Key

Thank you once again to the Castlevania Advance Collection for proving it's worth once again. I recently talked about and played through Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and even today, I still have close to nothing bad to say about it. It definitely feels odd having played through it again recently because as I'm much older, I feel like I appreciated and enjoyed the game mechanically a lot more than I did previously. Everything from how the character moves around to what kind of combat you'll find yourself in. I still hold it near and dear to my heart as one of my favorite games of all time as well as one of my favorite Castlevania games of all time.

Now, the advance collection also has Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance which are two Castlevania games I always sort of regretted not playing back in the day. And playing through them now is proving that point to be even stronger. As far as mechanics go, they all sort of behave the same way, while also bringing in their own differences to set them apart from each other. All good for their own reasons while also maintaining a common theme. However, I've noticed that I am enjoying Harmony of Dissonance a lot more than both Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow combined. While I have not put as much time into Aria of Sorrow as I have with Circle of the Moon and now Harmony of Dissonance, I can definitely say that I am personally getting a lot more enjoyment out of Harmony, and here's why:

Right from the get go, from how the character feels when he walks around, there's something smooth or right about it that makes him feel natural to control. Nathan from Circle of the Moon feels like he has a little bit of weight to him, and Aria of Sorrow while having a bit more of a realistic feel to it, graphically, I find that controlling Soma is a bit more difficult than controlling Belmont. Not only that, out of all three protagonists, I think I like Belmont's design more, for many reasons, though if you have played Harmony of Dissonance, you probably understand what I'm getting at. He sort of sticks out while also feeling like he's right at home in this metroidvania that you get to traverse. Even when it comes to the combat, though I have much more experience with this aspect in Circle of the Moon than I do with Aria of Sorrow, I actually quite like fighting enemies in Harmony of Dissonance, because the attacks actually feel like they have some oomf to them that makes you feel stronger, as opposed to the combat being a sort of hinderance. And unfortunately, as Circle of the Moon has the card system to give yourself different ways to attack, there really isn't a lot of variety as far as making combat feel more interesting, and certainly takes a toll on you over time. Though that can be said for pretty much any platformer.

I've come across a few boss fights already in Harmony of Dissonance, and while some of them have their own unique ways of fighting, I haven't really found myself in too much danger when fighting them since the game gives you some creative ways to go about combat. Like right now, I have a ice spell equipped that transforms whatever action item I'm holding into an ice spell attack that relates to that held item. It's a really neat way to incentivize using different items, whereas previously in Circle of the Moon, if you were holding an axe, you threw an axe. The card system again allowed this to be a little more interesting and creative, but so far Harmony of Dissonance has surpassed that with it's own version of it. So yeah, boss fights are relatively easy compared to other games. I do remember struggling a little bit on some bosses when I played through Circle of the Moon, and again, that can surely be due to the fact that the combat is just a bit more interesting and creative in Harmony of Dissonance

What's even crazier to think about is if you had given me a copy of Harmony of Dissonance today and said that this game came out somewhat recently, I wouldn't have much issue believing you. This pretty much goes for Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon. These games are easily a staple in the metroidvania / platforming genre and I'm sure they will remain to be so for many years to come. Surely that's why the advance collection has been a huge hit but I digress. I'm honestly having so much fun playing through this collecting and experiencing some of the Castlevania games that I never got to play growing up. And man, I'm sure I would have loved playing Harmony back in the day. Because I am having a damn good time playing it now. Graphically, I would honestly say Harmony looks the best out of the three solely due to the cool effects your character gives off when you literally do anything. It's just got a cool vibe and the whole games just feels whole. I've always loved the graphics of these games, and they still hold up, even on a big screen, especially having been released on a handheld so many years ago.

I'm at about the 50% mark in Harmony of Dissonance, so I still have quite a bit to go, but as far as I feel about the game now, I'm having a really good time with it. Once I finish it, which I'm sure I'll do relatively soon, it may take the place of my favorite Castlevania game of all time, just ahead of Circle of The Moon. And that really shouldn't be much of a surprise given that Harmony of Dissonance is basically a follow up though a much more improved Castlevania experience altogether.