I love Castlevania – So I was happy when The Skylia Prophecy popped up in our inbox since it’s one of the closer games to the Castlevania legacy currently available on the Nintendo Switch. The other grand name being the Bloodstained series, of course. Sadly, it did not live up to the standards I was expecting, so let’s dive in.
The Skylia Prophecy
Before we dive into criticism, let’s do a little storytime first. Mirenia is an 18-year-old girl on a quest for redemption. After unleashing an evil power when she was a teenager, she is now on her way to Tirkin Fortress to perform an ancient spell that should help her vanquish the very evil she unleashed three years ago. Now, nearing the end of her quest, she arrives in the villages just outside the fortress, where monsters ravage; young women are being taken, and men are being slaughtered. Armed with her trusted Shield Blade, Mirenia is so close to undoing the mistakes of her past. Will she succeed or ultimately only make matters worse?
It sounds like your standard run-of-the-mill medieval fantasy meets evil world setting, right? Yeh, they nailed that part, and it shows. It feels and breaths its setting, combined with a side-scrolling arcade feel, pushing me back to the arcade halls/lunaparken of the past. I already mentioned my love for Castlevania, which originates mostly from the holidays when I was young. I had the double GBA-cassette with Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. Well, I couldn’t move my thumb after those car rides. So I generally judge games in the genre to these games – maybe that’s not fair, but if they live up to the expectation, your gold in my book. The Skylia Prophecy did not.
Gameplay
Ok – let’s back up a little bit since it’s more than childhood memories. Talking gameplay, the Skylia Prophecy offers a sidescrolling action RPG set in a medieval fantasy world. As Mirenia, you will journey throughout the lands and towns, explore ancient dungeons, and battle hordes of the undead in this hard-as-hell adventure inspired by the ‘kill the player’ philosophy of the ‘Souls’ games. And yes, I died a lot. Along your way, you will meet the people of these lands, who will ask you to help them, sell you powerful items and reveal secrets to aid you on your journey. By interacting with the townsfolk, you will ultimately receive rewards that make the game easier in the long run – thus, you set the difficulty for the final stretch yourself!
Sadly, the challenges are that hard (in the beginning) that the first boss already feels like a chore. And I’m not too fond of chores. The game limits you to using only a certain amount of each item, making healing and replenishing mana difficult if you used it too early. Since you can’t travel back to an inn or town, it’s all about planning. Since the game does not tell you in any way that you’re going towards a point of no return, this can be a bit of hassle. I died a total of 25 times with the first boss – and yes, I’m looking at you souls-fanboys, git gut is the motto, I get it. But the patterns are too random.
Other Platforms
I watched some footage of this game for Steam, and the graphics took a heavy hit on the Nintendo Switch; the same goes for the boss patterns. On the videos from the same game on Steam, the boss was hard, but the patterns were the same. They were random, messy, and almost unbeatable with the strength upgrade potion on my copy of the game. I managed to beat the first boss after the tries I mentioned above and went on towards the rest of the dungeons – which I could not access since I had no key nor the money to buy one. When I had enough money, I could not travel back to the inn since I passed another point of no return.
Conclusion
This was my main problem with the Skylia Prophecy, they try to imitate or rework the arcade feeling of go-go-go, and when you die, you insert another coin but fail to implement that one fact that makes the Castlevania games great. Making them about exploration and upgrading your equipment to become a better fighter and beat the crap out of enemy bosses. Combine this with the lack of graphical prowess (which we saw on other platforms) and the randomness of the game (or I suck at it), and the Skylia Prophecy left a bad taste in my mouth. Not worth the money nor the time.
