Gameloft is known for its rip-offs of popular franchises. Modern Combat is obviously inspired by Call of Duty, Eternal Legacy is based off Final Fantasy, Dragon Hunter looks pretty close to Diablo. Especially in the early smartphone marketplace, they offered surprisingly decent clones that were more than just match three puzzle games.
In 2010, their mobile game Soul of Darkness was ported to DSiWare. It turns out that it’s a surprisingly good Castlevania-inspired treat. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia released on Nintendo DS nearly two years before, but Konami seemed too busy with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow on consoles to care about continuing the portable entries.
The presentation’s generic, but the gameplay is surprisingly faithful to the post Symphony of the Night Castlevanias with 2D action platforming, transformation spells and some basic puzzle mechanics. The big difference is that the game is linear, like older Castlevanias, as you move from level to level.
Nowadays, you can find metroidvania-style games everywhere, but Soul of Darkness is a surprisingly competent game which you can still download via the eShop on Nintendo 3DS.
(Header Image Source: Giant Bomb)
