Castlevania: Curse of Darkness: Opening, Intro & Part 1: Into the Abandoned Castle

Описание: Despite the PS2 only being home to two Castlevania titles, their placement in the overall Castlevania storyline have been very interesting developments.

The first PS2 Castlevania, Lament of Innocence, was the prequel to the entire franchise, detailing the origins of the Belmont Clan, the creation of their Vampire Killer whip, and the story behind the birth of Dracula.

Curse of Darkness, on the other hand, takes not one, but two steps forward from the previous game, taking place three years after the end of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, where Trevor Belmont rose as the first Belmont to face and defeat Dracula, following his ancestor Leon Belmont's founding of their clan.

However, the focus on Curse of Darkness does not immediately continue on Trevor. Rather, it instead focuses on a man that once served as a general to Dracula's army. A man named Hector.
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Here's the start of the story of Curse of Darkness:

Following Trevor Belmont's victory over Dracula, and the first Belmont to defeat him, Dracula refused to go down entirely. He elicited a curse that would spread through the entirety of Europe to plague the innocent and corrupt their hearts from the fallout.

Three years later... Following the full extent of Dracula's Curse...

A man named Hector had just arrived at an Abandoned Castle. He had one served under Dracula, but then grew tired of the horrific killings and decided to betray him during Trevor's quest to hunt Dracula down.

He had but only recently decided to live a normal human life, but at present, he was hunting down another former comrade of his from Dracula's army, a man named Issac.. Why...?

Because Issac had killed Hector's beloved wife, Rosaly. Hector was out for revenge, but Issac taunted him for his failure to protect her.

Even with Dracula's defeat, his presence was still felt through the dark land. Both Hector & Issac possess a dark power known as Devil Forging, which allows them to summon demonic being to fight alongside them. However, while Issac currently embraced this power, Hector now rejected it as a part of his desire to live a normal life. Issac believed, on the other hand, that Hector's time to use this power once more was drawing very near, especially if he wanted to defeat him.

For now, Issac still mocked Hector's desire for revenge upon him and taunted him to chase after him. It was from this that Hector quickly realized he was not going to stand a chance against Issac unless he embraced his own powers of darkness once more...

...his Curse of Darkness...
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Like Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness is a 3D Metroidvania for this series that feels somewhat like playing Devil May Cry also on the PS2 (hmmm, and this game shares 2005 with DMC3, at that).

The game's RPG mechanics are a bit more straightforward compared to Lament, as well. You now have a traditional Level Up system that gives you EXP as you defeat enemies.

There's not too much going on with this video right now, but if you decide to turn around from the Abandoned Castle and go backwards as far as you can, you can find some extra goodies at a dead end, such as a Potion and a... Moai Statue?

Speaking of the Abandoned Castle, although this is a Metroidvania, this game also has a more straightforward progression about it, too. You don't have a hub world like you did in Lament. Levels seem to link into each other one after the other, instead. More on that later.

Since Hector is not a Belmont, he doesn't fight with a whip. He instead starts off with a sword, and you can eventually pick up other kinds of weapons, too. You can even have him fight barehanded. He also doesn't seem to get to use Subweapons like a Belmont usually does, too.
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One other thing that Curse of Darkness definitely has in common with Lament of Innocence, though. Following the fight against a Lv.2 Executioner, you'll see your first Save Room of this game marked with a Blue Door.

Use these to not just save your progress, but also restore your HP. Past this, it'll be time to explore the Abandoned Castle for real!