Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness is a bit of an odd game. It’s sort of a new game, but also isn’t. In a way, this is an attempt at re-doing Castlevania 64, listening to feedback from that release, and addressing it without creating a full sequel.

The levels feel a lot more simplified, less routes to get lost in, and it’s generally a more linear experience. There are also save points everywhere, and the game lets you move the camera, albeit using the D-pad, which is a bit awkward on the N64 controller.

But there is a ton of new stuff as well. At the start, you can only select a new character called Cornell, although there is a variant of the Konami code (only discovered in April 2024) to unlock all characters. His story is set 8 years before the first Castlevania 64.

Once you complete his story, you can play the original two campaigns, Carrie and Reinhardt, who have re-worked versions of their original campaigns, along with another new character called Harry, who has a shorter game that you need to complete in fewer than 7 in-game days.

Because the original game cut me off before the end of the game, due to playing on easy (which, thankfully, no longer stops you from playing the full game), I really didn’t realise how many levels at the end of the game focused much more on platforming, and Cornell’s journey even more so. The second half of his game feels completely different from the first, and the game’s wonky jumping and grabbing edges is one of the issues that hasn’t been addressed. The first game focused on combat and puzzles, while the first time playing this will be mainly platform-based.

If you’re going to play a version of Castlevania 64, it may as well be this one.

Fun

It mat sound like we’re being overly harsh on Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, but it simply seems incredibly dated now, and, if truth be known, we’re very disappointed. It’s still a solid game – despite its faults – and can be heartily enjoyable games, but this ‘special edition’ should really have included more to warrant the £40 price tag. A year ago, when the first 64-bit version of Castlevania was release, the marke was very different so this was a mite more impressive. In the meantime we’ve had Shadowman and Resident Evil 2 on release, both games that simply do their own respective things far better than this does. Ultimately, as a 3D adventure, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness is looking a little dog-eared.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #38. Review Score: 75%

Remake or remaster?

A remaster that improves upon this and also gives the option of playing Carrie and Reinhardt’s original levels would be nice.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.