They're broken like most old games, but still cool. I only like the Metroidvania ones because they're actually doable without cheating or merging your mind with the game through hours of repetitious trial-and-error memorization.
If you haven't yet, try Bloodstained. They play like Castlevania but without the bullshit (mostly).
I'm pro-save scumming on the old school games, the difficulty gets pretty absurd to the point of being busted and imo it's not even worth suffering through that.
Its not terrible. Granted I don't have the best idea of what makes a "good" metroidvania or just Castlevania game, but it wasn't the worst thing I've played, and was for the most part enjoyable.
It looks pretty ok from the footage I've seen.
The post-SOTN games are a sad thing, I've never understood why they never done another Metroidvania style with the production value of SOTN. All the Handheld games look so budget bootleg compared to the PS1 classic, that even they play that way. From Gravity Boots to Wing-Smash, the exploration in the post-SOTN ones is just not as fun without all that mobility and many weird stuff to try with familiars and things like that.
While Harmony of Dissonance attempted something interesting with the Surreal exploration between Castle A and B, the rest just of the games follow the simplest Metroid power-up unlock exploration thing. It's can be such a disappointment for some.
The series never developed a full fledged vision for what the franchise should be in terms of gameplay, when SOTN came in they just did whatever.
I think you sell the post-SOTN games short and I think you don't understand the fact that there was no way Konami would have allowed 2D games to continue to be made for consoles, if the GBA and DS hadn't come along SOTN would have been the only game like that and I'm glad we got what we got over nothing at all.
But certainly SOTN stands out as being the only one made for a console, for me though I played it after I played all the other Iga ones, so I wasn't mentally comparing the others to it, SOTN was simply a hell of a note to end on with those games.
For the 3D games, Lament of Innocence is the only one that I genuinely enjoyed, great music and at least a semblance of intention to apply Level-Design that goes beyond Aesthetic choices, Unlike Curse of Darkness. Some hipster snob might say something about Legacy of Darkness as being the superior 3D CV, but c'mon the N64 games were so experimental that it's miracle that they were full releases.
Curse of Darkness is a game that I hate so much, when there's no effort put to Level-Design that's when you know a Castlevania game is going to be bad. It's almost like a Korean Autist Grind simulator in the PS2. But the music is so much fun, currently most of the CoD OST i have in a playlist to workout.
I really wish Curse of Darkness was better, it's the only Iga produced game I haven't played (save for the Wii fighting game if that counts) and I feel like for completionism sake I've got to play it eventually, but man was I bored when I tried it.
The N64 games are among the rare ones I haven't played at all but I honestly not sure I care to, I have never been impressed with what I've seen.
That all being said, I'd kill for a new Castlevania game that's not a phone game, filled with Microtransactions, a shitty Marvel-esque animated adaption, or some sort of Pachinko scam, but as we all know here, being a fan of Castlevania is suffering.
Being a Castlevania fan is not as much as suffering as being a Silent Hill Fan or Metal Gear fan.
Silent Hill still had so much obvious potential before it was ruined and Metal Gear got an ending that was either meh or left you hanging, Castlevania was a long running series that did many different things and had a story that had a pretty good conclusion, it also got off lucky when it comes to the western developed entries not being as big of an embarrassment as it was for Silent Hill.
I think my issue with LoS is that the quality of the story/writing (or gameplay, for that matter) didn't match the production values. The story was overall really goofy but took itself really seriously in a way that doesn't quite work for me, kind of the same effect Resident Evil 6 had on me. Some of the puzzles and platforming didn't feel adequately play tested and were just frustrating to deal with and it just felt like a random GOW clone dolled up as Castlevania.
Everyone calls it a GOW clone but the trouble is it didn't clone GOW enough, whereas GOW's combat had a satisfying "oomph" and weight to it, LoS's felt weightless and just not much fun.
And the story was not only goofy but meandering, it just wasn't paced well at all, it also had arguably an even dumber origin story for Dracula than Lament of Innocence (dude, what if a Belmont WAS Dracula!?), Dracula is a character that works best with a mysterious backstory where we don't know where the hell he came from, he's like a force of nature.
The game desperately needed a script rewrite and some gameplay polish, but it's just as well LoS as a series fizzled out, it never sat right with me taking Castlevania away from Iga.
He may not have created the series but he really became the mastermind for it much like Kojima and Metal Gear.
