Japanese game designer Koji Igarashi, who has worked on the Castlevania series for a long time as a producer and lead writer, spoke about which games he liked the most in 2019. It is interesting that in the list published on , there were also his own games, including .
Due to his busy schedule, 51-year-old Igarashi admitted he barely found time to play anything. That is why he included three of his games on the list at once - re-releases of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from 1997 and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood from 1993 (they were released as part of , and back in 2018), as well as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Igarashi was the programmer, screenwriter and assistant development director for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which remains one of the best representatives of the Metroidvania genre. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night appeared in June of this year and received fairly warm reviews from the press, although not all fans were happy with it. Its development was funded on Kickstarter, where it raised over $5,5 million.
The developer was most impressed by the role-playing action is Platinum Games' newest title, releasing August 30th exclusively for Nintendo Switch. Its development was led by the leading designer Takahisa Taura, and the work was supervised by the creator of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, Hideki Kamiya. Journalists also spoke extremely positively about her, and the editor Martin Robinson called it the best game in the studio's history. IN Ivan Byshonkov noted that Astral Chain has set a new direction of development for Platinum Games, associated with βunusual, long, incredibly exciting projects that combine a huge number of mechanics and activities.β
Also in the top 5 was the highly rated card roguelike Slay the Spire. It left Steam Early Access in January 2019, and by March it was on sale 1,5 million copies. It was later released for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and at the beginning of 2020 it will visit Android and iOS. Finally, Igarashi highlighted Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the latest installment in the tactical RPG series, which was released exclusively for Nintendo Switch in July. It also received high ratings from the media and is selling successfully (by October, sales to 2,3 million copies).
The full list with developer comments is below.
Astral Chain
βThe action component is well done. The Legion was especially fun to control, making combat truly enjoyable."
Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood
βThese are not just projects in the creation of which I played a big role. Their release in Japan took place almost simultaneously with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It seemed to me that this was a sign from above.β
Slay the Spire
βI bought this game on Steam after seeing a lot of rave reviews. It reminded me of the first time I played Magic: The Gathering in English. The system for improving card decks here makes you remember , which I also really liked.β
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
βI haven't gotten very far, but I love these types of games. I want to play them leisurely. The romance is a little confusing, but the character development in every part of this series is top notch."
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
βThis is the one I played the most! It was unusual because she is very close to my heart. And its presence on the list illustrates the fact that this year I had no time to play games ... "
In September, speaking with Game Informer journalists, Igarashi , which plans to turn Bloodstained into a series. Now the developers continue to solve problems with performance and graphics in the version of the game for Nintendo Switch - the newest patch was released a few days ago.
Source: 3dnews.ru