Man I love the classic Castlevania games. Sure, they’ve a bit before my time (I’m a 1999 baby), but as someone who spent a good amount of my formative years consuming retro video game reviews on YouTube and dabbling into dodgy emulators, those pixelated relics may just be as nostalgic to me as to any 80s kid. And I don’t need to tell you about the influence that Symphony of the Night had on the industry; it only had a subgenre named in its honour. Chronicles of the Wolf aims to emulate the look and feel of these classics, not only with a PSX inspired look and sound, but also they’re design and mechanics. It’s not a new concept in the indie scene, the initially crowdfunded series Bloodstained released to rave reviews from critics and Metroidvania fans alike. In this regard, Chronicles isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, but it will act as a cosy game for longtime fans of the genre.
Mateo Lombardo, an apprentice of the Knights of the Rose Cross Order, sets out with his fellowship to Southern France to slay the Beast of Gevaudan, a real life mythical creature which was apparently responsible for several grisly slaughters in the 1760s. On arrival, his fellow knights are slain, leaving Mateo stranded alone in this foreign land, the last apprentice of his order. His only objective now? Slay the Beast’s many apostles and avenge his comrades with the blood of the Wolf. It’s as simple as that, and that’s all you really need. Objective Good vs Demonic Evil; it’s delightfully tropey and faithfully echoes the Belmont’s never ending war against Count Dracula. It’s 90s dark fantasy, deadly serious and yet terribly camp.
Its aesthetics and sound design are certainly on point, not just in the stellar pixel art we come to expect in projects like this, but even down to the early CD-quality compression crunch of its audio. When you land a hit on an enemy, you really feel it. Voice acting is wonderfully wooden, the opening narration sounds as if it was delivered by a guy who really wants to be anywhere else and the shopkeepers around the world utter the same slightly clipped voice line every time you visit. This is all by design of course, emulating that awkward transitional stage when games were really trying hard to be cinematic, despite the limitations. And music, man, the music; it’s awesome and exactly what you’d expect. My personal highlight; the sweet melody that plays in villages that really reminds me of the opening to Stairway to Heaven.
Y’know its strange, I have no actual memories for this era of gaming (I wasn’t even born yet), and yet playing titles such as Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy VII, both of which I only played for the first time in recent years, I am met with an intense melancholy, a twinge of longing nostalgia for a period I never even inhabited. Chronicles also evokes this in me; but there’s an even stranger degree of separation when you think about it. I am getting nostalgia for nostalgia for something I never personally experienced.
Anyway, our Belmont stand-in, Mateo, is a very obvious tribute/knock off of Richter from Dracula X, bandana and sleeveless tunic included. Personality wise, the hunk doesn’t have much going on behind the eyes; he has no spoken dialogue, no inner monologue and certainly no conflict about what he’s doing. Is he sad over the death of his fallen comrades? There’s no time, he has a foul beast to slay. If you ask any retro gamer, chances are this is the kinda protagonist they like, a macho meathead who wouldn’t look out of place in an 80s action flick. Mateo’s story is a case where gameplay speaks louder than words, his growth not broadcast through retrospection but rather his new ability to double jump and air dash.
On the topic of gameplay, it’s exactly what you’d expect, I actually don’t have a lot to say. Anyone familiar with old school ‘Vania will feel right at home from the opening level, no need to adjust to the game feel. If I had to compare it to any game, I’d say playing as Richter in Symphony of the Night. Mateo’s not as dynamic or responsive as Simon in Super Castlevania IV or quite as acrobatic as Alucard in Symphony. Mateo’s jumps are stiff, but no one near as rigid as the NES titles, with some wiggle room midair. Of course, the more you progress the more upgrades you get to your moveset, sliding, double jumping airdashing; the usual. My biggest gripe is that despite the stunning sprite work, the animation quality lags behind even the older 32 bit titles; Mateo isn’t quite as visually fluid as Alucard, emphasising the stiffness.
And with these retro throwbacks comes the annoyances of old game design ; archaic oddities like aerial enemies with wiggly movement patterns, convoluted button combinations for alternate attacks. Are they here? Of course they are. Despite every modem controller having four shoulder buttons, we’re still left dealing with combing Up and the attack button for a special attack. C’mon now. Adding to this, we also have various magic and companion attacks that require pressing Up and a different face button, that button also doing something completely different when pressed in isolation. Combined with the fact that none of the modern controllers have good D-Pads, and you’ll likely end up activating your companion ability when you’re trying to swap through. My last gripe is petty; Mateo has a sword and not a whip. That’s fine, I get it. But the whip is just way cooler, and has a much greater use case because of its range. You have some leeway with the weight of different weapons affecting the swing and range, but when you’re trying to simultaneously fight bats and jump across ropes in a narrow sewer, you get some classic old school frustration.
Uniquely, Chronicles takes inspiration from the infamous Simon’s Quest and sets a large portion of the game in the villages and countryside of the land. Don’t fret, there’s no abominably translated dialogue or inanely cryptic gameplay progression, and it provides a nice change of pace from the usual Castle Dracula/ equivalent (though if you do miss them, the latter part of the game largely has you plunging familiar labyrinths and dungeons). You can talk to literally any villager NPC as well, granted not all of them have much to say, but you can accept a few side quests; though they usually boil down to go here, kill this dude and collect a trinket.
Being an old school metroidvania, expect to do a lot of backtracking, and expect to not always know where you’re exactly supposed to be going. The map system is functional, but lacks the waypoint system you’d expect in modern titles in the genre, so maybe don’t be ashamed to look up a guide to find some of the necessary upgrades that are stored in some back corner of the map you forgot existed. You probably love these quirks, and you might even be looking for them. Rest easy, they’re all here.
Chronicles of the Wolf is a damn good time and it’s exactly what you’d expect. I’ve repeated that phrase a few times now, but only because it’s so objectively true. Like tribute bands and movie tropes, we need a touch of the old school to remind us how far we’ve come and how much fun we’ve had along the way. If you know what you’re doing, you can breeze through in 5 hours, but it’s just difficult enough to provide a decent length on a first play through, owing to some pretty tricky boss fights that just about avoid being annoying.
There’s a few different endings (one of which is played for laughs and you can reach about 25% in) that depend on your completion status and certain choices, but it’s altogether a pretty simple and unpretentious experience. For veteran monster slayers this is good comfort food, a pork chop hidden inside a wall if you will. While it’s sitting on the store next to modern critically acclaimed ‘Vanias like the recently released Silksong, at just £16 it’s an easy recommend, and is sure to take you back to the past, but not to play the sh***y games that suck ass.
