I'm a little surprised to hear this is looking more and more like it's just
Rondo of Blood and
SotN. (
https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/09/24/-castlevania-requiem-official-esrb-rating-announcement-imminent/)
And if so, it'd make sense if they're the PSP versions, because that was the only time
Rondo was translated, and both were optimized for widescreen. That'd also explain why it might be for PS4 only...
I'm not totally surprised that Konami would do this, though. This sort of feels like the Castlevania atmosphere that's been created by the most vocal fans and more casual gamers, especially outside of the community proper. I mean, yes, there are the vocal crowds who like the GBA era the best or the pre-
Rondo titles, but my personal experience with reading reactions has been that the mainstream narrative about Castlevania over the last 12 or so years has become that
Rondo was the best evolution of the "Classicvania" formula and
Symphony of the Night was the Metroidvania to end all Metroidvanias.
Meanwhile, the consensus about the rest of the franchise has seemed to generally become:
Castlevania 1 might as well not exist and is just for the history books;
Castlevania II is a living meme and broken game; the
original Gameboy trilogy never happened--and if it did, the first is broken, the second is a secret gem, and the third is boring;
Castlevania III is sorta great but too old and hard to be given a lot of credit;
Super Castlevania IV is overrated and majorly flawed because it gives you too many options with the whip and fools around too much with Mode 7;
Bloodlines never happened;
Dracula XX/Vampire's Kiss was a terrible
Rondo port--nothing more, nothing less;
Castlevania 64 may be the worst Castlevania game (and among the worst 3D games ever)--heck, those goofy motorcycle skeletons alone are enough to pass on it;
Legacy of Darkness never happened;
Circle of the Moon is really dark but might just be a good Metroidvania deep down--or maybe not;
Harmony of Dissonance was convoluted but felt more like
Symphony of the Night than
Circle of the Moon;
Aria of Sorrow might be the best Metroidvania, but then again maybe not as good as
Symphony of the Night;
Dawn of Sorrow was a nice visual update of
Aria of Sorrow but had too many touchscreen gimmicks and wasn't as good;
Portrait of Ruin was too repetitive;
Order of Ecclesia added some nice challenge but no one's sure whether it had enough Metroidvania in it to be great;
Lament of Innocence was a pretty good 3D Castlevania game;
Curse of Darkness was a pretty good 3D Castlevania game;
Lords of Shadow was a pretty good 3D Castlevania game;
Mirror of Fate kinda-sorta never happened;
Adventure Rebirth never happened;
Lords of Shadow 2 ruined
Lords of Shadow with too much stealth...
I don't agree with all of those assessments by any means--I vehemently disagree with some in particular (especially the N64 hate)--but that's where Castlevania is kind of stuck at the moment in pop culture.
Rondo and
SotN are among the few that are seen as relevant and truly special gems that have overcome all barriers of time and critics*. So, Konami is seemingly giving the people what they want, and also trying to distill an experience they think might be accessible and intriguing to people coming in fresh from Netflix or all the new Metroidvania-style games out there.
*To insert myself for a second, just about
Rondo and
SotN, I think it makes a solid, basic package, particularly considering the two stories connect, but
Rondo has never quite lived up to the hype for me. I knew of its existence during the mid-90s, and felt very intrigued by all of the images and stories surrounding it, but I didn't get to play it until the PSP release. Had I played it in 1993, I might feel differently. I think it has a lot of great ideas and visuals and gameplay, and is super ambitious, but the way you are always able to transition onto alternate paths, with no one correct path to save all of the maidens, and those sometimes sharp transitions for boss-preparation rooms, makes it feel sort of "uneven" or "jerky" or "noncommittal" in its stage progression. That pulls me out of the flow of the gameplay experience more than I'd like. Still a great game, and I go back and forth about how much I like or don't like it, but it's never been one of my favorites, personally.
Meanwhile,
SotN is one of those games that I've played through about twice, maybe three times, I think. It's great, especially with how it pulls you in with its atmosphere (something most of the later Metroidvanias struggle with at times), but I've always thought of the Metroidvania formula as more of a spinoff concept than a full-on evolution for Castlevania. So, it's also not one of my favorites, and it's become so iconic and familiar and influential that it's getting harder to revisit as time goes on. (Frankly, to me, there's been so many Metroidvanias within the franchise now, that it's somehow made
SotN stand out a little less in some ways--seem somewhat less special--despite the fact that I think it's probably still either at the top or right near the top of the heap for the genre)
Personally, given how inaccessible it's become since it was only released on Sega Genesis, any collection really needed to have
Bloodlines for me to commit to it. In an ideal world, a
basic collection, in my mind--in other words, the least I would have wanted--would have had these games at minimum:
Castlevania 1-4, Bloodlines, Dracula XX, Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night. But beggars can't be choosers, and any collection is a decent sign for the IP.
So, regardless, if rumors hold going forward, here's hoping the new game is, at the least,
Dracula's Curse meets
Super Castlevania IV. And I hope, whatever happens, that the Netflix aesthetic doesn't become a default game aesthetic.