgchartz.com/game/226273/castlevania/
www.gamepilgrimage.com/Ps1ussales.htm
sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/game-search
www.thegamer.com/castlevania-best-selling-games-series-didnt-sell/
shmuplations.com/kojiigarashi/
kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKu5cmx8faiUopI
www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/21/castlevania-lament-of-innocence-qa
groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.nb/c/MKYmUPKsZxw/m/8U8cEbD69IoJ
www.konami.com/games/castlevania/eu/en/page/history_2005_ps2
Credits
The Sonic The Hedgehog 2 level card sequence was made possible by Foone's Death Generator:
deathgenerator.com/#sth2
00:00 Intro
01:56 Lament of Innocence
04:48 The opening act
09:39 The Symphony of the Night successor
13:20 Where Curse of Darkness differs
07:17 Hector the devil forge master
21:27 Curse of Darkness is complicated!
24:52 The story finale
29:50 The release
30:52 The death of Castlevania
33:14 Closing
#castlevania #konami #stoked

[@HPRshredder]

Hell yeah!!! Summoned Skull!!!

[@HPRshredder]

Appreciate the name drop lol, this was a great video

[@M00shu]

I think the most tragic thing about Curse of Darkness is how its arguably the best 3D Castlevania game.... It just came out at the wrong time.

[@MattyStoked]

Yeah it's a whole heap of shame, TBH. I personally prefer Lament, but it feels like the time was right for Castlevania to enter the 3D action space. Devil May Cry, God of War and Ninja Gaiden made good bedfellows. It's a shame we didn't get to see this okay style mature.

[@gerryanggrana7626]

Curse of darkness borrowed ideas from Chaos Legion ( pokemon style) and chaos Legion 2003 got bad reviews so it got cursed on iga ps2 2005

[@MattyStoked]

@@gerryanggrana7626 Chaos Legion added to the backlog

[@gerryanggrana7626]

@@MattyStoked curse of darkness Japan version is akumajo dracula. The sales is about 455k ( including Xbox) . It seems equal with gba and ds games.

[@MattyStoked]

@@gerryanggrana7626 ...that's the point I make in the video :)

[@TsDwelling]

I've never understood the hate for this game. It remains one of my favorites. The Lords of Shadow games are the ones that I don't like. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird.

[@micksterminator3]

I downloaded the newest entries cause I recently modded my 3ds and ps3. Never fired them up a second time

[@bigpumpfitness3734]

Right, it's a good game. The familiar system was awesome.

[@gerchu_plays]

I completely agree with you, this game is really good.

[@TsDwelling]

@@bigpumpfitness3734 👍🏻💯

[@TsDwelling]

@@gerchu_plays 👍🏻💯

[@JimFaindel]

I got into the series precisely on Curse of Darkness, on the original Xbox. I loved, and still love that game to pieces, must have put 100 hours into it. The combat, the crafting, the music, even the melodramatic characters. Can't get enough!

[@MattyStoked]

That's rad! It's kind of the perfect game for 2005 Xbox. Hack and slash action, edgelord characters, blazing metal guitars. What a time to be alive!

[@scottskene8387]

For me, Curse of Darkness was to Lament of Innocence what Majora's Mask was to Ocarina of Time

[@MattyStoked]

So eloquently put 😮 You should be making these videos, not me!

[@scottskene8387]

@@MattyStoked I appreciate the kind words, but realistically, a quick turn of phrase is much easier than a full script. I'll leave that in your capable hands

[@muffinzetta3670]

It didn’t kill castlevania like 5 more castlevania games came out after this.

[@h.p3st]

yeah the name of the video is a lot of bs and the series survived even the n64 titles ... i even like lords of shadow ...KONAMI killed castlevania with this dammed pachinko games 🤣

[@fredalejandro9932]

@@muffinzetta3670 Yeah and each one of them sell less than the last and were clearly made on a tight budget

[@JesusKristov]

Yeah he addresses that in the final part of the video dude

[@muffinzetta3670]

@@fredalejandro9932 lords of shadow 1 is the best selling game in the series. Maybe actually try knowing what your talking about.

[@fredalejandro9932]

@@muffinzetta3670 LoS is the consecuence of the previous games failing. They are obviously been omited when talk about the franchise felling off. Plus LoS was a fail reboot because the other two games didn't sell nearly enough to make more games in that timeline.

