Let’s face it, if you are a Castlevania fan or just love metroidvania games in general, you’re probably sinking your teeth into Belmont’s Curse. And why not? After all, it just got a glowing review from our own Steve Watts, and like plenty of the rest of you, I’ve also been eagerly waiting for a new Castlevania adventure for over a decade. One indie team in particular seems keen to grab your attention once your time with Belmont's Curse is over, having recently released a demo for their Castlevania-adjacent roguelike. That game is Draftula, which asks, "What if Dracula commissioned you to build his labyrinthine castle?"
Draftula’s demo is available on Steam for everyone to try right now. It plays like a deckbuilder, but instead of collecting cards, you earn tile pieces that are castle rooms. The goal of each run is to place each room tile in such a way that you build a castle tall enough to prevent the vampire hunter from knocking it down at the end of the night. You can also inhabit each room with monsters, which can further slow the vampire hunter down. Each piece has a coin cost so you need to be strategic in how you construct Dracula's castle, and depending on your performance each run, you can earn hearts that can be spent between runs to unlock permanent upgrades.
It may sound easy, but the catch is that Dracula’s powers are somewhat weakened; he’s just woken up from a long slumber. Because of his diminished capabilities, you can't just immediately build the castle as a tower--to overcome certain height restrictions, you'll be required to use specific tiles to break the wards blocking you. Runs can conclude as quickly as several seconds or take as long as a few minutes, depending on which rooms and monsters show up and how much gold you can earn with each tile placement in order to place more rooms or monsters.
Of course, all of this is in vain. After each night, a heroic knight named Sir Del Montes ruthlessly tears down Dracula’s newly built castle. Players will then go to the hub area: a cliff overlooking the building site, where Dracula and various vendors reside. Some of these vendors sell new castle pieces for the hearts you collect over multiple runs, which in turn open opportunities to expand the castle beyond its current limits. Some building pieces are given temporarily, such as the one in the current demo build: the innkeeper, who wants his room surrounded by at least five other tiles. Del Montes even has some gentle words of encouragement for you, though he also says that he’ll knock down whatever you put up!
So far, almost every part of Draftula is meticulously calculated, from the roster of available parts to its pleasing retro vibe and chill music. The demo isn't very long, consisting of only a handful of runs before the lack of available room tiles halts progression--you just can't reach the next height requirement. However, of what's there, Draftula feels like a roguelike that rewards planning, and I hope the full game expands on its awesome gameplay loop.
My one big criticism is that Draftula needs an undo button just in case you make a mistake. It can be frustrating to accidentally misclick where I wanted a tile to go, so hopefully a way to circumvent that will be included in the full game.
But don't let my one complaint put you off trying out the game; the Draftula demo is great and it's only getting better. The demo has just been updated with a new Nightly mode, for example. This update adds a set number of tiles, a map, and mods that change the rules. These include bonuses that are granted whenever you place a room, such as randomly putting an Evil Eye room (which re-adds all other rooms in its row back to your available pieces) on the board after every fourth room you place, not being able to place more rooms in the same column of space during the turn you already placed a room there, and randomly distributing a copy of one room you’ve just played.
The scoring method in Nightly mode is also predetermined, with bonuses calculated for the number of rooms placed, the castle’s height, and any coins and gems earned for that run. It’s a good way to keep practicing before the game’s release. You can retry as many times as you like, but you can only submit your score to the leaderboard once.
There’s currently no release date set for Draftula. However, if you fancy a chill construction game on theme with the latest Castlevania adventure, or just need a break from its many difficult boss battles, consider giving this demo a go!