This Week in Retro: Castlevania Harmony of Despair [2010] (Patreon)

August 4, 2010: Konami Shrugs the Final 2D Castlevania Game Into Existence

by Diamond Feit

Tell me, Castlevania fans, what is it that you love best about this series, which dates back to 1986? Is it the sense of adventure as you lead a hero on a righteous quest into the heart of darkness? Could it be the intrigue of exploring an unknown space full of danger? Maybe, if you're a fan of the post-Symphony of the Night entries, you love that feeling of gradually developing your character from a novice into a hardened veteran with an ever-growing array of fabulous powers?

Fans, 10 years ago this week, Konami did not release Castlevania: Harmony of Despair with you in mind. In a Retronauts exclusive, I have acquired their internal design document for this, the last 2D Castlevania game ever made… [opens envelope] I'm sorry, it's just a piece of paper with two words written on it: "phat loot"

Let's step back in time for a moment to explain how we got here: In the year 2010, Castlevania was in a very strange place leading up to its 25th anniversary. For the bulk of the 21st century, Konami had split the franchise into two distinct halves: 2D exploratory adventures in the spirit of Symphony of the Night for Nintendo's handheld consoles (these releases are the reason people call those kinds of games "Metroidvania" to this day), and 3D "modern" action games for the PlayStation 2. I'm not going to tell you you're wrong if you like those 3D games, but I know which half of Castlevania I was hopelessly in love with: The one that let me tear ass through Dracula's castle at home, on a bus, or anywhere I wanted to play on my DS Lite.

As the 2000s marched on, Konami began to experiment with the property. There was a brief rebranding where the "Castlevania" name was imported into Japan (where the series had always been known as Akumajō Dracula), and simpler, anime-style artwork replaced the gothic beauty of Ayami Kojima's character designs. Neither of these changes stuck. There was an assortment of pachinko and mobile phone releases, a 3D fighting game on the Nintendo Wii (of all platforms), and even an arcade game; those last two relied on players swinging their weapons with motion controls and both were quickly forgotten. Throughout all this, series producer Koji Igarashi would gamely show up at press events sporting a big hat and a whip and promote the hell out of whatever form Castlevania had taken.

By 2010, however, it was evident that the franchise was heading in a new direction. We can only speculate as to what happened. The Nintendo DS was a popular platform but software sales were waning; the newest generation of home consoles were now in HD making handheld games look archaic in comparison; and Konami as a company seemed to be moving away from active game development in favor of licensing and outsourcing—2009's Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth for WiiWare was developed by M2. After years of steady Metroidvania output, the tap was sealed.

Enter Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, an HD (get it?) home console game assembled from years of 2D art assets. Instead of a single hero, Harmony of Despair features an all-star cast of leads like Alucard from Symphony of the Night, Soma from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow, Jonathan and Charlotte from Portrait of Ruin, and Shanoa from the recent Order of Ecclesia. What's more, all six characters can appear on screen at once, for Harmony of Despair is an online multiplayer game set in arenas which resemble famous Castlevania locations—and big ones at that. The default perspective of each arena is zoomed all the way out for a full view of the entire stage, showing every player, every enemy, and the level boss. Players can toggle the camera in and out at their leisure, but with a big enough television (or sharp enough eyesight), it's totally possible to play the game at maximum view.

Here's where things diverge the hardest from the Metroidvania formula: Each stage has a strict timer of 30 minutes, and there's no such thing as experience points or levels. It's not a roguelike, because the layouts and monsters are fixed, but your character doesn't automatically develop new abilities or better stats the longer you play Harmony of Despair. Instead, the key to character growth is finding better equipment, items, or spells: Treasure chests dot every level, color-coded by rarity. Opening a chest benefits all players, though not everyone receives the same item. Defeating a boss automatically unlocks a gold chest, which is the best kind, but that's still not a guarantee the contents will be useful. A rare consumable food item certainly has some value, but for players counting on a Valmanway, finding a Truffle is a disappointment.

Up until this point, Harmony of Despair sounds like a naked cash grab: A loot-driven multiplayer game coasting on name recognition which absolutely no one asked for and built entirely out of existing assets. As a fan myself, when I heard that the new Castlevania was coming to Xbox 360 in HD but it wasn't really a "new" game, it made me pretty angry. Once I got to play it, however, I discovered the biggest surprise yet about Harmony of Despair: It's super fun.

Granted, as a multiplayer experience, what you get out of each playthrough is highly dependent on who the server decides to pair you with. Many of my attempts were cut short by teammates who either did not know or care how the game was played as they squandered our 30 minute timer by impaling themselves repeatedly on spikes. But with the right squad, Harmony of Despair is like living inside a speedrun; even on hard mode, few bosses can withstand the amount of punishment that six vampire hunters can dish out.

Another thing I appreciate about Harmony of Despair is that its reliance on pre-existing art, sprites, and levels turns it into a snapshot-version of Castlevania history. Within days of release, images emerged online of a new pyramid level based on Portrait of Ruin's Egyptian stages. This turned out to be the first of five additional levels which were released over the span of months, along with six additional characters which doubled the size of the cast. Two of these extra levels were throwbacks to the 8-bit days: A stage that serves as a microcosm of the original Castlevania on NES (complete with retro sprites of Simon Belmont and Dracula) and, in a swerve no one saw coming, a level based on Getsu Fūma Den, a 1987 Konami action-RPG which was never released in the U.S. It's easy to complain about Konami's apparent lack of interest in maintaining video game history, but who in 2010 could have anticipated a semi-revival of Getsu Fūma Den?

But I've saved the best for last here, folks. It's time to talk about the soundtrack for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Like the visuals, a majority of music in the game is based on already familiar tunes, but rather than copy-and-pasting the existing songs, the soundtrack is full of remixes—rocking remixes, at that. Given the relatively low-quality samples of music available on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, these remixes breathe new life into songs that had formerly been trapped on teeny-tiny speakers. The base game includes 17 tracks, but Konami made more tunes available as DLC (in addition to bundling new music with each add-on level), ultimately bringing the total soundtrack to 40 songs. Better still, players can override the game's default settings and assign any track they want to each stage. Why settle for another round of Lost Painting when you could mix it up with Divine Bloodlines or Yuzo Koshiro's Invitation of a Crazed Moon?

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair was a game that no one wanted yet turned out better than it had any right to be. Was I disappointed by its focus on multiplayer and lack of traditional leveling/exploration? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the hell out of shredding Legion with Shanoa using Globus from Order of Ecclesia? Absolutely. Originally exclusive to Xbox LIVE Arcade, the game was later ported to PlayStation 3 in 2011. As of this writing the servers are still live, the game is still available, and the Xbox version is compatible with current-gen hardware (do not ask me which Xbox is current-gen, I have lost track). Harmony of Despair isn't the swan-song I think Castlevania deserved, but as last acts of venerable franchises go, I'll take "goofy experiment" over "erotic violence" any day of the week.