10 Best Castlevania Games

Order of Ecclesia was the last of three 2D Castlevania games on the Nintendo DS, and could certainly hold its own alongside the others.

Taking place after the Belmont clan have disappeared, players took on the role of Shanoa, a woman imbued with the power of "glyphs" which could be absorbed from enemy attacks and then equipped to her arms and back. These could be weapons, magic spells or other abilities used to imbue her with a range of static powers. Players also gathered glyphs that would unlock unique traversal abilities to try and freshen up the game's many locales.

Highlights of Order of Ecclesia include some of the most spectacular boss fights in the series (certainly the best of the portable games, at the very least) as well the increased difficulty. Stripping away the Vampire Killer whip and its history was a gamble, but balanced against the other features put in, this felt like an attempt to liven up the classic Castlevania formula.

Order of Ecclesia might have suffered somewhat just to the stagnation of the franchise, however it controlled brilliantly and balanced the RPG stats and increased difficulty to create a truly satisfying action-platformer experience.