Chronicles of the Wolf

Fans of Castlevania will absolutely lap this Chronicles of the Wolf, as it is basically a member of that storied lineage in all but name.

I loved Chronicles of the Wolf. It’s rare to find a game inspired by proto-Metroidvania NES adventure games. It’s also rare to find a game that looks like a Sega Genesis action platformer. These aspects set the game apart from other contemporary Metroidvanias. The little bit of needed menu polish will hopefully be patched soon, because Chronicles of the Wolf is one of my favorite games of 2025. It definitely has my favorite music from any game of 2025. If you’re at all curious, please don’t hesitate to pick it up.

Chronicles may have the sprawling, interconnected map, RPG-style progression and upgrades, and multiple endings of the Igavania lineage, but it also packs in plenty of daunting puzzles, stiff movement, occasionally sharp difficulty spikes, and a general lack of clear direction that arbitrarily lengthens the experience. As someone who's devoured every Metroidvania I can get my hands on since before the term was coined, I couldn't put Chronicles of the Wolf down, but it is unabashedly old-school in a way that might turn off newer Metroidvania fans used to games like Hollow Knight and its ilk.

Hugely inspired by Castlevania, Chronicles of the Wolf offers a fairly lengthy gothic adventure where players explore a dark, interconnected world to take down an evil menace. It looks nice, has a great soundtrack and is mostly fun to play, but there are some balancing and design issues that hold it back from greatness.

Chronicles of the Wolf is a confident, old-school Metroidvania that asks a lot of its players. Its DNA is from another gaming era, and simply being a fan of the genre won’t guarantee you’ll enjoy it. If modern quality-of-life features like marking your map or being gently nudged forward are preferable, there are better options elsewhere. But if you’ve got the patience to revisit a time when games were slower and more cryptic, and the pacing was a little more intense, Chronicles of the Wolf is like a rich, dark relic that you’ll treasure. For every player put off by its demands, another will em...

While I enjoy the Castlevania series a pretty good amount, I don’t think I have the same degree of fondness that others saturate themselves in. I gave Bloodstained a try, and it was fine, nothing particularly great or awful about it. I acknowledge the legacy that is Symphony of the Night, but nothing about the game grabbed me in a permanent stranglehold.

Some games wear their inspiration on their sleeve. For other games, not only is their whole sleeve made of inspiration, but so is the rest of their outfit. Chronicles of the Wolf, developed by Migami Games, is definitely in the latter category, very strongly evoking the 1990s Castlevania games but never quite establishing an identity of its own or taking note of how the metroidvania subgenre has evolved over the past 25 years. As a nostalgia trip for fans of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night...