[@ZeptoZeno]

Curse of Darkness and Lament of Innocence are still my favourite Castlevania games and it's not even close. I love the atmosphere and OST. I wish they would make more of these kind of Castlevanias.

[@MattyStoked]

YOU GET ME

[@bigpumpfitness3734]

I liked Curse. It was a large game for the time with a lot of unlockables and secrets

[@ZombiePhoenix]

9:33 "But this game does have the honor of being the first time you get to fight a Belmont" Well that's not true. Alucard fights Richter Belmont in Symphony of the Night and could optionally kill him for a bad ending.

[@blumiu2426]

Exactly, I started thinking he hadn't played the games saying that.

[@Davyn_Regnilfreid]

Not to mention Belmont's Revenge on the Gameboy, fighting Christopher's son, and more importantly, the badass-ery that is fighting Julius Belmont in Aria of Sorrow, which released two-and-a-half years prior.

[@UncleNemmy]

Castlevania 3 was the first time you could fight a Belmont because of the Doppelganger boss

[@blumiu2426]

@@UncleNemmy That's not a Belmont, but a doppleganger, but technically true gameplay wise. I think they meant an actual one.

[@Galamoth06]

Correction: It's not the first game in which you fight a Belmont. Off the top of my head, there's Aria of Sorrow' fight against Julius Belmont, and 1991's Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge for the game boy had Christopher Belmont fight his son Soleil, who had been turned evil by Dracula.

[@Davyn_Regnilfreid]

And the fight against Richter in Symphony of the Night.

[@Galamoth06]

@@Davyn_Regnilfreid Damn, how did I forget the most iconic one?

[@brandonphillips1665]

This was a really amazing game and fun to complete. I still recall trying to get those last steals from the final bosses. And how so much care went into having IDs w unique abilities that helped gain access to new areas. Flamethrower for briars or holy light for red skeletons. First time I could actually kill those for good!! I enjoyed the crafting and evolving. I wished a version of that had made its way to the NDS sidescroller line. Giving the enemies souls or special drops makes them that much more interesting to grind. Ever try Monster Tale for NDS? There was also some interesting Alchemy based Castlevania for mobile but it played awful.

[@richardbors6548]

It was a good game, but LEGENDARY soundtrack, esp the starting castle.

[@graymatter9431]

I loved this game, I was a big fan of castlevania growing up, castlevania legacy of darkness is my favorite castlevania game of all time. I love all the 3D castlevania games especially curse of darkness and lord of shadows. I never understood the hate. I do understand this game gets repetitive, but I never minded that. I wish the original 4 3D castlevania games got a remaster or it’s own collection. Also great video

[@MattyStoked]

A 3D collection has to be on the cards. That's the last collection to release. They've done the rest of them all now!

[@graymatter9431]

@@MattyStoked unfortunately they won’t because they don’t have enough people who are interested in the 3D ones

[@MattyStoked]

@@graymatter9431 we're all right here! I'll use the incredible amount of influence I can flex on KZbin 😅 We'll convince them!

[@MiguelAviles175]

"Dracula as a Cybernetic Virus" Thats just Sigma from Megaman X5.

[@du0lol]

Sonic: Chao garden Castlevania: Chair garden

[@kazamax360]

Curse of darkness didn't kill Castlevania. Konami killed, like other franchises.

[@KBXband]

It's one of the few IPs aside from Metal Gear I wish would just be handed to another developer so we could see it come back with new entries rather than watch it being smothered in its sleep with a pillow full of money by Konami.

[@MattyStoked]

lol they aready did that once

[@briansalva3550]

IMO Lords of Shadow series was the deathblow.

[@MattyStoked]

I mean that's an interesting take but the Mercurysteam games are a totally different beast! One day I'll get to them 😅

[@Miraihi]

Lords of Shadow were absolutely what killed the franchise. Just because Konami didn't understand for some reason what made Castlevania games great. At least we have Bloodstained now.

[@foottothenuts]

@briansalva3550 I agree. I fucking hate Lords of Shadow. All of the charm and personality of the series was gone and replaced with generic gritty Hollywood fantasy movie shit. A "castlevania" game in name ONLY.

[@ZeptoZeno]

Obviously since nothing happend since then besides remakes.

[@fishingmule3266]

@@briansalva3550 100% agree. It’s like Konami just gave up on making Castlevania, so they just made some dumbed down reboot.

