Castlevania: Simon's Destiny [V1.4 OUT!]

[Batandy]

Castlevania : Simon's Destiny is a standalone non-profit GZDOOM based fan game born as a love letter to this legendary franchise.
This mod aims to reinvent the very first NES title of the franchise with a nostalgic yet brand new first person gameplay.
All the levels from the classic NES era game have been reimagined like never before, experience the tale of Simon's fight against Dracula and his army of the night!

V.1.4 Trailer

 

V.1.3 Trailer

 

Launch Trailer

Trailer

 

Gameplay Video (Early version)
 

 

Screenshots
 

Spoiler

 

Download V1.4

 

Mod DB page: http://www.moddb.com/mods/castlevania-simons-destiny

 

--------HOW TO INSTALL--------

* Download Gzdoom (Version 3.7.1 or newer) at https://zdoom.org/downloads
* Put Castlevania.ipk3 in the same folder of Gzdoom
* Open Gzdoom and select "Castlevania: Simon's Destiny" in the game window (Make sure video settings below the selection box are set on "Hardware (OpenGL)")
* Play!

 

-Nestalgic Music Pack-
Classic tunes from the original game!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/x3ycs46bq8g531x/CV_Nestalgic.pk3

-Super Castlevania IV Music Pack-
Music from SCIV! Quite tense and atmospheric!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3p3wycs414ceqb6/CV_SCIV.pk3

-Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Music Pack-
Made By KenjiKusanagi
Music from this WiiWare exclusive!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bho8yclmgnc5m5d/rebirth_music.zip?dl=0

-SOTN Dracula Sound Pack-
Made By YukesVonFaust
Your favorite Dracula voice is back in this sound pack!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0uslx5qsms2z2va/YVF-Castlevania-Simon-Destiny-SOTNDraculaVoicepack.pk3?dl=0

Spoiler

* Standalone? So i don't need Doom2 to run it, right?
Correct! Just grab Gzdoom, drop Castlevania.ipk3 in and you're ready to start your quest!
* Thing X isn't working properly.
Please report it in this thread: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=57800, it's the main development thread, i can help you, and if it's a bug, i'll fix it!
* Is this supposed to be accurate to the NES Castlevania?
It's not a 1:1 3D port of the original game, it's more of a reimagining of it.
* Are you gonna make a 3D Symphony Of The Night?
No, simply because that game is a masterpiece, it's perfectly crafted in every single possible way, and even getting remotely close to it would be a really hard task.
* If SOTN is not an option, what about Simon's Quest, Dracula Curse, Bloodlines or Rondo Of Blood?
If i had to work on a sequel, it would probably be Simon's Quest, but i have no plans for that at the moment
* Can i use your mod as a base to make my own Castlevania mod? Can i make addons for your mods?
Sure! You can do whatever you want with it, just put me in the credits!
* I like your stuff, are you working on other mods?
Yes! I'm working on Doom: The Golden Souls 2, a mix of oldschool games and Doom! Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/goldensouls2/

 

Spoiler

[[  THINK YOU SHOULD BE IN THE CREDITS BUT ARE NOT LISTED? SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE I'LL ADD YOU TO THIS README AND THE INGAME CREDITS  ]]

Fangame by Andrea Gori "Batandy"

Whip - Mike12, TerminusEst13, Captain J

Simon Sprites - Khefz
Sway- Nash
Enemies - Vader, Finalizer, Horror Movie Guy, Tormentor667, Espi, Popsoap, Ghastly_dragon, Rolls, DoomJedi, Ringman
Props - ETTiNGRiNDER, Blox, Captain Toenail, Gez, Gothic, scalliano, cgman
Fonts - Boba Fonts, Jimmy, NeuralStunner
Textures - Zdoom Texture Thread, osjclatchford, Enjay, empessah, Gothic

Music (Spoilers ahead!)

