It’s a “small” game that can be completed under thirty minutes.
I know what you’re thinking and most of you are probably rolling your eyes thinking, a whole article for such a very short game!
Have I lost my marbles?
Probably!? But do hear me out.
I got this game a few months ago from itch.io and it was made by a game developer named “michirin”.
You can download it for free or you can shell out a few bucks on donations as I did, prankly they deserved it because they’re making these quality retro themed games that you can play on a PC, an emulator or even a real hardware with the use of flashcarts.
Akumanor Gaiden DX is a retro Castlevania clone quite similar to the ones you find mostly on the NES and GameBoy.
You play as Sonia Bel……..sorry wrong game, what I mean is you play as Sakura a yokai hunter as she makes her way to the “Devil’s Manor ” or should I say the Akumanor. Armed with a whip and shurikens(and why not she’s probably half ninja too) she sets out to rid her village of the darkness caused by the demon Orochi.
It’s a fun action platformer with cute chibi-esque graphical aesthetic. But unlike Castlevania Legends on the GameBoy where the controls are a bit stiff this one is surprisingly smooth.
Aside from the tight controls the pixels are detailed and color palettes are quite eye pleasing.
Like I said earlier it’s a short game it has 3 levels that’s divided into two segments and a boss fight at the end of each level. This game has three difficulty settings and you can really the feel difference of each setting.
Another thing I liked about this game is it has a ranking system that rates how well you play depending on how many times you died and what difficulty setting are you on. Those features can be unlocked upon finishing the game along with some BGM player, trust me the music in this game is quite a banger.
For me the ultimate reward is unlocking the Boss Rush Mode and it’s ranking. The said mode can be unlocked upon beating the the game on hard mode which is definitely not a cakewalk.
If you’re planning on introducing the classic non-metroidvania Castlevania to someone but having second thoughts because of its difficulty, this is great starting point to let them have the feel of the game series. Though this may be just a clone game it really captures that vibe of playing the main series, it’s that just good of a game from my standpoint.
If you’re looking for a game to play on a short burst why not give this one a go. The pick up and play nature of this game is perfect especially if you want to kill some time be it you’re on a bus, train or being bored when you’re on a quite a long on that grocery store this one hits that spot.
With that said thank you very much once again for spending some time with my cringe yapping.
This is Stingy Perry signing off.
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