[@suntzujo]

weird, it's because of this game that I decided to learn more about the franchise, and the innocent devils system for me was a great way to have something like the familiars from symphony of the night, and even later they released games for nintendo DS so for me what killed castlevania wasn't castlevania curse of darkness but lords of shadow. Loved your video, wish it was longer hehehe

[@MattyStoked]

Longer?! It was a real challenge making a 30 minute video! Thanks for the lovely comment :)

[@tiymakoizau]

Curse of Darkness is one of favourite Castlevania Games.

[@MattyStoked]

Hell yeah!

[@JulietStMoon]

I think what's bonkers about the St. Germaine tease at the end is that it was a "Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man" style tease like 2-3 years before that movie, lol. Was really trying to set up Castlevania 1999 and stuff. Makes the ending extra sad knowing it never continued, but it's kinda poignant in a way that I like, too.

[@V-Revan-V]

Castlevania 64 is definitely one of my favorites. The love story between the hero and the vampire. The combat wasn’t the best but was okay. And the music (castle theme) definitely a favorite

[@MattyStoked]

Yeah, love this. I really rate CV64, it's such an underrated game.

[@dontstop2517]

Curse of darkness plot is so good the Netflix show had to stole as much as it could from it.

[@micksterminator3]

I was one of those kids that played Castlevania 64 as well as tony hawks pro skater. Recently bought a flash cart and fired up Castlevania first lol

[@MattyStoked]

Yes mate, strong move!

[@ScottsGameAsylum]

Curse of Darkness? morelike Curse of Dankness!

[@MattyStoked]

🌿🌿🌿

[@One-ct3xe]

If they just would have given us a Kid Dracula glow up!! 😢😢😢

[@graymatter9431]

Yesss I loved Kid Dracula, I wish we got more and it’s sad they didn’t make a new one for switch. Game is so underrated

[@MattyStoked]

TBF a 3D action Kid Dracula would be awesome. I'm seeing a spooky Yooka Laylee / Balan Wonderworld style mascot game with loads of Halloween aesthetic...

[@graymatter9431]

@@MattyStoked that would be amazing I’d love a 3D Kid Dracula

[@Koivusilta]

It's unfortunate Curse of Darkness is bogged down by it's drab level design and slow traversal speed so much, because it did have some interesting gameplay mechanics. I'm surprised no one has copied the stealing mechanic in their games. The timing window in CoD can be a bit finicky at times, but the idea of being able to steal rare materials from enemies in an action games is a lot more interesting than having to just grind for them. On a sidenote, I find it very hard to believe Lament of Innocence could have sold anywhere near a million copies.

[@MattyStoked]

I really enjoy the overlapping mechanics of stealing and crafting. Pickpocketing has made its way into more modern games, but you're right. It'd be great to see!

[@gerryanggrana7626]

Lament of innocence sold 940k units ( Japan excluded). In Japan region lament ranked 6 ( first week in 2003) . It sold 92k copies first week in Japan

[@Koivusilta]

@@gerryanggrana7626 Right, but what's the source for those western sales numbers? I can see VGChartz is claiming those numbers, which is all the more reason to doubt them.

[@gerryanggrana7626]

@@Koivusilta vgchartz is also about the rest of world sales. In fact Thegamer site also use vgchartz.

[@gerryanggrana7626]

@@Koivusilta vgchartz is not about just western sales. The rest of the world sales. Besides The site such as thegamer also use vgchartz.

[@clockworklemon9243]

loved this game on xbox. huge fan of the n6 games as well

[@Giffsen]

That title would be true if the LoS trilogy didnt exist... or the DS games.

[@MattyStoked]

The LoS games aren't Konami-developed games, and they're not the same continuity. I see them an attempt to bring the franchise back.

[@MattyStoked]

Thanks so much to commenter @mahaveez for the excellent suggestion of a better title. Ta, mate!

[@UnhingedMind]

Would've loved to see the Demon Wars/Dracula's Demise in 1999, which lead up to the Sorrow games.

[@Larry]

Most excellent video Sir, Really enjoyed this I did!!! :) I'm honestly surprised that Konami hasn't considered a Dark Souls type CastleVania, or even an Arkham Asylum type 3d Metroidvania with the series yet.

