Continuing with my playthrough of the DS Castlevania games thanks to the Dominus Collection we have “Portrait of Ruin”. Thankfully the game pulls all the way back on the touch screen stuff and it adds some fun new gameplay elements, but it also doubles-down on the lighter tone and anime aesthetics and makes some not-so-fun gameplay decisions! A mixed bag indeed… Let’s take a look!
Background:
Finally, Mummys in their natural habitat!
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin was released exclusively on the Nintendo DS in Japan on November 16th 2006, in the US December 5th 2006 and in Europe March 22nd 2007. Like its fellow DS games it was re-released on the PS5, PS4, XBOX Series, Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27th 2024 via the “Dominus Collection”.
Unlike the GBA games and the previous DS effort I’d never touched Portrait until this port. My friend, who I often played Castlevania games through, didn’t buy it and I never properly got into the DS as a console for a variety of reasons, so it just never happened. It didn’t really appeal to me either, not enough to go down the legally-shaky emulation route. Did I really miss out on something special? Well…
Gameplay:
Not sure why this was set up as a thing in Brauner’s castle, but it came in handy anyway!
As always with these handheld Castlevania titles the core gameplay loop is still the same, it’s a 2D side scrolling action game very much in the “Metroidvania” category, with a health meter, sub-weapons and armour to collect or purchase at an in-game shop, an XP and levelling up stats system, enemies and bosses to defeat, and areas to access including parts of previously visited places you can go back to with new found powers to reach new locations. There are two key differences here though, the first is that you play as two people rather than one, able to switch between them at any time. Jonathan Morris is your classic whip-wielding CV protagonist, who much like more recent ones can switch out the whip for any number of other weapons, plus sub weapons and a special move or two, where as Charlotte Aulin is more you spellcaster, as although she has some weapon-like attacks with special books she has a whole lot of spells instead of sub weapons.
The two share a health bar and magic meter and you can not only call in the one you’re not using to do a quick attack before jumping out again but you can actually call them in and have them stay with you AI controlled, attacking foes by themselves alongside you. Now given you share a health bar the latter isn’t recommended, but sometimes puzzles can only be solved by having both playable characters on the screen at once. There’s also a “Dual Crush” attack that is often extremely powerful that the two can pull off at once if you have enough magic, the “10,000 Blades” Dual Crush in particular made mincemeat out of a lot of the bosses… All in all it’s a unique system born out of a scrapped online co-op idea that works as a fun twist to freshen up the gameplay.
Jonathan and Charlotte throw “10,000 Blades” into the Creature’s crotch.
The other key difference is in the exploration, as although there are powers you learn that allow you to access new parts of old areas they’re few and far between, in reality you start off in a small castle and head to completely different locations via magical paintings instead. It leads to a lot more visual variety but most of the painting worlds are extremely linear in design and therefore feel a bit bland compared to the fun-to-explore castles of previous games. I applaud them for doing something different, but I don’t think it quite worked here. Another new-to-Castlevania idea they toyed with is sub missions, where you’re told to “kill X amount of this creature”, “come back here wearing a complete set of this armour” or “go to a specific place in this painting world and press a button”, all for some rewards like new moves or items. It’s… pretty dull, to be honest, and adds nothing to the experience other than blatant padding so I just stopped doing them about halfway through.
There is a fun story that weirdly connects to Bloodlines on the Mega Drive of all games, but the cutesy anime art style still doesn’t feel right, and the gag facial expressions they’ve added here makes it all the more out-of-place. The unique main boss enemy ends up giving way to yet another Dracula fight as well, which was kind of disappointing, but also kind of “cool” due to how the fight is structured… more on that in the story part! On that note, some of the bosses can be a pain, but once again in a “try a few times, realise you’ve started to get the pattern and then eventually win” way, which is a good thing. There are also your now-standard unlockable replay modes, this time where you play as sisters Loretta and Stella in a new story set before the main one, or you can also play as Richter and Maria from Rondo in what is essentially the main game with sprite swaps, though they do have all spells unlocked from the get-go. There is also “Axe Armour Mode” where you literally just play as a singular Axe Armour enemy, with all the limitations that implies… very odd. There’s also a Boss Rush mode which is the only part of the game you can play co-operatively via the DS’s wifi ability.
So overall it’s a mixed bag, they tried some new things and not all of them worked, but I’m happy that they tried instead of just resting on their past successes.
Graphics and Sound:
A perfect example of the really nice background artwork. You’d think I hit screenshot here on purpose or something!
I’ve already mentioned not liking the art style, but the in-game graphics are nice, especially the backgrounds on certain levels, and the sprite work in general.
Sound is good with plenty of memorable and fun tunes and great sound effects and occasional voice work. No complaints there.
Story:
Richter guilt trip, basically…
Our main protagonists are Jonathan Morris, son of John Morris from Bloodlines (must get around to reviewing that…) who is upset that he can’t use the famous Vampire Killer whip because his father refused to teach him, and Charlotte Aulin, a mage who… has been assigned to investigate the re-emergence of Dracula’s Castle with Jonathan. The belief is that all the murder happening around the world thanks to World War II is the cause, but when they get there they find a Vampire called Brauner and his two daughters Loretta and Stella, and he claims to be in control of the castle. Johnathan and Charlotte soon meet Death who confusingly states that he too doesn’t know why the Castle has reappeared and wishes to kill the pretender who has claimed it. They also meet a ghost simply called “Wind” (they probably shouldn’t have translated that and just called him “Kaze” or something… less fart gag-y that way) who gives out advice but can’t actually physically help. It’s eventually revealed that Wind is in fact Eric Lecarde, the other playable character from Bloodlines, who reveals that Loretta and Stella are HIS daughters and that Brauner had killed him, turned them into vampires and hypnotised them into thinking he was there father. He did this as he lost his two daughters in World War I and believed them to be their reincarnations. Eric also reveals that anyone who isn’t a Belmont who uses the Vampire Killer gets their life drained away, which is why John Morris refused to let his son use the whip. Armed with this new knowledge the two head to take on Brauner…
Spoilers from here until the next paragraph!
In classic Castlevania fashion you can head straight to Stella and Loretta and kill them, getting a bad ending where Brauner just runs off and Eric laments his daughters death, but if you collect a special healing spell hidden in the desert painting world you can heal the two sisters of their vampirism (but boy is it tricky to do while also trying to dodge their attacks…) Healed the two Lecardes do a ritual where Jonathan can fight a spectre of Richter Belmont and earn the right to use the Vampire Killer, which he does, and then he and Charlotte confront and defeat Brauner (after having to do four new painting worlds where are just palette swaps of ones you’ve already done… talk about blatant time wasting!)
A good use of perspective. It’s like they knew they wouldn’t be able to use the 3DS features in the future so did it now instead!
However, before Brauner dies Death arrives and uses his body to resurrect Dracula himself, leading to a two on two battle as Death and Dracula team up to fight Jonathan and Charlotte. Very cool moment. The final phase then goes a bit weird with a massive transformation, then they’re both defeated once again. Eric gets to say goodbye to his daughters before finally fading away, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Spoilers over!
As I said, it’s a fun story with a few fun twists and additions to the lore.
Thoughts Now:
Charlotte shows Death the power of the written word!
Portrait of Ruin is the ultimate mixed bag, I really enjoyed the two person switching gameplay and the move variety that came with it, but the more linear and often dull level designs and repetitive revisits and side quests drag the experience down a bit. Certainly a competent enough game to be way above a 3, but it’s still not close to Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow.
Hogan Reviews 