Castlevania NKN

Preamble
I didn't expect to have as much fun with a Castlevania fangame as I've had with this one.
I've played similar works like The Bloodletting, but this is in a league of it's own. In only 5 minutes of gameplay, it becomes apparent that Castlevania NKN is the sum of years of hard, loving labor and not just "a fangame I made" tacked together.

Visual: 5/5
The spriting, all original might I add, is absolutely top-notch. Looking at screenshots will give you an idea, but they don't convey the meticulous detail involved in the animations. For instance, our hero's sprite is smooth as butter, easily meeting the modern 2D Belmont (and affiliates) standards. All of the enemies have unique deaths, be they bodily explosions or disintegration, and even subtleties like the flying medusa head tilts are included.

Level design is forever keeping the experience fresh. We open with Castlevania's traditional entrance hallway, how could we not, and then move throughout the vampire's domain, from garden to dungeon to clock tower to rooftops and beyond. The action is fast, the colors are vibrant, the stages are diverse, hell... all of Castlevania NKN's world is enrapturing.

If you're curious about the screenshot below, yes, that rampart just collapsed and dropped me on the skeleton. And yes, those birds are flying away after the ruckus. Such simple things are articulated so well.



Audio: 5/5
Peculiarly, the creator, Frequency, opted to use midis for his BGM needs. This sets them up for mutilation by the umpteen different soundcards out there, but okay. Mine didn't turn out too bad. That said, apart from FF6's Slam Shuffle fittingly used as the shopping theme, everything is Castlevania goodness.

As for the sound effects, I have a hard time believing they're "original" as claimed in the game description. The reason I can't believe it is because they're just so good. Perfect, even. It makes me wonder if Frequency's day job is Professional Sound Editor or something.

Storyline: 5/5
Our hero, Marsello, is a Vampire Hunter and Pizza Delivery Man.
That ought to set up your expectations for NKN's brand of storytelling.
It makes sense though. If Vampires only appear every 100 years, that's 99 years of unemployment. To combat this fact, Marsello's clan also runs a pizzeria. Smart thinking.
This kind of kookiness is what drives the story. The flippant dialogue exchanged by the large, colorful cast of inane characters makes it feel like a video game version of "Everything Wrong With Castlevania". And in spite of that, the storyline is more in-depth than most actual Castlevanias. Like, after Marsello enlists the help of Schubert the Shopkeep and Aaron the Werewolf-rat, it's revealed that he can't just beeline to the vampire and "whip it until it gives up then whip it some more" (as is the usual strategy). He has to get the Gorgon's Eye and the Quill of Destiny, then make a contract with Death and then, blah blah blah. Marsello isn't interested in the details.

And if the player isn't interested either and just wants to whip stuff, there's always the handy Skip Cutscene button.

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Where on earth does the idea to make Z,X,C, and S into directional buttons come from? Well, it takes 2 minutes to map them to a gamepad, so I can't grudge over that.

The gameplay is almost as fluid as any a Castlevania I've played, and the only reason I say almost is keyboard-to-controller lag and key jamming. Otherwise, it operates like any non-NES Castlevania. You know, item crashes, able to change direction mid-jump, not having to fumble with precision staircases, that sort of stuff.

I definitely have to offer commendations for doing something so many platformers don't : Easing obstacles into the player's experience. For example, clock tower gears appear above solid ground first so you can sample their effect on you without worrying about falling to your doom. Then you have to use them to cross a spike pit.
The same is true for enemies. Rock Golems can't be jumped over and require a dozen hits to kill, but the first one appears harmlessly in a too-narrow-for-him tunnel so you can assess what his deal is before fighting others in more dangerous situations.

The game is still relentlessly difficult though. In the wise words of Marsello the Pizza Delivery Guy...



Honestly, the player has a boatload of tools at his disposal. The whip is fast with good range, the life bar goes a long way, subweapon hearts are in abundance, and magic is powerful. Only two things are complete and total bullshit.
1) Petrification. If you get turned to stone in mid-air, you die instantly from the fall. This makes Red Medusa Heads unnecessarily lethal.
2) Too much HP. The enemies, I mean. Bone throwing skeletons shouldn't need 4 hits to kill, and bosses with 100+ HP is absurd. And this is on Normal, not Hard.

If it weren't for those two frustrating conditions, Castlevania NKN would still be a challenge, but a fair challenge.

Overall: 5/5
I'm up to the last boss and still don't know what NKN stands for. Being a bilingual game, maybe it originates from a Spanish phrase? Doesn't matter. The bottom line is, this game is outstanding. I recommend it to everyone, though I definitely suggest playing on Easy first.