[@MattyStoked]

@@Larry exactly the same, mate. There's a lot of talk about the influence Castlevania had on Dark Souls. And one thing we know about DS is it was made on a relatively small budget with a tight team. I would love small, Arkham Asylum type game, I think that would suit the tone of the series really well ❤️‍🩹

[@Larry]

@@MattyStoked I think with the recent success of Astro Bot, publishers might consider going for smaller budget passion projects again. I've always loved the platformy bits of CastleVania more than any other aspect, but yeah, an Arkham Asylum 3D Metroidvania would be perfect. Has there actually been many AAA 3D Metroidvanias?

[@AlphaZeroX96]

I disagree. There shouldn't be a Castlevania game that plays like Batman.

[@MattyStoked]

@@AlphaZeroX96 I wouldn't want it to play like Batman. I think the smaller, more atmospheric map game would suit the aesthetic of Castlevania well. And hunting for collectables would, too. Stealth takedowns, not so much!

[@franciscor390]

I'd appreciate anything Castlevania at this point. Give us something.

[@Judas_Iscariote]

Curse of Darkness should have a 2D demake. It would be great

[@gerryanggrana7626]

Yes. Coz cod sales similar with gba and DS. Curse should go 2d route

[@Robodob0]

Easily one of my favorite castlevania games though. The reboot trilogy is the one i didnt like much. The classic ones was what i grew up with, and i personally think Curse of Darkness is among the best of them. Symphony, Castlevania 3, Super Castlevania 4, Curse of Darkness, and Aria are my favorites.

[@MattyStoked]

There's no denying this game's greatness. You'll certainly get no disagreement from me!

[@theghost9479]

Symphony of the night is still my favorite

[@MattyStoked]

Fair!

[@joshfacio9379]

great video! i remember when this came out i was really excited because of the cv3 connections, but something didnt click with me i guess.. i remember around this time anime and games were going to a loli asthetic mixed with odd s&m designs with waif guys. the wii cv judgment fighting game designs were awful lol. that and how cv games felt copy paste or randomized rooms with a hub where most games were castle room after castle room. i guess i missed how cv 2, 3, cv4, rob, and bloodlines had varied levels and atmospheres. give me a sidescroller with a barbarian with a whip traversing the countryside and im happy lol.

[@NeoKurow]

Curse of Darkness was the best 3d game. Héctor abilites were a good concept and the abandoned castle theme is amazing too. This game deserves a demake. In 2D form it could be as good as Order of Ecclesia

[@gerryanggrana7626]

The sales curse of darkness ps2 is same with your order of Ecclesia. Its about 420k copies. Yep curse of darkness should go 2d route since the sales is similar

[@Demoncradle]

Curse of darkness was great, judgement threw people off more than any other castlevania game. Though it could be hilariously fun in multiplayer

[@jhonaker76]

Totally missed all the PlayStation Castlevania games, including these, and it sure would be great if we got a proper remake (as opposed to a simple remaster). The game looks like it could really benefit with tighter controls and some of the modern control mechanisms that modern 3D "brawler" style games use.

[@franciscor390]

Top high quality, I'm definitely watching this on a bigger screen.

[@MattyStoked]

Glad you like it! Thank you for the lovely comment 😊

[@jeffchronister4092]

I don't think it killed it. It wasn't the best castlevania game in the series , and yet it did have alot of fun and interesting ideas with " devil forging" , it's familiars and the progression system. Having said that, i still prefer Symphony of the night and super castlevania over the other games. Mainly for the whip abilities in super castlevania and all the positives in sotn. The farming, the familiars, the crissagrim, the ability for alucard to change to bat, wolf or mist. I think adding things to castlevania games like the devil forging and rpg elements using various armors and weapons as well as powered up relics can only enhance any potential future games in the series. The real downfall of castlevania and why it's been in hibernation for so long is Igarashi and kojima leaving and konami focusing on pachinko and mobile games with the series. Sadly it seems that once every hundred years konami will appear and a new game will be in the works.....

[@MattyStoked]

You make a good point about IGA and Kojima leaving Konami, but that's no reason to stop making the games. They made 10 games before Igarashi with a whole host of creative talent. That's almost as many Castlevania games as IGA produced. So it's not like they didn't have the talent! Honestly, I would have loved love to see the series continue without IGA's involvement.

