The second game in the Castlevania series, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, was originally released in Japan (as “Dracula II – Noroi no Fuuin“) for the Famicom Disk System in 1987, and in North America for the NES in 1988. Europe had to wait until 1990 for a release of the game.

Set seven years after the events of the first Castlevania, you once again play as vampire hunter Simon Belmont who this time is trying to remove a curse placed upon him by Dracula at the end of the previous game. To do that Belmont must find and collect five parts of Dracula’s body which are located inside five haunted mansions, and burn them on a hidden altar in the ruins of his castle.

Unlike the first Castlevania, Simon’s Quest is less linear, incorporating RPG elements with open-world exploration.

You begin in the town of Jova, with residents wandering around and buildings that you can enter through open doors. Talking to these NPCs (Non-Player Characters) reveals information about your quest*, and occasionally shops where you can buy things. Once you’ve exhausted your initial conversation options you must then venture out into the woods – and towards Castle Dracula – to start your quest proper.

*= Some of these NPCs provide misleading information, maybe because they fear reprisals from Dracula, so cannot be trusted. A few, however, do give you useful information, but it’s difficult to tell who is actually telling the truth, unless you read a guide. One thing I noticed is that NPCs tend to lie more the closer you get to Dracula’s Castle…

Belmont’s main weapon is his whip, which can be upgraded as you progress. You level-up by collecting hearts (dropped by defeated enemies), and your current level only determines your health, not your strength. Your health is shown as a vertical bar in the top left of the screen. There are two ways of replenishing health: either visiting a church in a town, or levelling-up. When you lose all your health you die and are resurrected, but you lose all your experience points (but not your levels or carried items).

In between each town there are forests, caves, stretches of water, and various other hazard-filled corridors, each linking the five mansions (although some are hidden and must be found – usually by activating a certain object in the right place). The mansions themselves are swarming with monsters and filled with traps. Some of these traps – like the false floors – are extremely annoying and can dump you back to the beginning again if you’re not careful. When you reach the final room inside each mansion you must reveal one of Dracula’s body parts and collect it via a special process (you have to buy an oak stake, and then hit a glowing sphere with it to reveal a bag with the item inside). Interestingly, you can actually use these collected body parts to do certain things, some of which are very useful. Like using Dracula’s rib as a shield to protect you from some projectiles. Some mansions also have boss battles to contend with, although these are relatively rare.

One new important feature of Castlevania II are day and night cycles. Between the hours of 6am and 6pm it’s daytime, and from 6pm to 6am night falls. You can check the time of day by pressing Start and accessing your inventory. This is important because NPCs and churches/shops are only available during the day, and monsters are more powerful (and more difficult to kill) at night. It’s worth noting that time stops inside mansions, inside Dracula’s Castle, and inside any building in a town, which you can use to your advantage by grinding to level up.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest is definitely a step-up from the first Castlevania and it is a game that is well-liked among those who’ve played it. It’s pretty challenging; is very playable, and hints at where the series would go in later years.

If you’re going to play Castlevania II now it’s probably worth finding and applying the fan-made re-translation/improvement hack by “Bisqwit” that was released in 2020. This enhances the game significantly by adding a map and various other quality-of-life features (like being able to carry more hearts; an opening cinematic; bug fixes, and a better text font). The screenshots here show that version, as well as the original Japanese title screen. It’s also worth noting that there are a number of other hacks and translations for this game, which can be viewed here.

More: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest on Wikipedia
More: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest on strategywiki.org
Steam: Castlevania on Steam
Steam: Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Steam
GOG: Castlevania 1, 2 & 3 on GOG.com