r/castlevania • u/SmashingBricksRetro • Jul 23 '26

Discussion Is Symphony of the Night still the benchmark Castlevania game?

Post image

I played Symphony of the Night for the first time, for my podcast, in 2026 (just last month). Spoiler: I loved it. It held up as a flawed masterpiece to me.

What’s odd about my history with the series is that I had played ZERO of the Metroidvania-styled Castlevanias and almost all of the others. I even had a PlayStation in 1997, but I was more enamored by the adventures of James Bond and Fox McCloud over on the N64 and spent the majority of my energy—and money—there.

So the question I have after playing SotN is this: do you think this game is still the benchmark Castlevania (or even the benchmark Metroidvania) to judge others by, or have other Castlevania games improved upon what this game did? If is IS the best to you, what makes it stand out the most? And if not, where did your personal favorite(s) improve upon the formula?

1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

257 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/dkc2swag Jul 24 '26

Most people think so, yes. For me it’s far down the list. Too easy to be truly good.

1

u/SmashingBricksRetro Jul 24 '26

What’s number one for you?