Carpathian Night Starring Bela Lugosi

某2Dゲー配信者の動画を見て、これは面白そうだと思い購入。 ステージクリア型悪魔城に、[b]古典映画『魔人ドラキュラ』の主演ベラ・ルゴシを混ぜる[/b]（※）というマニアックな要素が光るゲームです。 （※ハンガリー生まれの俳優で、皆が今日イメージするドラキュラ伯爵像を決定づけた人。尚、このゲームはルゴシの肖像権管理元公認です） ゲーム本編の出来は比較的シンプル、SFC版『悪魔城ドラキュラ』に近いです（後半で明らかに意識したステージも有）。 主人公2人から選ぶ辺りはMD『バンパイアキラー』風で、ジャンプ中は8方向に攻撃可能＋CT有のスライディングが標準装備。 全ステージにはスキル解放のためのジェムと、ゲーム内設定がちょっとだけわかる文献が４つ必ず配置されています。 スキルは悪魔城でいうサブウェポン枠で最初のスキルだけ強制で、それ以外は好きなものを順次開放していけます。 スキルはハート…ではなくMP消費制で、MPは敵にメイン攻撃を当てるかオブジェクトを壊す事で出る杖で回復が可能。 文献はスクショを撮って画像翻訳にかければ理解できるレベルです、後半には一部新約聖書からの引用もあります。 この手のゲームに慣れている人だと１面クリアで「これ簡単過ぎないか？」となりますが、5面辺りから本番になります。 （難易度選択の「Wicked」は、[b]ノーマル後半ステージをノーミスクリア出来る事前提の難易度[/b]になるので選択注意！） ステージ毎にノーミスクリア、ジェムコンプ、文献コンプの項目があるため後半はこれらとの戦いにもなります、[b]特にノーミス。[/b] ボス戦の難易度はやや低めですが、代わりに道中でのミスを誘う造りになっています（[spoiler]図書館と異界がホント意地悪[/spoiler]）。 伯爵戦は[spoiler]落雷攻撃とHP回復サービス[/spoiler]が思いっきりSFC版悪魔城リスペクトで思わず笑ってしまいました。 全画面表示のみでウィンドウモードが選べない、音量変更がステージ中でのメニュー画面からしか出来ない点はインディーズゲーとはいえ×。 まだイリーナでノーマル全スキルと文献取得・クリアしかしていませんが、昔の悪魔城や魔人ドラキュラが好きな自分は十分楽しめています。 どうでもいい小ネタ：イリーナのメイン武器が「鞭にしては短いよなぁ」と思ったら、実は[spoiler]正教会で使われる”振り香炉”[/spoiler]みたいですｗ 9/10追記：ようやくイリーナでWickedをクリア。Wickedの1面が始めた直後で「これは絶対しんどいぞ…」と 辛い攻略になるのは覚悟していましたが、ステージの穴増加、強敵の再配置だけでなく追加敵や強化版まで出てくるとは…。 当然ジェムや文献の隠し場所も変わっています、集める際にはノーミス狙いは諦めて良い位に道中がやたら難しい。 （ただ理不尽な大量配置・弾幕形成はありません、それとこのゲームは移動による敵の無限湧きが無い点も大きい） ボス戦は基本的に動作高速化や一部攻撃強化ですが、その影響で[spoiler]3面ボスの魔女[/spoiler]が信じられない強さです。 （運要素も絡んで間違いなくWicked全ボス中最強、[spoiler]ワープ時の接触ダメージと弾がとにかく痛い[/spoiler]） Wickedの伯爵に挑む前にノーミスのために再度挑みましたが、HP・MPを3段上げた状態でもギリギリでした…（汗） Wicked攻略の小ネタ：氷の床は当然滑りますが、この上でスライディングをすると高速移動代わりになります。

Honestly I only bought the game because it was on sale, looked unique AND I am huge fan of classic horror movies. So Bela Lugosi caught my eye in the title. And I will say I am pleasantly surprised, considering I went into this game completely not knowing what to expect. I’ve loved it so far. The levels are challenging enough to keep me focused and entertained (I’m not a pro gamer so I appreciate games that aren’t too crazy difficult). I also appreciate the retro feel and style of this game. A great pick for anyone who feels nostalgic and loves Bela Lugosi :)