[@zackeryparkerson]

Hell yeah, man! Wasn’t expecting another Castlevania episode so soon! Also, really dug the intro credits.

[@MattyStoked]

Glad you liked it! I guess i juts can't stop myself from talking about vampires.... 😊

[@TheCrawl]

Great video, friend! I really like this game. I loved Lament, too, but where Lament felt like a 3D evolution of classicvania, Curse was a 3D Igavania style, so it always feels weird to try and compare (let alone rank) them. Anyway, excellent stuff as always! Definitely got me in the mood to play some Castlevania during spooky season :)

[@MattyStoked]

@@TheCrawl agreed, they're both different beasts! I actually thought of you when editing this video as I was thinking "Is Curse of Darkness a dungeon crawler?"

[@J4ckL33R1pp3r]

Just cause sales weren't up to par doesnt mean it killed it. The game that cause the downfall and killed Castlevania was the N64 games. If anything it were those games. Even Lords of Shadow games were 100x better than N64 failures. Curse and Lament were part of the best Castlevania games ever. I've been following the Belmont and Trepes Family since I was 4 with Simon's Quest long long ago.

[@MattyStoked]

I love these games, too. Lament is probably my favourite Castlevania game of them all. But my point is Konami didn't make another console Castlevania game after CoD :(

[@Psycho1369Z]

I love Castlevania curse of darkness this game is so good I would love for them to update this game even though I know that will never happen

[@camendiv]

I will always say without any qualifiers that everyone should try Curse of Darkness. The gameplay is fun, the ideas are cool and the soundtrack is killer.

[@SuperGman72]

I really like this game. As a massive fan of the franchise I'm happy that this game exists and has it's place.

[@MattyStoked]

Yes, yes, yes! Same all round :)

[@mee7er]

You need to do a couple run drafts on your script and maybe have someone proofreading. The video is full of minor errors and incorrect facts.

[@MattyStoked]

Oh well, I'm not under any obligation to be 100% accurate and you didn't pay to watch the video. Not to worry, worse things have happened!

[@AlphaZeroX96]

@MattyStoked They were just saying your video had errors. You could make a new video correcting your issues. People will watch these and get the wrong idea.

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

Very informative and enjoyable video. Shame it has to be cheapened by a clickbait (and let's face it: factually incorrect) title and thumbnail in order to appease the algorithm gods. I know why you guys have to do it, I just wish you didn't need to.

[@MattyStoked]

I don't have to, I thought it was a cool title 😅 Thanks for the comment my friend

[@gamingyoshifanatic4082]

I don't want to be that guy, but when you said that Curse of Darkness is where you fight a Belmont for the first time .... The first time was actually in Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. Christopher Belmont has to fight his own possessed son Soleiyu

[@MattyStoked]

lol you and like 200 other *that guy*s. No worries mate.

[@Wolfstanus]

Saying this is the game that killed Castlevania is like saying E.T. caused the video game crash.

[@MattyStoked]

I wouldn't ever say that because there wasn't a video game crash where I live

[@Wolfstanus]

@@MattyStoked video game crash was mostly US based. Most of the world didn't really notice it as it was largely console based crash and most other countries had little to no interest in consoles

[@MattyStoked]

@@Wolfstanus I know that! I know what it was, but it was an American-only thing. Nobody else noticed it or cared.

[@zephryus]

I'm actually surprised that Bloodlines (The new generation in some places) Did the worst. That's among one of my all time favorites!

[@chronicallyartsy]

Castlevania died when Konami allowed Netflix to do what it did. :'D

[@RedSpade37]

I just love the whole series, top to bottom. I really want to replay Curse of Darkness. I had a lot of fun with it.

[@MattyStoked]

@@RedSpade37 same! I love this series and Curse is a lot of fun.

[@thelivingglitch307]

What if I told you that I didn't know about combo finishers until I was nearly done with the Infinite Corridor? Yeah somehow I stuck around all that time with purely square combos and devil stuff... I felt so stupid but it really helped my retention in the long run.

[@justingriffith9198]

I think it says something about Curse of Darkness that I played it, for the first time, very recently, and I really enjoyed it. It holds up very well for being 20 years old. Granted, I had some gripes, but over all it was an enjoyable game.

[@MattyStoked]

Yeah, no game is perfect. But I really enjoy this one. This era of games is so enjoyable to me. Just deep enough to be interesting, but short enough that I don't have to spend 100 hours finding everything.

