The Haunted Hoard: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow released in 2003 with a story set in the far off future of 2035, and in a series known for adhering to medieval horror elements, it’s hard not to imagine what futuristic twists a leap forward in time could bring. Funnily enough though, this exploration-focused action platformer features barely anything hinting at its future setting in a way that almost makes it more futuristic. It is fairly unlikely there will be huge technological leaps that would impact how you fight monsters inside Dracula’s Castle after it had been trapped inside a solar eclipse for years, so beyond the presence of handguns, some military zombies, and the fashion sense of some characters, you could have just as easily set this game in the past.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow’s timeframe is still important though because of the story it is trying to tell. 1999 saw Dracula truly defeated and his castle locked away into the eclipse, but when it reappears the next time a solar eclipse comes around, it brings with it the threat that someone may take Dracula’s powers for their own and unleash the dark power of the evil vampire once again. Only a select few are able to enter Dracula’s Castle though, pulled in for the parts they need to play be they a protector aiming to stop this reincarnation or someone eager to take the power for themselves. You see yourself playing as a character at a rather interesting middle ground initially, Soma Cruz a young man studying abroad in Japan when the eclipse pulls him in. Soma exhibits the kind of talent that would allow him to tap into the same dark powers as Dracula, but his heart lies with people like his long time friend Mina Hakuba who serves at a shrine who hoped to keep the castle contained. Through his ability to capture and wield the souls of monsters he slays, Soma feels motivated to stop Dracula’s power from returning despite seemingly being a suitable vessel for it himself. Every now and then along the adventure you might stumble across someone else invested in the fate of Dracula’s power that fleshes out the story just enough to make it a touch interesting, and with a few different endings, Soma’s unique place in the story can pay off in intriguing ways.

The soul stealing mechanic is quite the useful element for spicing up your exploration of Dracula’s Castle as well. Soma is able to find plenty of useful equipment around the castle, weapons coming in different shapes and strengths like slow stabbing spears, large swords to swing, swift-slashing knives, and even hefty hammers, these all giving you some range to customize how you face off with the various supernatural beasts you face, but the souls of those beasts can randomly be granted to you after their death to expand your abilities even further. Players can set souls in three slots, each one having their own specialty. Red Bullet Souls tend to be an aggressive kind tied to magic meter such as an attack crow you send forward, a blast of lightning, or even one of the grenades from those zombie soldiers. Blue Guardian Souls tend to provide special summons or perks like Persephone’s skeletal vacuum cleaner that lets you leech small bits of life from enemies or Final Guard’s floating shield that will protect you from the front. Yellow Enchanted Souls provide their benefits passively though, things like boosts to your strength or magic power common as well as more interesting effects like revealing secret passages or bolstering your magic recovery rate.

There are a little over 100 souls to be found in the game and their acquisition happens with just enough infrequency that having one be absorbed feels special, it always intriguing to see if you’ll want to take the new power for a test spin. It actually heavily influences your personal playthrough because of their varying impact and some unexpected luck can give you new tools in your repertoire to break you away from what’s worked before, although one ending is tied to having specific spirits that require just killing the same enemies repeatedly to try and trigger the random drops and there’s little way to increase your odds. On the bright side, many enemies with useful souls are placed in rooms you can quickly enter and exit to defeat the monster quickly and repeatedly. Normally the enjoyable experimentation of trying out new souls is helped by the fact few rarely feel all that necessary so you don’t waste time trying to force one to drop, it more a matter of preference save for the fact there are also required souls that thankfully are provided freely but you’ll need to use at parts to reach new locations like a soul that lets you go underwater or drift through the air after a jump.

