Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Gameplay

Story

 * See the characters page for more.

The game takes place in 1830, ten years after the Vampire Hunter Morris Baldwain defeated Dracula. A cult, lead by Camilla, is working to revive Dracula. Morris and his two apprentices, Nathan Graves and Hugh Baldwin storm the castle in an attempt to stop the resurrection ritual, however it is too late.

Despite not having his full powers, Dracula is able to cast Hugh and Nathan into a pit with ease. Dracula and Camilla capture Morris to use as part of a ritual that will restore Dracula complelety, but must take place during a full moon. Nathan and Hugh surivive the drop and end up in the caverns that run underneath the castle. Hugh runs off in an attempt to save Morris by himself, telling Nathan to stay out of the way.

Nathan then goes off on his own to find his way back to the surface and find both Morris and Hugh. He encounters Hugh a few more times, who is growing increasing hostile and paranoid towards Nathan. It would eventually be discovered that Camilla was messing with Hugh's mind, causing him to act that way towards Nathan. After Camilla was defeated and Hugh restored to normal, Hugh saved Morris as Nathan battled Dracula. Dracula was defeated before he could perform the ritual, though before he died he told Nathan that it was a wasted effort as he would just return again

Gameplay

 * See the cards and DSS pages for more on the magic system.

Circle of the Moon has similar gameplay as other modern 2D Castlvanias (such as Aria of Sorrow, Symphony of the Night, and Portrait of Ruin. Your goal is to explore Dracula's castle, navigating across platforms and hazards, while defeating bosses and finding items that will make you stronger and able to get to new areas. What makes CotM different than other modern Castlevanias is that it has a heavy focus on platforming in addition to exploration, as well as a high degree of difficulty. Like Harmony of Dissonance and the older Castlevania games, your primary weapon is a whip, and you cannot get new weapons (unlike HoD'', you can't even upgrade it).

The unique gameplay element in CotM is the DSS system, in which you access special effects, weapon modifications, and magic spells by pairing two cards together. These cards are found by defeating certain enemies that drop cards as a rare item. Once you have the card it is never lost or used up, allowing you to use different combinations as necessary. Effects include adding an elemental attack to your whip, boosting strength, summoning monsters and familiar, and transforming into a skeleton.

In addition to magic, the traditional Castlevania sub-weapons return. Uses these weapons consumes hearts, which can be replenished by finding more in candles or from defeating enemies. Other one-time use items are available, however unlike many other Castlevanias, there is no store to purchase them from. Items are dropped randomly from enemies, so stockpiling supplies is difficult and time consuming.

Controls

 * See Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Controls for the default layout.

Modes
In what has become a tradition with modern Castlevania games, after you beat the normal game you can play through again. Normally, this means playing as a different character that was related to the story (in Symphony of the Night you could play as Richter Belmont after beating the game as Alucard, in Harmony of Dissonance you could play as Maxim after beating the game as Juste, and so on). Circle of the Moon modifies that idea a bit. Instead of playing as a different character you continue to play as Nathan, but with different stats. The story, gameplay, and order of events is exactly the same, however the changes in your stats and abilities forces you to change your fighting style.

In order for a mode to be unlocked, you have to beat the previous one. So, beating VampireKiller mode unlocks Magician, beating Magician unlocks Fighter, and so on. To play a mode after unlocking it, simply enter the password as your name (you can change it later from the system menu).