Though if we're gonna go the 3D route, and since I wanna see
Castlevania in a completely different light that I think would be interesting, I'll throw this shiz out there just to see if it sticks:
Producer/Technical Director
Shinji Mikami
Scenario Writer/Creative Director
Goichi Suda
Character Designer
Akihiro Yamada
Art Director/Cinematics Design
Daniel Thron
Sound Director
Akira Yamaoka
Music Composer
Eric Brosius
Protagonist Voice Actor
Stephen Russell
I just popped a major nerdboner.
Basically it's a mishmash of some of my favorites. Mikami and Suda because they did great together on
killer7 and
Shadows of the Damned; Mikami has the technical backing to make smooth gameplay, Suda has the ingenuitive ideas and storytelling (when he tries; see
killer7) that make gaming fun again.
Yamada would do character designs similar to his
Dracula XX work because that cross between manga art and pop American comic art is
really fantastic. All that heavy Jack Kirby-esque shading, oh man.
The cutscenes and overall art direction would be handled by Thron who did the first three
Thief games, done in the same "animated digital painting" style that also uses silhouette live acting. Why? Because it's unique and far more interesting than the crud we see in every other game and really fits with the comic style art Yamada would whip up—heavy shadows, limited motion, and all that.
Thief TDP - Garret Meets ConstantineYamaoka would whip up SFX and sound fonts. Brosius would do the music because I'd like to see more ambient music in the
Castlevania series. I'm sure many will disagree with this big-time since the N64 games didn't go over well, but Brosius would take a very interesting approach by injecting ethereal soundscapes into the picture.
Thief Deadly Shadows OST - The Overlook ManorRussell as lead character voice actor because he's funkin' sexy and knows how to act. He plays thief Garrett in the cinematic above and is better than most video game VAs, in my opinion.
And for good measure, throw in some special, overstylized anime cutscenes directed by Takeshi Koike and animated by Madhouse just for a few scenes of over-the-top absurdity.
The game would play kind of like the N64 games only polished and non-wonky. It would be a platformer basically, but also have large flat planes and hills to traverse. No combo combat BS, make it more like a 3D
Diablo or something: a hack and slash, though not necessarily of the level up and run away and be tactical kind. One button to execute a main attack. Have a secondary lesser attack like a small sword like Reinhardt has, whip main weapon. Perhaps eliminate sub-weapons in favor of the secondary attack. Throw in a slide move if you can make it not suck.
Ledge-climbing would be involved, just use it sparingly and don't make it obvious/limited where ground can be grabbed on to, and have a stamina meter because you can't hang on to that shiz forever. Probably no shimmying, because that shit's super hard to do IRL (i.e., an excuse to not have it because I hate ledge shimmying).
Would be an action game, of course, but also have spaced-out combat. It's not going to be a constant assault game; enemies could even attack you unsuspectingly by way of ambush or just like...I dunno...clumsily falling off a cliff and landing right in front of you. Or like harpies or eagles or some shit carrying little fleamen that bombard you. But I'd like for it to not be completely action- or combat-based. Get some breathing space in there, have some time to explore—though not without peril and a sense of dread, that anything could attack at any moment. But it also depends on how you play. Are you stealthy? Can you hide in the shadows and not make noise as you creep by some skeleton guards to get into a cave entrance? Stuff like that.
In tight corridors and certain interiors you would have cinematic camera angles like in
Eternal Darkness that flow with the player movements so as to always let you see what needs to be seen, while looking deliberately framed and pretty as well. Mix it up so it's not over-the-shoulder all the time. Just make it interesting at key points.
And other cool stuff. 'Cos it would be a cool game.
Oh, and tons of tits and asses. But elegantly so.
There you have it: my multi-million dollar recreation of
Castlevania.