Poison Mind - Yaworski Remix Studio
Level 1 - Dracula Battle I - Perfect Selection
Level 2 - JILost
Level 3 - devilbelmont
Level 4 - Castlevania The Arcade
Level 5 - Dinnick the 3rd
Level 6 - The Lost Vampire Killer (Album) composition arranged by nijeil
Den - Dracula Battle II - Perfect Selection
Title Screen - Dracula New Classic - Perfect Selection
Dracula Battle:
Phase 1 - Matthew Beckham
Phase 2 - Castlevania The Arcade
Phase 3 - Friedrich Habetler

 

Build your own Simon's Destiny retro box!

* Download the template here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/y50lmq53tz684cx/SimonDestinyBoxart.zip
* Print the two files on A4 paper
* Cut, glue and assemble!

Edited February 25, 2019 by Batandy

[[McD] James]

Castlevania is my favourite video game series, and this looks really, really incredible. 

[SOSU]

I can't wait for it!!!

[PinkBall]

Looks badass man!

[General Rainbow Bacon]

Looks amazing! 

 

[Antediluvia]

On 10/21/2017 at 10:01 AM, Ajora said:

Castlevania is my favourite video game series, and this looks really, really incredible. 

SECONDED

[Job]

Wow. 

 

Edit: actually, I'd like to expand on my statement above. Ever since I first played Super Castlevania IV and, later, SotN as a teenager, I always dreamed of making a Castlevania-Doom mod. What you've actually done is created something which, in reality, far and away exceeds my wildest vision. To me, who as an adult that can fully appreciate the effort, that is both indescribable and impressive as hell. 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Job

[Batandy]

 

OUT NOW! Happy Halloween! Download in the first post!

[Merry Widow]

Thank you for this!:D

[CARRiON]

FUCKING AMAZING.

[Lila Feuer]

This looks very professionally made, what a nice surprise release!

[MegaZzZeux]

Took another short hiatus from Doom... and as I log back on here and see this, I am excited to give it a try.

 

Looks fantastic!

[ZALGO]

Oh boy, here we go...

 

I'll be sure to playthrough the game and give my thoughts and opinions on the mod.

 

I think I'll even put it on youtube for Halloween.

 

It's Mr. Zalgo if you're interested.

[Batandy]

Simon's Destiny is also on Moddb now!

http://www.moddb.com/mods/castlevania-simons-destiny

[Batandy]

Watch James & Mike play Simon's Destiny in the latest James & Mike Mondays!

 

 

[Suitepee]

As a fan of Doom: The Golden Souls and the mapper behind that, I hope to check this out eventually at some point.

[Ermin]

I have not played this mod so i may be wrong by saying this, but after watching james and mikes play through, it just seems like 50% of the gameplay is whipping candles for hearts. I know its optional but it does come across to me as tedious and boring, i know this was the core gameplay of the original but there must be a better way of implementing this.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Ermin

[Skeletonpatch]

I have never played any Castlevania game before (honestly never even heard of the series until I started watching AVGN), but this looks awesome!

 

I plan on checking out the series proper at some point in time, but I don't have the money right now.

[DMPhobos]

Recently vinesauce streamed the mod

 

[Batandy]

Yeah i saw it live, i really enjoyed it

Here's part two

 

[Crusader No Regret]

Runs in GZDoom 2.4.0 for me, huzzah.  So far appears to work perfectly though I've only cleared the first two levels so this isn't a complete picture.  Even old-schooled it with the command line; this is the first time I've used the -iwad command.

 

Captures the feel of the source game, including the difficulty.  Normal is whipping me quite hard.  Some of this challenge is self inflicted as I'm playing this without look up/look down (defined but awkward and not used to using them).  Even with the better agility, health conservation tactics are in order here since health is about as common as in Castlevania.  Very easy so save oneself into an unwinnable position if careless.  The various ways I've died also pay homage to the source material: Boned by skeletons, knocked down pits by Medusa heads, pecked by birds, missed jumps, and more.  And of course, subweapon choice can greatly impact the difficulty at certain points.  I wonder if the invincibility potion will make an appearance at some point; guess I'm not far enough in yet.  First boss I won by the narrowest of margins; second boss was refreshingly easy after the level leading up to it.  Cheesed it by applying my knowledge of the source game.

