Highlights
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night continues to influence side-scrolling Metroidvania games even years after its release.
- Master of Darkness and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth are notable Castlevania clones that offer their own unique takes on the genre.
- Games like Shovel Knight, Blasphemous, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and especially Hollow Knight have become beloved additions to the Metroidvania genre, capturing the essence of classic Castlevania gameplay while bringing new innovations to the table.
Of all the franchises that have had a major impact on the world of video gaming, very few of them have managed to create a whole genre around the ideas encompassed in the original games. However, Castlevania isn’t just any game franchise, and the simple 2D style of most of the games in from series has become much more accessible today, prompting many indie developers to create their own takes on the game.
Updated November 14, 2023: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night remains a very big influence when it comes to side-scrolling Metroidvania games. While the game was released back in 1997, it's remarkable to see the influence it continues to have on the future releases we see today.
The Castlevania franchise goes back to 1986, when the first game was released, making it one of the oldest and longest-running franchises in history. Originally simple 2D side-scrolling action platformers, the franchise moved forward via Symphony of the Night, which added many of the exploration and RPG elements that helped lay the groundwork for the genre of gaming known today as Metroidvania.
6 Master of Darkness
A classic game released in 1992 which was very similar in style to the original Castlevania games, Master of Darkness is much more unique for having copied the earliest entries, whereas most Castlevania clones followed the suit of games such as Symphony of the Night and onward.
Master of Darkness involves a psychologist named Dr. Ferdinand Social pursuing Count Dracula, who has been committing murders around London and getting them blamed on Jack the Ripper. The convoluted plot was an intriguingly deep one for 1992 video games, and the gameplay was a simplistic 2D action platformer of the side-scrolling style that many Castlevania entries provide. Unfortunately, Master of Darkness didn’t achieve enough success to become its own franchise, but it could still get a remake.
5 Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth
A much more recent Castlevania clone, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth was released in 2021, which took after Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in a lot of ways. Playing as Deedlit, the High Elf, players have to traverse the strange labyrinth she finds herself in, filled with foes and friends that she met in previous entries in the Record of Lodoss War franchise.
This series took a shift with this game, and it was well-received. The original Record of Lodoss War book series was shown off in character and story terms, while the gameplay was a well-built “Metroidvania” including common aspects of the genre, like searching for items, revisiting areas to find previously inaccessible locations available due to power-ups, and plenty of bosses and mini-bosses throughout to give players a challenge.
4 Shovel Knight
Shovel Knight is an impressive game that basically became a franchise, adding new campaigns until there were four separate and fully realized adventures, all after beginning on Kickstarter. With a great story in each campaign, featuring plenty of imaginative characters, a certain flair of darkness to the world, and the style of classic platformers and side-scrolling games inspiring it all, Shovel Knight is the complete package.
10 Games To Play If You Miss CastleVania: Symphony Of The Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a hugely well-remembered and well-loved game that many more modern games have copied in a variety of ways.
Gameplay features many bosses, 8-bit graphics, and many classic Metroidvania tropes such as gathering treasure in order to buy more items and a surprising level of difficulty, which can be increased in New Game Plus if players are seeking even greater challenges. The combat style is updated to be more modern, but most other aspects feel very much like classic Castlevania and Metroid adventures that fans of those games and that style are sure to love.
3 Blasphemous
If players are looking for something heavily inspired by Castlevania while taking a great new approach in some ways, Blasphemous is perfect. Building a dark, lore-heavy world based on Spanish Roman Catholic culture, the land of Cvstodia is a great setting for a game that feels very much classic with a modern twist.
Blasphemous is based around the Penitent One, a knight with a powerful sword who must traverse the land and learn spells that help him and his sword defeat the many enemies in his path. The story of Blasphemous and the style of the world fit perfectly with Symphony of the Night, while the gameplay is classic Metroidvania in many ways. Blasphemous was brilliantly executed, to the degree that it has managed to garner a sequel which was recently released.
2 Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night
It is hard for a game to sound any more like it is based on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night than Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night does. This amazing game was released in 2019 to rave reviews, and it has been heralded as one of the best examples of the Metroidvania style to be released in the last decade. It was also developed by Koji Igarashi and is considered by many to be a spiritual successor to the Castlevania franchise.
Bloodstained is set in 18th century England and follows Miriam, a shardbinder, people infused with demonically charged crystals to become more powerful. Miriam must fight demons summoned by another shardbinder, Gebel, across a series of maps. Bloodstained plays almost precisely like the Castlevania games that followed Symphony of the Night, and more games in the Bloodstained franchise are already being planned to further the great list of amazing side-scrolling RPGs.
1 Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is one of the few original games that fans consider to possibly be as good as the best Castlevania games. In the Metroidvania genre, there is almost nothing, and definitely nothing released in the 21st century, quite like Hollow Knight. Released in 2017, Hollow Knight is a true instant classic that has captured the hearts of every Castlevania fan to ever play it and is one of the best indie games ever to exist.
Hollow Knight is set in the dark world of Hallownest, where a nameless warrior traverses the land and investigates the infection spreading across it. Known for its difficulty, amazing story, world-building, and unbelievable soundtrack, Hollow Knight isn’t just a Castlevania clone; it is the next evolution in the style of gaming beloved by fans of Castlevania.
