Wallachia: Reign of Dracula

It might be more old-school than other similar games, but Wallachia: Reign of Dracula still offers rewarding action, skilful level design, and some excellent music. With Konami seemingly content to sleep on its popular Castlevania series for the time being – outside of smartphone games, of course – this (alongside the likes of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and its sequel) might be as close as we're likely to get to a brand-new "old-school" Castlevania outing on Switch. It's a good job, then, that Migami Games knows Konami's franchise so well that it has created a truly convincing imitation – but one which has enough ideas of its own to stand out from its inspiration.

Wallachia: Reign of Dracula is a solid, old-school experience. The decision to make this more of a shooter than a faithful Castlevania-style clone can be initially jarring, but it feels natural thanks to some excellent arrowplay and good boss fights. The high difficulty level due to some design decisions stretches out the seven-stage experience, but the endless continues make that bearable. While it may not appeal to everyone, those looking for something that mimics a good 16-bit adventure shooter will find this to be an easy recommendation.

Despite this being far from a rushed indie piece of junk, like the hundreds that are plaguing the Switch library, Wallachia: Reign of Dracula is unfortunately one more retro-inspired game that fails at what matters the most. A love letter to SNES-style Castlevania, sprinkled with a little bit of Contra's fast-paced action, this should be something great. Sadly, due to some issues, like the way the main character moves, and how unfair some parts of the whole thing can feel, it soon gets from mildly-interesting, to downright annoying.

Wallachia: Reign of Dracula is a great platform title and an ode to the Castlevania franchise, bringing all the aspects that made the classic stand out in the industry. The difficulty may alienate some people, but the premise of being a reference to the genre's classics is well justified by the gameplay inspired by titles from the past.

"New challenger gets bodied by classics."

Wallachia: Reign of Dracula blends the lore of Castlevania and the gameplay of Contra, and will appeal to fans of retro games and frustrate others.

As an old-school fan of arcade challenges Wallachia definitely feels familiar...

A perfect slice of 16-bit run and gun goodness, horror fans and contra fans should be delighted!. Fantastic title you should really sink your teeth into!

I don’t remember the last time I liked a game so much even though I really hated its controls. Ironically enough, it must have Castlevania 64, now that I think about it. I really liked almost everything Wallachia: Reign of Dracula had to offer: its visuals, its really good voice acting, its overall gameplay loop, its new take on the whole “Dracula hunting” schtick, and so on. If only its controls weren’t so clunky and the if only the button mapping wasn’t so limited and nonsensical, Wallachia could have ended up being one of the biggest surprises of the year.