 

To further feed the experience, I'll limit my saves to 2-3 per level (along with the autosaves) and aim to place them in about the same location as the checkpoints in the NES game.  Wonder if my sanity will hold out along with my self-imposed challenge.

[Batandy]

5 hours ago, Crusader No Regret said:

Runs in GZDoom 2.4.0 for me, huzzah.  So far appears to work perfectly though I've only cleared the first two levels so this isn't a complete picture.  Even old-schooled it with the command line; this is the first time I've used the -iwad command.

 

Captures the feel of the source game, including the difficulty.  Normal is whipping me quite hard.  Some of this challenge is self inflicted as I'm playing this without look up/look down (defined but awkward and not used to using them).

You should enable mouselook, this mod was made with modern features in mind, so playing it without being able to look in any direction will be really hard in maps like Map04 and Map06, not to mention that candles are hard to hit that way

 

Review by MrIcarus!

 

[Crusader No Regret]

  Handy to know that mouselook is intended.  If I feel I'm walled, I'll go for it; until then, i'm enjoying challenging myself.  I do miss being able to snipe hanging bats with daggers but I'll live.  I'm genuinely having fun with this; I also enjoy writing several paragraphs about the difficulty because doing so is enjoyable for me.

 

  I seem to have reached the point where I've gotten skilled enough to enjoy this more, which is also an experience I've had with other Konami games such as Gradius and Contra games.  Stage 3 felt like a wall at first though between getting better at handling enemies and searching for wall meat based on where it could be found in the NES game, pulled through.  Completed the stage portion twice actually as I wasn't a full health for the boss so replayed the stage.  The Medusa Head gauntlet was a particularly pleasing accomplishment.  After multiple tries either taking several hits to go through or dying there, felt so good to perfectly weave through without a scratch.

  Also passed Stage 4 despite not using any checkpoint saves yet.  Did make use of the autosave for the boss though; that took several tries to pull through.  Not being able to snipe skeletons with subweapons does make things harder but it was the Mermen that kept wearing me down; they are fast on the trigger.  When I became more liberal with using the stopwatch, was able to make it through the caves.  Thankfully, the outdoor section doesn't endlessly spawn enemies like the NES game; that would be scary.  No way to hit the skele-dragon without mouselook but since one can walk under it (like the NES game, another fun reference), it wasn't a wall.  Alchemy lab has expanded.  Like in the caves, the skeletons made a nuisance of themselves until I could climb up to their level but stopwatch saves the day.  Traded it in at the very end for dagger or cross to take out the skele-dragon over the boss door.  Bit indecisive over weapon choice for boss but went with holy water since that's how I beat it in the NES game.  Boss was a damage race for me.  Attempted to keep main boss stunned with holy water while doing my best not to get too mych stabbity death from the minion.  Won eventually.

 

Stage 5 awaits.  Scouting it out, axe knights are scary.

[Demonologist]

Took me some time to get accustomed to this (especially when it comes to the last level since I suck at platforming, so crazy sequences it features aplenty are genuinely intimidating to me), but in the end I can definitely say that I had some quality time. I'm far from being a Castlevania enthusiast (as long as we're not talking Lords of Shadow series that are much more like my alley, macrosurgical dissections ahoy), yet from such a perspective things are interesting and engaging enough to... feel the vibe, so to speak.

Overall - a very nice fast-paced reflexes-oriented marathon that can basically be completed in one evening (a shame, really, wish it would've been longer), and a great piece of work overall, a worthy distraction from space marine's chores. Thank you for making this!

 

P.S. Dracula fight was easy as pie, duh. Though I suppose all bosses aren't that much of a hassle once it becomes evident just how effective the boomerang cross is against them.

[Batandy]

Download V1.2
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9l5h70va015vqav/SimonDestiny_v1.2.zip

 

-Nestalgic Music Pack-
Classic tunes from the original game!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/x3ycs46bq8g531x/CV_Nestalgic.pk3

-Super Castlevania IV Music Pack-
Music from SCIV! Quite tense and atmospheric!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3p3wycs414ceqb6/CV_SCIV.pk3

[Crusader No Regret]

I really enjoy the dynamic where hearts are plentiful while health is scarce, really encourages using the subweapons.

