It is madness that Konami still hasn’t made a new Castlevania – Reader’s Feature

A reader is baffled as to why Konami keeps rebooting increasingly obscure older games but still hasn’t brought back the classic Castlevania series.

There’s a lot of rumours about a new Nintendo Direct at the moment, which is probably going to have quite a bit about Metroid Prime 4, since it’s their big Christmas game this year. If the game is a hit then the whole series will be in a very good place since Metroid Dread was the biggest entry ever, despite being a pretty difficult 2D game.

Dread is definitely one of the best Metroidvanias I’ve ever played but of course that name has two parts to it. Even though Metroid came up with most things first, the other half of the name is Castlevania, which hasn’t had a new game in over a decade.

Why is a mystery to me because the Netflix show was very popular a few years ago and I’m sure many people never even realised it was based on game. What really makes the situation weird is that Konami has brought back series like Metal Gear, Contra, and Survival Kids recently and is planning to make a dozen new Silent Hill games, and yet still there’s no word on Castlevania.

There’s been some retro collections for Castlevania but the last new game was Lords Of Shadow 2 which was, admittedly, awful. It was also barely a Metroidvania, so it’s very easy to imagine a bunch of ways to do a new game better, whether it’s 3D or 2D.

For a long time people have been saying that Konami should get FromSoftware to make one, because Bloodborne was basically halfway there already. I get this and agree but they’re way to successful now to be working on someone else’s game, so that’s not really an option, I don’t think.

The problem for Konami, and I assume this is part of the problem, is that there are so few 3D Metroidvanias around that there’s nobody that’s really an expert that they can go to. Ironically, the ones with any real experience are MercurySteam, who made Metroid Dread and… Lords Of Shadow. So I can imagine there’s some bad blood there.

But surely someone out there can make it. Maybe the people that did indie game Revenge Of The Savage Planet, since that’s a 3D Metroidvania. Or just do the other obvious thing and make a 2D game instead. There’s a bazillion indie developers that could help out there and it’d be cheaper too, if Konami is worried it’s spent all its money on Silent Hill.

There are so many people that love Castlevania that even though there hasn’t been a new game in so long there’s a bunch of crossovers. Basically everything with vampires in it, from V Rising to Vampire Survivors. There’s so much love for the franchise, from everyone but the company that can do something about it.

So yeah, I don’t really know what else can be done. Konami know the interest is out there, they’re busy reboot lots of other franchises, but for some reason it’s never Castlevania. A part of me hopes for an annoucement at the Nintendo Direct but I’ve been thinking that sort of thing for years now and it never happens. Plus, I’ve seen no rumours or leaks that says anything is on the way.

I just don’t get it. If you’re rebooting something as obscure as Survival Kids, how does that come before Castlevania?! Oh well, if it’s not in the Direct maybe they’ll do something for the 40th anniversary next year. Although why do I get the feeling they won’t?

By reader Grackle

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