[@bernardcantoii292]

Curse of darkness was ahead of its time it was an awesome game why is it considered one of the worst?

[@Ch4oTiK]

I'm one of the weird ones that really liked the N64 games. The atmosphere for them was spot on despite the graphics and camera issues, especially with the pretty awesome sound design adding incredible ambience. The music was good also when it was recognizable, like the Art Tower in LoD, the Stairway to the Clouds before Dracula, Tower of Sorcery, and so on. I liked Dracula's personality also, maintaining an air of mystique as an evil force of nature, but still having a strange sort of curiosity and deceitful nature by posing as Malus and messing with the player, sort of watching and only somewhat getting engaged to satiate boredom or something until the final confrontation. The Rosa stuff was cool also, and it just, I don't know - I dug them quite a bit and wish they would get remakes with mostly the same gameplay but better graphics and camera controls, so that people can play them without the most common complaints hindering them and see if minds change on those games. And maybe get rid of the motorcycle skeletons because they were goofy, despite maybe somewhat making sense considering the interdimensional nature of the Castle and likely its access to weird future or alien like tech that it brings back to our world, possibly becoming blueprints for the future Earth variants of the tech (like a reverse version of Vampire Hunter D's worldbuilding). I'd rather they just didn't appear though. Their existence took from the atmosphere imo. I honestly didn't like how the rest of the 3D games, and even to an extent the scrollers, went the more "arcadey" routes as well as incorporating devil may cry combat mechanics and damage numbers. It removed a lot of the horror elements and got even more, what I consider, cliche, with the attempts to humanize Dracula. I liked him better as a force of nature that had to be destroyed because what he does is simply his nature, like a tornado had we the means to stop them. Unfortunately he sort of became a trope later in the franchise and even more so with the Netflix series, where after the badass flaming head scene he spent basically the rest of the series pouting in his chambers. Probably just me.

[@MattyStoked]

Not just you at all! I love the N64 games (check out my videos on them). I'll tell you this though. We disagree on those goofy skeleton motorbikers. I love those guys!

[@jonathanbetenbender307]

Also IIRC the IDs have ideal evolution paths, because they retain the moves of their previous forms. CoD and LoI were amazing and totally underrated. It's really sad seeing my favorite series die off. Biggest wth is why they didn't make a second Harmony of Despair. It was very profitable. And the glitches made it even better.

[@gerryanggrana7626]

Curse of darkness is truly underrated coz meta score is below 80. Lament is fine since the score 80 ( same league with dxc)

[@joejoyce6371]

I really loved the absolute ever loving shit out of lament of innocence. Curse of darkness was pretty dope too.

[@MattyStoked]

I continue to love both of these games. We didn't know how good we had it!

[@richizzle39]

Lol why did I have to click an agreement to type in chat? You can’t stand the heat buddy? 😂😂😂

[@brandonmuse5532]

I really liked the music and soundtrack to this video game. I have never played it.

[@MattyStoked]

The music is awesome!

[@exiledgoldfish6329]

Actually Aria of Sorrow was the first game you fight a Belmont. Julius

[@MattDraper]

Stoked and Castlevania are like peanut butter and chocolate!

[@INKf3KT]

Nice video bro

[@gerryanggrana7626]

Since curse of darkness sales is so similar with DS and gba. I think curse should be reboot into 2d metroidvania coz sales are similar

[@georgeDeming]

this is one of the best castlevania games they made, good gameplay, mechanics, artwork, and a over all well told story. i have nothing but fond memories of curse of darkness, it was the only game that had me wanting to 100% it and id didnt feel like a chore going out and finding that chair i missed or that material i need for the item to evolve a summon. it felt like nothing was really a waste of time. games now days are lacking that balance.

[@MattyStoked]

So much respect for you 100%ing this one! Getting all those steals is a LONG game

[@gamma_dc8289]

I always heard the ps2 castlevania games were only okay, but i ended up loving curse of darkness

[@thebigchimpanski4783]

I must be strange as a CastleVania fan. All the games everyone seem to hate are my favorites, while all the games everybody raves about I think a mediocre. I liked this game, and the N64 titles.

[@MattyStoked]

MATE, I am exactly the same. I live CV64, love both PS2 games. Wait until I drop my video about how much I really enjoyed Lords of Shadow 2...