 

Completed the mod, still with no mouselook.  Normal difficulty, final score of 163900.  Finished a week or two ago but haven't posted about it.   Enjoyed it overall.  I have a lot to write about the experience about the last two stages.  Will cover stage 6 in a future post; have lots of words for stage 5 as it is.

 

Stage 5 is winnable without mouselook albeit some sections are much more difficult.  The dragon pillar at the top of a set of staris is a particularly nervewracking obstacle with no axe or stopwatch.  Needed to rush it with well timed whip snaps and if my timing or positioning was off, would get severe fireball burns.  Skeletons on elevated platforms had a merry time taking shots at me but they're evadable even if I swore at the times I peek around a corner and one immediately lobs a bone.  Axe knights in general are tough opponents.  They're durable, the thrown axes come out fast, and their melee strike hurts.  My favorite tactic is to alternate holy water and whip to keep one stunned.  (side note: I don't know what it is about the very first one in the stage that causes me to aim my holy water into the dip in floor, which messes up my stunlock attempt and prompts a scramble.  Well placed)  Finally broke out the checkpoint save; when I finally got a run where I had full health after the red key door and the introduction to blood skeletons, saved before entering the next door.

 

  Sometime during my numerous failed attempts, I learn one can whip enemies through doors.  This can be quite handy in some places.

 

  More axe knights and other assorted foes, handle with well placed holy water.  A tough section soon comes up, well tough the way I played it.  With mouselook, I would keep holy water; without it, i needed the axe.  There's a skeleton and an axe knight on platforms too high up to reach with a jumping whip crack.  With mouselook, it's as simple as looking up enough to aim holy water on their platforms.  Without it, I axe the skeleton and lob axes at the close axe knight while weaving around to throw off the aim from other enemies on the high ground.  All this while staying out of the clutches of the blood skeletons.  Trying to take out the other axe knight is a nervewracking hit and run exercise.  Rest of the segment up to the blue key door is easier by comparison.  This would be the location of a second checkpoint save I never use.

 

  Some dragon pillars fall to cross power before the last major challenge of the stage portion.  It's not too tough to reach the boss door but I want to have full health entering the boss fight.  The hallway with the medusa heads and the axe knights will be familiar to those who have reached that portion of the NES game.  In this mod, I achieve my goal by luring the first axe knight away from the medusa heads before fighting it.  The second one I skip past, scarf the wall meat just before the boss door, and enter without fighting the other axe knight.  100 hearts, cross, full health, let's do this.

 

  This boss is a real step up the difficulty scale.  The stage 3 boss was easily handled with hit and run tactics and staying on the move.  Took some hits but it ran out of life first without needing to think too hard about dodging.  This one doesn't let me get away with that.  Needed to put actual effort into avoiding the flying scythes.  I remember trying to whip them like in the NES game (and it does destroy them) but deciding it wasn't worth the loss of focus.  Without mouselook, I need to jump to land hits but I don't think that influences the challenge that much.  Eventually get a run where I avoid enough of its attacks long enough to land enough of my crosses and whip cracks to win.

[Crusader No Regret]

Stage 6 writeup and thoughts:

 

  So I can keep boomerang or switch out for stopwatch or axe at the start of the stage.  I did try out keeping boomerang but in the end, settled with stopwatch for the stage.  The bridge run is simple (though I did have a funny fail where a bat blocked my movement and I ended up falling) and even easier than the NES game; just charge across.  If I was being true to the NES checkpoints, I'd place a save upon entering the clock tower but since there's barely any ground covered, I waited until obtaining the first key and making it to the first locked door before placing a save.