If you're reading this, there's a 98% chance you're a 'Castlevania' fan. Me too. I'm also a dinosaur who's a Bela Lugosi and Universal monster fan, so this game definitely piqued my curiosity when it was recommended to me. My assessment is...mixed. I've seen my share of 'Castlevania' clones, but this one could practically be grounds for a lawsuit from Konami. Pretty much every character, locale, several enemies, even a certain boss's entire moveset, emulates or downright rips off something from one of the 8 or 16-bit 'Castlevanias.' I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but...it honestly feels a little lazy. When you start the game, you're given a choice between two playable characters: Some monk with a spear, and basically a female Alucard wielding the Belmont whip. Both characters control identically, but deviate when it comes to their special attacks. Lady Alucard Belmont has a somewhat better moveset, so she's ideal for beginners. You can unlock specials and upgrades by collecting green gems hidden throughout 12 spooky stages. There's also five scrolls per level to find that fill in some of the game's lore. Progression is linear. Progress is saved between stages, so you can quit and resume later. Both the beginning of your path, and the end, however, will be the same regardless of which character you end up choosing. That's a letdown, and it leads me to my main complaint about 'Carpathian Night': It's repetitive. Some of the levels are cool, and feature great chiptune music (including some remixes of VERY famous classical compositions), yet others feel oddly unpolished, almost barren. Even the music will loop to an irritating degree. Between this, and the lack of enemy types, this game almost feels unfinished. I understand it was a Kickstarter, so maybe it caused the production to be rushed? I couldn't say. And as much as I love Bela Lugosi (he IS the original Dracula afterall), he's barely in this game; his likeness nowhere near used to its potential. 'Carpathian Night' isn't a bad game. It's definitely fun in parts, and it thankfully doesn't duplicate the unforgiving difficulty of the earlier 'Castlevanias.' It just kinda feels incomplete. And given this game is nearly two years old at the time of this review, I'm not optimistic about future updates. Check it out, but wait for a sale.

I don't understand the positive reviews, the game is really bad, 4/10 at best. The gameplay is very dated and dull, the level design is incredibly boring and playing through the whole thing was just a chore. The game tried to recreate the quality of old school platformers, but as if it only took all the bad elements from the old school game design and skipped all the fun. In fact, you would have ten times more fun playing Rhondo of Blood instead of this thing that is on quality level of some freeware one man project. There is an attempt to add replay value by adding a second character with slightly different skills and adding achievements like having to finish the game 100%, no dying, etc.; but it's no point because the level design and the gameplay itself just sucks. The art direction and pixel art is pretty nice, but that's it. The music was onto something but the composer gave up mid-process, or didn't get paid or something and it's as if you listened to demo tracks of the ideas for the good tunes that could've been. It is definitely not worth the price, maybe just get it for 3 dollars or something but i doubt it will ever be that cheap, because they have to pay licences to the immoral lugocsi foundation that profits off a dead man's name for sublicencing to crap like this without any additional value. Oh yeah, and there is actually no bella lugocsi during the game, just his name and 2 static jpes during the boss/ending cutcene. I very much pity the 5 and half hours i put into completing this chore.

This was surprisingly good.

Breddy good. The controls seem like they do whatever they want sometimes, but it may just be me. This is as close as you can get to a compact Castlevania style game, that goes straight for the parts many of us have enjoyed and recognize over the decades [spoiler]without the developers getting sued lol[/spoiler] Not super refined, but it checks all the boxes for fans of Castlevania or the horror genre in general.

In a world of metroidvanias, soulslikes, and roguelikes, I appreciate the occasional action platformer that comes my way. I bought this game during the latest steam sale and it was definitely worth the price of admission! So far my only completed playthrough was on normal mode as Irina, the Simon Belmont expy. Her main form of offense is wielding a multidirectional whip. The range was fairly short, but she also has a whip spin that covers more ground and can learn to shoot fire. Probably my favorite ability of hers is a midair jump, which would have been more useful for me if I didn't accidentally use the diagonal fire attack at times instead lol. Each stage has 4 gems to collect and 4 bits of interesting lore and notable quotes. It was fun finding some of these collectibles hiding around each stage. There's also a mark for completing the stage without dying. I highly recommend this game if you like classicvania games. It's got great spritework, gameplay was satisfying, and the final boss is a real treat to classic horror fans!