As we wait for the spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, to arrive, it appears that Konami, surprisingly, may be offering up the next best thing: two actual Castlevania games.
To be specific, indicators point to Konami releasing Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night in a package called Castlevania Requiem for the PS4. The Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea already had a look at the collection last week, and the ESRB did much of the same just recently, going so far as to even include a description of the collection which reads as follows:
“This is collection of two action platformers in which players assume the role of a vampire hunter battling Dracula and other creatures. From a side-scrolling perspective, players traverse Dracula’s castle to kill fantastical enemies (e.g., zombies, demons, minotaurs). Characters use whips, swords, axes, and magic to defeat enemies. Pixelated blood is depicted when players’ character and creatures are killed; some attacks result in decapitation and dismemberment of creatures, including a boss character that loses its body parts and entrails. As players progress, they may encounter female creatures (e.g., harpies, medusa) that have exposed buttocks and are depicted topless, though there are no discernible details (i.e., no nipples).”
To recap, Rondo of Blood debuted back in 1993 on the PC Engine CD, featuring Richter Belmont (along with Maria Renard) as a playable character; while Symphony of the Night debuted in 1997 on the PlayStation and featured Dracula’s son Alucard as the main character.
For what it’s worth, the coming of Castlevania Requiem is still technically a rumor until Konami makes an official announcement, but it’s pretty much a guarantee at this point.
On top of the aforementioned ratings by both Korea and North America (with a formal description, no less), this collection coincides with Richter, Simon and Alucard all making an appearance in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. It seemed odd at the time that Konami was allowing Nintendo to make use of so many of its IPs (Bomberman is there too), but it makes sense if some of them were included for promotional purposes. Granted, Symphony of the Night isn’t the sort of game that would need extra promotions to begin with.
At any rate, assuming Castlevania Requiem is indeed real, it coming to the PlayStation 4 (there is no mention of other platforms in the listing) would be greatly appreciated. Rondo of Blood is already a great game, but when packaged with SotN — a game that many view as the greatest Castlevania of all-time — this collection’s value shoots through the roof.
And who knows? Maybe if this does well Konami will consider producing more (Circle of the Moon, please). Really, anything is better than another mobile game.
