Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls

Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls (悪魔城ドラキュラ Grimoire of Souls) is a mobile game part of the Castlevania series, developed and published by Konami. It was first released in Canada on September 20, 2019.

The game includes a variety of single player and multiplayer modes (co-op and PvP). It also incorporates role-playing elements, such as character growth and an experience-based system, as well as the use of in-game currency and microtransactions.

Overview
"A future where Count Dracula has been completely destroyed. It seemed like eternal peace came upon the world. However, a letter delivered to Genya Arikado was about to put an end to that peaceful era. In order to verify the meaning of the words written in the letter—“The Grimoire has ran wild and Count Dracula will be resurrected”—Genya Arikado heads off towards the letter’s sender…"

- Official synopsis

The storyline borrows elements from Castlevania: Harmony of Despair such as the Grimoire and the presence of characters from past Castlevania games that existed in different time periods.

Gameplay
The game's system has been described as cooperative, with up to four players at the same time. Characters can be improved to grow stronger, and fallen allies can be resurrected with a mechanic dubbed "Soul Resurrection". A cooperative Boss Rush mode is also included, along with a PvP battle mode with teams consisting of four players each.

The game makes use of in-game currency and microtransactions.

Development
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls was first announced on April 17, 2018. The game then went through closed-beta stage and was slated to be released on the iOS platform. The closed beta ended on May 22, 2018. The game, according to a Konami press sheet, would also be available on Android dispositives and be released worldwide in 2019. Two more Castlevania products were released in the meantime: Castlevania Anniversary Collection and Castlevania Requiem.

News on Grimoire of Souls still being in development reemerged on September 2019, when an official trailer of the game was suddenly released without any prior announcement, although a release date was still not given. The game was finally made available on the Google App Store in Canada on the 20th of that same month, again, without any major announcement.

Characters
Genya Arikado plays the role of main protagonist. A new character called Lucy Westenra plays a supporting role, helping to elaborate on the story, guiding the player through various tutorials on the game's numerous features, and also acting as a merchant (or host) during in-game purchases. Playable characters on the closed beta are Alucard, Simon Belmont, Charlotte Aulin, Shanoa and Maria Renard from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Soma Cruz's artwork is present on the game's website, but not on the upcoming-characters' announcement section nor he is a playable character. Characters such as Albus, Richter Belmont, Maria Renard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Jonathan Morris and Trevor Belmont appear as assist summons performing their "Ex Skill" special attacks.

Bosses

 * Death
 * Giant Bat
 * Dullahan
 * Wyvern
 * Legion
 * Soma Cruz

Beta inquiry report

 * Note: This information comes from the statistics released by Konami on the game's official page.

Statistics
After its beta-stage period, Konami issued a report on the quality inquiry that had to be answered with the beta. The statistics were divided in several categories, and were as follow:
 * Graphics: 69% considered the graphics to be good and 9 % considered them bad. The other 22% chose not to answer.
 * Story/background: A 67% of the inquired considered it was good, and 5% viewed it as bad. The resting 28% chose not to answer.
 * Action/operability: This category received a general negative response, with a 20% of good answers and a 63% of bad answers, with an abstinence of 17%.
 * Multiplayer: The multiplayer experience had more mixed reviews. 38% of the inquired qualified it as good, a 31% as bad and the resting 31% abstained
 * Battle System: The battle system received a generally negative review with up to 46% of the inquired considering bad, against 13% that gave it a positive review.
 * Single player mode: The single-player experience received a favorable review by the 51% of the inquired against the negative report from 9% of the inquired.
 * Character and equipment progression: This category received a mixed review; with a 31% of favorable reviews and 30% negative.
 * Use of enhanced screen: Thia category received a mainly negative review, with 47% of the inquired considering it bad, against a 21% who gave a more favorable review of it.
 * Sound: The sound category (which treated to both BGM and SFX) received a general positive response; with 83% of the critics being favorable, and 3% of bad critics.
 * Technical performance: Viewed mainly negative, with 47% of the inquired considering it bad, and an acceptance of 13%.
 * Connection speed and load times: Were reviewed generally negative, with an acceptance of 17% and a negative view from 37% of the inquired.

Playable characters review

 * Alucard was considered easy to play by 87% of the inquired.
 * Simon was considered easy to play by 75% of the inquired.
 * Charlotte was considered easy to play by 67% of the inquired.
 * Shanoa was considered easy to play by 76% of the inquired.
 * Maria was considered easy to play by 76% of the inquired.

Positives
The sound (especially the music) was praised both technically and stylistically, and the choice of reusing music from past titles was view as good.

The graphics were considered really well crafted and a successor to the Castlevania atmosphere, although the character designs could have been improved. The graphical interface was considered very good and intuitive for a mobile phone game.

The operability was considered good and the action fun, and the gameplay was easy to understand.

The multiplayer was appreciated, specially the competitive modes, and the communication was easy to use.

The character customization, both in its outlook and in its playability was praised.

Was compared to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.

Negatives
It was considered too difficult to do long combos or fast movements do to the slow performance of the touch screen. Some considered the experience would have been better if the "Jump" and "Attack" buttons were always visible.

On multiplayer, the pairings where considered bad, and sometimes the players would end up been paired with players way stronger than them.

Players had a general view that it took too much time to level-up a character.

It was generally considered that the game consumed too much battery, and that when playing on an iPhone 6 (the minimum hardware it could be played), the processing speed was too slow and sometimes it would boot to the Start Screen.