It’s been quite some time since there has been a new Castlevania release, retro collections and mobile games notwithstanding. This doesn’t change the fact that it remains one of the most-celebrated franchises in gaming history. There are numerous games are aren’t subtle when it comes toshowing the influencethe Belmont clan on their design, but a lot of these games end up being good. All it takes is one look at the promotional artwork for Grim Guardians: Demon Purge to know that the developers spent some time hunting Dracula.
Sakurazaki Academy has undergone some interesting renovations. Thanks to the mischief of a demon named Kurona, this once-respected institution has been transformed into a massive gothic castle. Most people can agree that castles are cool works of architecture, but the problem is whenever a demon creates one, it tends to have a lot of undesirable elements, namely more demons and other such malevolent beings. Plus all the students are trapped in inconvenient places. But by some wonderful stroke of luck, the worlds that tend to suffer from demon infestations tend to also have demon hunters. Enter the Kamizono sisters, Maya and Shinobu.
The two sisters can be swapped at will on single player. Maya’s melee attacks do more damage than Shinobu’s machine, but Maya also has the shorter health bar. Both girls have their own subweapon skills that provide different attacks and traversal benefits. Maya starts with the ability to summon a rotating barrier and Shinobu has a throwing knife. More weapons are unlocked as they progress through the castle that include explosives, grappling hook and paper cranes.
Seeing the Castlevania influence one might be inclined to think this is a metroidvania. It’s more akin the earlier NES games. As weird and contradictory as it sounds, the oxymoronic phrase linear metroidvania is an accurate description. The first half of the game goes through seven chapters in order. The player can return to earlier stages after acquiring new traversal items to look for secrets and trapped students, but there isn’t a need to do. Grim Guardians borrows a page from Ghosts ‘n Goblins. When the player thinks they’ve reached the end of the game, they’re sent back to the beginning, where the second half of the game has the player revisiting the stages in whatever order they see fit. The second time is when the player should take advantage of the new skills to see what other secrets are hiding.
The story in the first half of the game is straightforward: travel through the castle, kill demons and rescue students. The second is where things take a turn in the direction of anime horndog strangeness. There are mild spoilers ahead, so skip to the next paragraph if avoiding such things is desirable. The one identified male character happens to be turned into a stone pillar. He has the power to assist the demon hunters in ridding the castle of the demon, but needs certain items that would help rev him up. These items include things like naughty magazines and tights, which does lead to jokes about him being a perv. There’s a joke to be made about whether he really needs anything to rev him up since he’s already been turned to a stone pillar, but that may go against this website’s standards of decency.
Even though Sakurizakivania has its own original enemies, it doesn’t attempt to hide its influence. Several enemies such as bone-throwing skeletons and medusa heads breaking from sculpted busts seem as though they were lifted from from the Konami classics. There’s even a boss that bears a similarity to Legion/Granfaloon. But this really isn’t a bad thing given how long its been since there has been a proper Castlevania game. While Grim Guardians never reaches the level of greatness of the games that influenced it, it still is an admirable tribute. None of the platforming is ever too tricky even if there are obstacles like forceful winds or sludge fountains to complicate things. Most garden variety monsters can be dealt with rather easily, but sometimes it’s just easier to use Shinobu’s grenades or rocket launcher. The boss fights are where the greatest challenge arises. The bosses do follow certain attack patterns that encourage the player to use specific strategies, but more often than not these fights ending up leading to cheap player deaths and were eventually beaten by ignoring the suggested strategy in favor of an all out assault with Maya’s melee attacks and subweapons.
Much like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, there are two difficulty levels available at the beginning of the game which can be switched whenever the player wants. Veteran provides an old-school challenge with knockback and limited lives while Casual provides no knockback and unlimited lives, making it significantly easier. There’s a way to preserve lives even if death occurs. The surviving sister will respawn at the last checkpoint and if she can make it to the fallen sister can perform CPR and revive her with half her health. This is useful in boss fights since the boss’s don’t regenerate to full health if they defeat player, making it easier to obtain victory. Unfortunately the game punishes the player who has to make repeated attempts on the boss by making them watch the boss’s intro speech (which is skippable) and animation (which is not).
Closing Comments:
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is an enjoyable romp through a demon-infested castle. It’s not without its shortcomings as the gameplay is simply good but not exceptional and the story seems like a generic anime demon-hunting affair. Its shorter playtime works in its favor, though, as it never gets a chance to overstay its welcome. It can be completed in roughly six hours or so, but completionists will be able to get more time out of it by exploring every nook and cranny and unlocking all three endings. Shortcomings aside, this is still a well constructed tribute to Castlevania and scratches the itch for fans wanting a new entry in that series.
