Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (NDS, 2008)

• Linear overarching structure (the optional areas can be done in either order, part of Dracula's castle is non-linear, various minor side quests)

• Two optional areas (training hall (platforming challenge) and large cavern)

• Fewer reasons to revisit previous areas though it is still required to get the good/real ending. There's still some backtracking within areas after gaining new abilities to progress

• One unlockable alternate playable char (Albus - can same screen teleport and high jump), Boss rush mode (beat the game)

• Frequent save points which also heal you, Some ammo/heart stations (your default ammo capacity is pretty low however and there are only single heart drops outside of the village, the lovers' ring does increase hearts per drop but its stats are so-so))

• Teleporters within larger areas (usually 2 per area)+consumable town portals/magical ticket items (one way though unlike in Diablo)

• Some decent puzzles (underwater exploding barrel physics puzzle - similar to Ecco, windy room, one puzzle style boss though it's a bit too easy)

• Unlockable hard mode (sometimes new enemies and more dangerous hazards)

• Audio cue when near treasure if wearing the dowsing hat (mid-late game item; there's also a hat that reveals breakable walls gained in the late game)

• Pretty good economy overall in that money stays relevant until the end-game unless you start selling off unused equipment (there's a support glyph (inire pecunia) that makes enemies and item containers drop 100G but only the ones that would've dropped gold anyway). Some items are a bit overly expensive however

• Multiple endings (good and bad)

• Some monster transformations (succubus/werebat (HP stealing secondary attack (only 1 HP at a time though), can't crouch), robot (lose MP instead of HP, very limited movement), black panther/werecat (rapid HP stealing main attack+can talk to cats); not enough of these though and the drop rates are annoyingly low on the robot and panther, ultimately they feel superfluous)

• No oxygen limit underwater

• Healing items are more expensive and don't heal that much until the late game (carry limit of 9 and need to finish a couple of fetch quests (involves a bit of grinding unless you're lucky) to buy high and super potions, can still stock up on the best items for the late game bosses if you sell some gear and grind a bit with the gold glyph)

• Can remove knockback entirely with the tower ring

• While there is an HP regen support glyph that you can find in the late game the effect is very slow

• Somewhat slow default movement (can be increased in the late game with a pair of boots you find but you'll have to sacrifice the stat boosts of other boots)

• Some sequence breaking possibilities in the late game via the boomerang weapon+magnet glyph combo (don't need flight)

• Non-linearity hack

Some notable cons:

• Some control/interface issues (have to time your dashes and attacks or the next one doesn't even register (back dashing has somewhat more delay/cooldown than in PoR) - can't mash the button to dash (some weapons like the knife make you stand still for a bit between attacks too unless using a combo with a faster weapon mapped to the other button or jumping in-between attacks), dashing is so ineffective against some enemies that you're better off jump attacking while moving away from the enemy, kinda floaty jump - slow falling speed, if you attack right before landing it's canceled - can be used for a quick extra hit as in previous games though, a stun animation plays after falling about a screen's length, map doesn't mark points of interest nor let you place markers, glyph/equipment/shop menus don't wrap around, etc)

• Sometimes very uneven difficulty

• Various corridor rooms with constantly respawning enemies in the first hostile area and some later ones

• Some trial & error (some bosses, finding the hidden exit out of the castle leading to the optional areas unless you equipped the right helmet when near it, enemies can sometimes be readying a devastating ranged attack while off screen as you move towards them so you barely have a chance to react, etc)

• Some tedious parts (curses (drains MP) become really annoying when attacks are MP-based+there's no invincibility period after using one so you can easily get cursed over and over in one fight, overly slow horizontal movement while underwater, certain flying enemies, sometimes overly binary enemy weapon type/elemental affinities, some glyph and gear drop rates are too low, etc)

• Weird drop system on the item containers in dracula's castle (they either drop only gold or only hearts, has a chance of changing when moving between sub areas)

• Some areas are very short and straightforward (the first forest for example is literally just a long corridor that you don't have to revisit later, these traversal areas could've had more interesting platforming and/or winding paths)

• Some items are placed out in the open without a combat/movement/puzzle challenge leading up to them

• Invisible roof in the sky in most outdoors areas

• Some copy paste rooms at Tristis pass and Dracula's Castle

Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review

Influenced by: Possibly Metroid Prime 3, Mega Man ZX 1-2

Influenced: Possibly Ore ga Omae o Mamoru, Momodora series