[@jessehayes8052]

Legacy Of Darkness is the best 3D Castlevania

[@joeszymanski3540]

I usually don't like drastic changes to characters from The source material.... But man I'll make an exception for Isaac!

[@MattyStoked]

Isaac is absolutely exceptional in the animated series. A really incredible character.

[@joeszymanski3540]

@@MattyStoked He definitely was. One of my favorite characters in a show where I loved almost all the characters.

[@lesterhale]

Wasn't Hector really Alucard? I had this game but I can't remember. But it's actually a decent game.

[@maynardwayward12]

I remember enjoying Curse of Darkness when it came out, more than the previous game, but I don't know if it will hold up with that level design.

[@MattyStoked]

I enjoyed playing it, but I enjoyed Lament more because it felt a little more focused and was a fair bith shorter.

[@Zapht23]

Man Konami really loves to make some banger games then immediately throw them in the trash or burn all faith from the consumer.

[@josepagansala2343]

The sad part is, this game is actually really good. Probably the complete too.

[@MattyStoked]

Truth! I love both of these games. Curse of Darkness didn't deserve to be the final Consolevania.

[@tepasgame]

I really enjoyed curse of darkness back in the day .. beside farming for hours for a certain crafting item thinking "humm I need 60 of these, it must mean a good item... Nope, was like a hockey stick" 😅

[@MattyStoked]

[@drubu716]

I thought the 64 games did the most damage lol

[@dommoore6180]

Reviewed well and quickly moved on from. How would they have done any damage at all? They had a positive reputation at the time and it's only after AVGN several years later that people decided they were suddenly comically bad. Now people who never played them just parrot that they're apparently so terrible. Same deal with Simon's Quest, which was a very iconic well loved game before people mindlessly started copying AVGN. Neither title did any damage to the series whatsoever.

[@MattyStoked]

​@@dommoore6180yeah the 64 games are brilliant. I've covered them on the channel and they're top tier Castlevania games

[@slipstream7324]

i was deployed in Iraq when i played curse of darkness and enjoyed it(especially the music) to be clear.. average games while deployed become good games

[@MattyStoked]

Thank you. And I bet anything becomes enjoyable while deployed!

[@theforgottenarcade]

Bro Curse of Darkness didnt even kill 3D CV games. Lords of Shadows was just a 5 year gap. It was just caught in that generational switch.

[@MattyStoked]

Different developer, different timeline.

[@iguanaught7368]

Took me a minute to realise who I was listening to. Good video.

[@MattyStoked]

Oh hey, I recognise that username!

[@RogerKabir]

I absolutely loved this game. It was one of my favorite games years ago.

[@MattyStoked]

You know, of the people who have played it, I've never heard someone say they didn't enjoy this game.

[@blazegriz]

9:30 In Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991), you fight Soleiyu Belmont... That's the first time.

[@ryannewland5572]

this game is awesome if you take the time to go through and figure out the systems

[@verygoodfreelancer]

girl, the game that killed the franchise was judgment lol

[@dommoore6180]

Judgement was just one in a long line of essentially side games with weird concepts for the series that were never going to do big numbers even had they been given big budgets, because on concept alone they weren't what people wanted out of Castlevania. The handheld games reviewed well tbf but were niche as all hell. The ps2 games were far more generic than Castlevania had been in gameplay and theme so it's no surprise they failed to catch on in a time period flooded with Japanese generic-ish anime action games. Judgement was borderline Wii shovelware. It's all just so obviously not going to light the world on fire I can't understand how they made so many of them. Contrast with the NES-16 Bit eras, or even the 64 games which if nothing else were far more distinct than any of these games. It's night and day.

[@MattyStoked]

​@@dommoore6180you get it! Thanks 👍

[@verygoodfreelancer]

@@dommoore6180 only castlevania fans will write this much. grief can be beautiful.

[@dommoore6180]

@@verygoodfreelancer whatever. I don't have any personal investment in castlevania games after the 90s. I think all of the 00s titles were mediocre. You just happen to be wrong.

