“Sword or whip,” is the question that Koji Igarashi asked his fans when launching his Kickstarter for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, successor to the Castlevania series. In the series’ history, both weapons came with different play styles. But Circle of the Moon features one of the more creative solutions to bridging the gap between fans of either weapon.
The default weapon in Circle of the Moon is a leather whip. A classic, but a fairly basic iteration of it with a forward lash and a propeller-like spin. Get comfortable with it, since you’ll never pick up another weapon in the entire game. Instead, you get DSS cards. No, not Nintendo DS cartridges. The Dual Set-Up System.
DSS is unique to this iteration of Castlevania and allows the player to equip two magical cards to their character. Depending on the combination, it’ll have different effects on the player’s magic attack. It can modify the attributes of your whip or change your weapon into an entirely different form, including a variety of elemental swords. You can even transform the main character himself using certain cards.
So while you don’t get the joy of hoarding arms, the DSS cards are in some ways are a lot more exciting to find. Once you’ve gained a sizable collection, a single card can open up an entirely new arsenal of weaponry. And because it transforms your attack, you get the joy of both worlds with whips and swords.
Instead of a sword or whip, I’d rather have taken a card.
(Header Image Source: IMDb)
