In 1986, humble Japanese developer Konami released 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Castlevania, a Hammer horror-esque action platformer that would define the genre and stand as a pinnacle of early 8-bit gaming. Though Nintendo allowed for no shortage of quality first-party NES releases, it’s safe to say that games like Castlevania helped the console to achieve such broad appeal. Seminal and undoubtedly iconic, the classic Castlevania formula would be expanded upon throughout the late 80s and early 90s, eventually culminating in the fantastic PlayStation title Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and helping ☂to foster the burgeoning Metroidvania genre.
Unfortunately, the franchise would lose traction after the turn of the century, and, in 2020, the monster-bashing, vampire-slashing series is essentially MIA. Konami seems to have more or less moved on from the gaming industry, and a return to form for the Castlevania series — or a retuಌrn at all — seems increasingly 🎐unlikely.
Enter, a Kickstarter effort by one-man indie development studio SquidBit works, helmed by first-time game dev CZAzuaga—or Carlos Zamora Azuaga, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing. Promising to be a remarkably faithful adaptation of the classic NES Castlevania formula, Lords of Exile looks to have jumped right out of a CRT TV. Just one 👍look at the recently-posted Kickstarter trailer, and we know we’re interested!
Described as a “side-scrolling action platformer with classic retro mechanics and linear level design” on the , Lords of Exile seems remarkably similar to its source material. From the detailed pixel art and outrageous gothic architecture to the gloriously over-the-top bosses and slow, stiff character movement, we’d believe this to be an actual Castlevania game had we not known any better.
Of particular note is the developer’s insurance on linear gameplay, as that’s not something we’ve seen from Konami’s series since the early 90s, and, while many gamers likely prefer the open-ended, exploration-minded design featured in most games post Symphony, we love this old-school throwback to the original Castlevania trilogy… well, the first♏ and third games, in all honesty.
Azuaga also seems to have a tremendous amount of respect for the Kickstarter community, which is always nice to see from an aspiring creator. “There is one thing I have always had in mind as a developer and that is why until today I have not released a video game, and that is that people’s money is sacred,” he explained on his Kickstarter page. “I sincerely believe that this is the First (sic) time I’ve got something that meets the quality requirements of a commercial game.” A software developer and part-time game developꦛer for twelve years, the developer certainly seems to have both the know-how and proper expectations. Plus, he’s asking for a total of $13,000 — a goal which has only partially been met at time of writing — and, for such a moderate sum, this certainly seems like a project worth investing in.
Though an indie title deliberately evoking an era of retro gaming is nothing new—not to mention the fact that we’ve seen it blow up in the faces of plenty of developers—we can’t wait to see what’s in store for Lords of Exile. With the relative success of Konami’s recent repackaging of their NES, SNES, and GameBoy Castlevania titles, we hope there’s enough renewed interest in the series to launch the career of this promising part-time d🌃ev𒐪eloper.