Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Gameplay

Story

 * For the full story (with spoilers), see the story page.
 * See the characters page for more information.

The game takes place in 1830, ten years after the Vampire Hunter Morris Baldwin 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.

Controls

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

Gameplay

 * See the cards and DSS pages for more on the magic system, weapons for combat information, and relics for special abilities.

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.

Stats & leveling
You have the standard RPG stats, which go up as your level increases. Leveling up is the standard fare as well - defeat enemies to get experience points. When enough are defeated, you level up. That simple. The amount of points each stat goes up is constant (10 for each state, except Hearts, on normal mode). Using a save point automatically restores HP and MP.


 * HP: Hit points - taking damage reduces this number and when it hits zero, game over. Can be restored with potions and meat, as well as certain card combinations.
 * MP: Magic points - using DSS consumes magic - some effects deplete magic over time, others only on usage. MP is automatically regenerated, even while DSS is activated. Can be restored more quickly using mind restores.
 * Hearts: Ammo for your sub-weapons. Can be restored by finding hearts in candles and from enemies, as well as using heart items.
 * Str: Your strength - the higher it is, the more damage you do. Modified by numerous DSS combinations and several pieces of equipment.
 * Def: Your defense and the opposite of strength - the higher it is, the less damage you take from enemies. Affected by all equipment and some DSS combinations. Petrification also affects your defense.
 * Int: Intelligence, which determines the strength of magic spells (strength is also a factor in offensive magic). Affected by a few DSS combinations and several pieces of equipment.
 * Lck: Luck, which determines the chances of an enemy dropping an item. The higher your luck, the more likely an enemy is to drop a rare item (including cards) instead of a normal item. Affected by few DSS combinations and equipment.

Other stats that indirectly affect you:
 * LV: Level, when it goes up, your main stats are boosted.
 * EXP: Total experience points, when it reaches a certain amount, you level up.
 * Next: The amount of EXP needed to level up. This increases as your levels go up.
 * Status: Any aliments you are currently affected by.
 * Mode: Set at the start, this determines your base stats, level up bonuses, and if you can use cards.
 * Time: Total game play time (stops when you pause the game or are viewing a cut-scene. Some card combinations use this value to affect your strength or defense.
 * Rate: The percentage of the map explored. Some card combinations use this value to affect your strength or defense.

Status
Like Schrödinger's cat, Nathan can exist in states other than alive and dead. Specifically:


 * Poisoned: You lose a certain amount of HP every second or so. The effect is only temporary, though you will loose a significant amount of HP in the time it takes to disappear. The antidote can cure poison instantly. The Jupiter and Mandragora card combination restores approximately as much HP as poison takes, so using it can negate the effects of poison (though this will drain your MP considerably). Neptune and Manticore give you immunity to poison.
 * Cursed: You are unable to use your whip, sub-weapons or offensive DSS. Like poison the effects of curse wear off after a set amount of time, or can be cured with an item (cure curse). While you cannot use your weapons, you can still use your sliding kick attack. Against most enemies, this does as much damage as a whip attack. If you don't kill them in one hit with the kick you will take damage, but overall probably less that you would standing around waiting for the curse to wear off. Neptune and Black Dog make you immune to curses.
 * Petrified: While not as common as the other two in the game, petrification is a big threat in the towers as Medusa Heads always petrify on contact. When petrified you cannot move and your defense drops considerably. To break free, simply moving your fingers around the d-pad in a circular motion as quickly as possible. While there is no curative item, the Jupiter/Cockatrice card combination makes you immune to petrification. Neptune and Cockatrice prevent petrification.
 * Frozen: Exactly the same as petrified, except that it's caused by ice enemies instead of stone ones and card combos that prevent petrification (such as Jupiter/Cockatrice) do not stop you from being frozen. Neptune and Serpent prevent you from being frozen.
 * Slow No dashing, no double jumping, you walk at half speed, and you can only jump half as high (you can still wall-kick and slide-kick normally). A rare condition cause mostly by Arachne-like enemies and the Jupiter/Cockatrice card combinations. It cannot be healed and no cards give immunity, but is little more than a nuisance.

Elements
All enemies are associated with a specific element. Attacking with a weapon or spell of the opposite element does extra damage while attacking with the same element does reduced damage. Your whip (unless enhanced by the DSS), sub-weapons, kicks, and equipment are all non-elemental so they have the same effect on all enemies.

There are ten elements, each with an opposite and an associated card.


 * Fire: Associated with the Salamander card, opposite is Water/Ice. Most of the undead enemies are fire based - bombers, zombies, spirits.
 * Ice: Associated with the Serpent card, opposite is Fire. Ice enemies are almost exclusively in the Underground Waterway.
 * Plant: Associated with the Mandragora card. Plant enemies are all over the place, but heavily concentrated in the Warehouse and Galley.
 * Earth: Associated with the Golem card. Earth enemies are found everywhere and include most non-flying animals including spiders, Mud-Men, and Minotaurs.
 * Stone: Associated with the Cockatrice card. All enemies that can petrify are stone based, as are the skull pillars, mummies, and golems.
 * Poison: Associated with the Manticore card. All enemies that poison you are of the poison element which includes most snakes and insects.
 * Wind: Associated with the Griffin card. Almost all flying enemies are wind element based.
 * Lighting/Thunder: Associated with the Thunderbird card. A variety of enemies are thunder based, the obvious identification is that they use electrical attacks.
 * Holy: Associated with the Unicorn card, opposite is Dark. Cerberus and the Fallen Angel are two of the three most notable Holy enemies.
 * Dark: Associated with the Black Dog card, opposite is Holy. Most bosses, dark-magic using humans, humanoids, demons, and skeletons are Dark elementals.

Saving
As is normal in Castlevania, the game can be saved only in save rooms. This time around the save points look like weird towers with a ball of red energy in them. Save points also restore MP and HP completely, even if you don't save the game. If you confirm you want to save it overwrites your existing game file. To create multiple restore points, you have to save, reset the game, and then copy the file on the system menu.

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).