The required souls are a great way for opening up Dracula’s Castle to deeper exploration though, Soma gradually getting new powers that let him reach places that were previously out of reach or more quickly traverse the breadth of the castle when the teleportation rooms come up a bit short due to their particular placement. Perhaps an Ability Soul category wouldn’t have taken away from figuring out your favorite set of powers to bring to fights, but there is a nice sense of discovery when you are granted a power that lets you poke around old areas for secrets or plunge into new ones. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow’s castle has a range of environments beyond the expected gothic interiors, a clock tower particularly pesky with its flying foes, the underwater channels coming with a sense of mystery as you explore in a new manner, and the arena presenting new trials beyond just the expected rise in dangerous enemies. The foes you face across the castle are similarly varied, the player able to expect horrors and mythical beasts like ghosts, imps, and harpies as well as more unique choices like a skeleton chariot, wooden dolls that shoot lightning, and the battle maid Persephone. Some will crumple to a single good strike while others block the path quite well, foes like the pitchfork wielding Lubicant requiring you to stop and watch its movements to make sure you dodge properly before getting your hit in. However, while you can sometimes wander into an area a bit stronger than what you’re meant to be facing, that’s usually a sign to turn back and when you do return your weapons and powers will probably make the area a bit easy to tackle.

Bosses can be a bit impressive both visually and conceptually though, some like the giant Balore not even fitting in his battle arena and denying you moving room while tackling the disturbing corpse amalgam Legion requires you to keep moving constantly while doing your best to wear down its incredible health. There are not as many bosses as you might expect, but that can partially be blamed on the castle’s size. While the castle is large enough that you need to explore it attentively rather than just consult your map when you have a new ability that should let you reach new places, a late game surreal maze reveals a good chunk of available map size never gets filled in, the adventure a bit shorter than its initially incomplete map implies. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow does make good use of its time to vary up the areas you explore and the foes found therein, but it does feel like there was room to keep expanding the adventure with more hostile areas to explore and more souls to play with. Admittedly though, there is likely to be a point a good bit before the endgame where you settle into a few good souls and a weapon of choice so new acquisitions are just gravy, but a game with more space would hopefully place the best skills deeper to compensate.

THE VERDICT: While Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow leaves you wishing it had a bigger castle, it’s because the castle it has is filled with interesting elements to experiment with. A steady stream of new weapons that ask you to figure out if you prefer strength or ease of use couples well with the exciting disruption of suddenly acquiring a new monster soul you’ll want to take for a spin. While Soma’s powers grow and let him reach new parts of the castle, it feels like your weapon and soul gains help you better build him into a capable fighter before the lategame nudges you into a fairly capable build. A good range of monster types and area variety also help Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow whizz by as you want to keep plumbing the castle’s depths for new discoveries but still enjoy the rush for as long as it lasts.

And so, I give Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Game Boy Advance…

A GREAT rating. While Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has the better castle map in terms of mixing in clean progression and creative twists, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow comes close to its fantastic predecessor by focusing in on its hero’s abilities most of all. It’s actually why you’ll be wishing for a greater canvas for your personal preferences, it great to test out your new powers and personalize your battle methods. The randomness of the soul system is a bit of a double-edged sword; it would be far too easy to optimize a run through the game if you know the best ones to grab, but their rarity is what makes acquiring one a delightful burst of interest during moments that were otherwise focused on navigating dangerous areas or taking down monsters. At the same time, some souls are pitiful or don’t even get to see much use because you have to keep swapping in your abilities. Making them too common would make them less special and probably lead to a lot of clutter as many are easily outclassed, some even before you would potentially acquire them. Too rare though and there’s none of the enjoyable tinkering as you try to figure out how you like to best fight as Soma. This is another reason that a bigger game would potentially explore the system better, more time could be invested to make a range of unique powers for the soul-stealing mechanic to utilize across a longer adventure that would conceivably dole them out at an effective pace even if left up to chance. At least when you do play Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow though you will still get a good range of boss battles and situations that ask you to think more about how you fight and what you’re fighting with, the adventure definitely entertaining as it invites curiosity and for a while rewards your ability to mix and match your options well.

Stealing monster souls is a far more robust mechanic than whatever lasers, flying cars, or robots a more fantastical view of the future year of 2035 might have brought, so ultimately not regarding the time setting as much more than a convenient year to set it for its eclipse-related plot seems wise when it has so many other good ideas to pursue. Letting the player customize their battle approach gives the action the extra depth needed to make fighting your way through Dracula’s Castle more than just smacking aside whatever monsters block your path.