Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin was the second Castlevania game released for the Nintendo DS and was released by Konami in 2006. Portrait of Ruin is set in 1944, before the end of the Second World War, and Dracula‘s castle has appeared in man’s darkest hour, to push humanity over the brink into ruin.

You play as Jonathan Morris, and his partner Charlotte Aulin, and you can switch between these two characters at any time, or you can have both out at the same time, working together. Jonathan wields the classic Castlevania ‘Vampire Killer‘ whip (to begin with, but you can change weapons and there’s also a sub-plot about Jonathan not being able to use it), and Charlotte uses magic spells and weapons. The game plays in the bottom window and the map is shown at the top.

Portrait of Ruin follows the basic gameplay style established by the classic Symphony of the Night, mixing Role-Playing Game elements with platforming action. Collecting money is once again important, as is accruing items, which are dropped by defeated enemies. Many enemies have two drops – a common drop and a secret drop – and leaving a room and re-entering will re-spawn all the monsters, allowing you to kill them over and over again until you get the drop you want. Caution is required, though, as some monsters are much more dangerous than others. As is usual in Castlevania games, though, you can replenish your HP and MP by visiting a save room or by using food or potions.

The story begins in Dracula‘s castle and here you meet a ghost called “Wind” who agrees to help you. Wind will give you quests and provide useful items if you complete them. He also informs you that the current lord of Dracula‘s castle is a vampire called Brauner, who is using magical paintings to consolidate his power.

Each of these paintings harbours a secret, and that is: Jonathan and Charlotte can travel inside them and explore the world within. Once inside them the aim becomes: to find and destroy the boss, which will weaken vampire Brauner back in the main castle.

A major new gameplay element in Portrait of Ruin are “Cubes” that you collect and which provide you with ‘partner skills’. The “Wait Cube”, for example, allows you to call your partner and have them wait on one spot (by pressing down and ‘A’), which allows you to solve certain puzzles; the “Skill Cube” allows you to call your partner over and have them use their individual skill; the “Acrobat Cube” allows you to spring off your partner’s shoulders to jump higher; the “Push Cube” allows you to call your partner and have them push something with you, and so on. These cubes are categorised as ‘Relics’, and there are sixteen different ones in the game.

The graphics in Portrait of Ruin are mostly 2D, but in this game there are some 3D enemies and background elements (the Peeping Eye monsters are modelled in 3D, for example, which surprised me). Overall, the look of the game is excellent, with some stunningly detailed environments that get better and better (and weirder) as the game progresses.

The addition of quests; the partner mechanic, and the ability to travel back and forth between levels inside the paintings and the castle make this another unique game in the Castlevania series. I also noticed some areas and situations in Portrait of Ruin that pay tribute to Symphony of the Night, which I thought was cool.

There’s also a single-player ‘Boss Rush Mode’ (and an associated rankings page), and a multiplayer ‘Shop Mode’ (for item trading) and ‘Co-Op Mode’ (allowing players to play the main game cooperatively).

I’ve seen Portrait of Ruin described online as “a masterpiece”, and I’d probably have to agree. In fact: all three of the DS-based Castlevania games it could be argued are masterpieces.

More: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on Wikipedia
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