[@wackyswacky1374]

The TV show really dumbed down devil forging in a way only a sh*t television hack could. In the game, it is a form of sorcery. Hector is a type of mage that practices a particular subject or school of dark magic. In the show, the writers, being infinitely uncreative, heard the phrase "devil FORGE master" and made it so Hector and Issac "forged" devils out of dead humans, comically using a hammer and an anvil to do so, as if the writer had never heard of what an allegory was before. They don't use LITERAL forges you daft writers. This is just one example of the TV show writers fundamentally not understanding what Castlevania is. Or an example of Western writers not understanding worldbuilding (just look at how the TV writers butchered the mysticism of Game of Thrones, or the worldbuilding of Wheel of Time, or The Witcher, etc). Anyway, this is a good game, but it fails in one VERY important aspect of what makes a good Castlevania game, or even a good 3D Third Person Action game, which is you need to create an environment worth exploring. Look at the varied and interconnected 3D maps of a game like Dark Souls, and then look at the flat, battle arena stages of Curse of Darkness. Koji igarashi somehow made Dracula's frickin Castle seem boring and bland, something that was not the case in past entries. This is why people get bored with this game after a few hours.

[@wylser]

What do you expect from writers who turned Hector into a sex slave and got Alucard raped by twins

[@Miraihi]

Curse of Darkness may be the progenitor to Dark Souls. I don't have any proof, but it certainly feels like it.

[@MattyStoked]

I've heard similar things before! Dark Souls owes a lot to Castlevania, for sure.

[@sly4293]

Love em all

[@DmSayr]

LOVED IT ON XBOX, GOT TURNED OFF BY THE WAY TEXTURES LINED UP IN PS2...hi i'm a tetujin

[@PikaLink91]

Ha! Beat you to it! I subscribed of my own volition 2 sec before you said "please sub" because I actually liked the vid and not because I was told to.

[@MattyStoked]

Haha, you're the ideal viewer ❤❤

[@TheMilhouseExperience]

Lords of Shadow 2?

[@MattyStoked]

Curse of Darkness was the last real, Konami-developed Castlevania console game.

[@Robert-nl3fd]

3D killed Castlevania 😂. It just didn't make the transition to 3D very well. That's basically it😂

[@MattyStoked]

It's kind of a shame to admit, but you make a solid point. I personally really like every iteration of 3Dvania. I love the N64 and PS2 games. But you're right. They didn't cross that rubicon easily and I don't think the franchise really got the time it needed to re-establish itself before newer IPs swept in and ate up the market share. Great comment btw!

[@BrownMan-gg7dx]

@1:22 gotta warn someone before you pull that casino night banger out😂 too much🔥🔥🔥

[@MattyStoked]

Haha wait for the drop

[@BigRico.]

Great job. Loved it.

[@MattyStoked]

Glad you enjoyed it!

"The Lords of Shadow" games ruined the series. The story is not bad, as well as the graphics, but everything else... The gameplay is a mix of God of War mechanics and confused and unnecessary combo moves. The levels are linear and boring. The music is generic and easily forgettable... What more can I say?

[@ZeroOmega-vg8nq]

but...this is like the best 3d metroidvania. idc its still a banger ans derserves a remaster. NOT A DAMN REMAKE BASED OFF THE SJOW.

[@MattyStoked]

It's a certified banger for sure. It's a shame Konami didn't stick with it and see where the franchise could have gone in 3D.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

The story was shit imo, but the gameplay was amazing, it's a shame they never expend on it.

[@sirchezdreammachine5112]

If you like curse of darkness and the battle mechanics you should play nano breaker it's the game that's engine was used for curse it's plays almost exactly the same and it's by Konami

[@MattyStoked]

Oh mate, I added Nanobreaker to my list last year after I saw that a chunk of the Lament dev team worked on it. Definitely will play and cover on the channel.

[@jadedrakerider518]

I have not played a lot of it, but isn't DevilMayCry pretty Castlevania?

[@MattyStoked]

Yeah, both Lament and Curse take a lot of inspiration from DmC.

[@gv82089]

@@MattyStoked ...I think what he meant is DMC feels very Castlevania-ish

[@mjmr914]

Dude this games pretty good I enjoyed it I think lords of shadow 2 did more to ruin it that this one

[@crassbandercoot4343]

I also really enjoyed the n64 titles as well. I dont think C64 or LoD got the love they deserved. LoI and CoD are bangers though. LoI especially deserves a retooling to remove all the loading screens between corridors. Guarenteed if the levels all loaded fully, it would be an easy 8.5/10

[@Ridiculousman3]

Bro this game was awesome

[@MattyStoked]

Hell yeah it was!