  Platform jumping and conveyor belts: felt like quite the difficulty spike compared to previous levels.  It was quite nervewracking but always felt fair.  Stopwatch lets me deal with dragon pillars safely; they'd be quite the hazard otherwise.  Fighting on conveyors feels suitably scary and I passed on the sidetrip for extra treasure.  After a tense retrieval of yellow key, placed a save in front of the yellow door.  Turns out this is too early relative to the NES game; the matching checkpoint is after going outdoors again and the music changes.  An axe knight is the main danger in between; used stopwatch again to beat it down.  Traded out stopwatch for cross for boss battle.  Wow, the only sign of non-hidden meat, almost like Drac is setting the table for a dinner guest.

  Boss time.  Like any well designed boss, it beat me down until I learned its patterns and worked out a way to deal with them.  I worked out that which way he opens the cape indicates which attack will come but they still come out so fast to dodge on sight.  Black balls would nail me if I tried to dodge due to their tracking nature.  Found tossing a cross preemptively would neutralize two of the possible attacks while still giving enough time to scoot away from the third.  Thought I would need to jump and hit him in the head to inflict damage but it turns out to be unnecessary, which makes life a little easier.

  Form two has the shockwaves and the fire.  Took a few tries before I worked out what to do to reliably dodge the shockwaves.  That leaves the fire which comes out so fast that I couldn't really react on sight.  Came down to hit and run (to throw off his aim) and try to outlast him.  Third form is actually easiest to reliably avoid the attacks.  I needed to jump to land hits, no problem.  Actually got a lucky win the first time I reached it.  In a mirror of the first boss fight, I had but a sliver of life left when I landed the winning blow.

 

  Could have gone for an invincibility potion somewhere, more for the reference than any balance reasons.  Early in the last stage would be a place for one so as to not be able to carry one to the boss fight.  Doesn't affect my overall enjoyment of the mod, feels successful in translating the experience of the NES game to the engine.

 

 

[Master O]

On 10/21/2017 at 9:51 AM, Batandy said:

Castlevania : Simon's Destiny is a standalone non-profit GZDOOM based fan game born as a love letter to this legendary franchise.
This mod aims to reinvent the very first NES title of the franchise with a nostalgic yet brand new first person gameplay.
All the levels from the classic NES era game have been reimagined like never before, experience the tale of Simon's fight against Dracula and his army of the night!

 

Launch Trailer

Trailer

 

Gameplay Video (Early version)
 

 

Screenshots
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Download V1.2
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9l5h70va015vqav/SimonDestiny_v1.2.zip

 

Mod DB page: http://www.moddb.com/mods/castlevania-simons-destiny

 

--------HOW TO INSTALL--------

* Download Gzdoom (Version 3.2.1 or newer) at https://zdoom.org/downloads
* Put Castlevania.ipk3 in the same folder of Gzdoom
* Open Gzdoom and select "Castlevania: Simon's Destiny" in the game window (Make sure video settings below the selection box are set on "Hardware (OpenGL)")
* Play!

 

-Nestalgic Music Pack-
Classic tunes from the original game!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/x3ycs46bq8g531x/CV_Nestalgic.pk3

-Super Castlevania IV Music Pack-
Music from SCIV! Quite tense and atmospheric!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/3p3wycs414ceqb6/CV_SCIV.pk3

-Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Music Pack-
Made By KenjiKusanagi
Music from this WiiWare exclusive!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bho8yclmgnc5m5d/rebirth_music.zip?dl=0

-SOTN Dracula Sound Pack-
Made By YukesVonFaust
Your favorite Dracula voice is back in this sound pack!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0uslx5qsms2z2va/YVF-Castlevania-Simon-Destiny-SOTNDraculaVoicepack.pk3?dl=0

  Reveal hidden contents

* Standalone? So i don't need Doom2 to run it, right?
Correct! Just grab Gzdoom, drop Castlevania.ipk3 in and you're ready to start your quest!
* Thing X isn't working properly.
Please report it in this thread: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=57800, it's the main development thread, i can help you, and if it's a bug, i'll fix it!
* Is this supposed to be accurate to the NES Castlevania?
It's not a 1:1 3D port of the original game, it's more of a reimagining of it.
* Are you gonna make a 3D Symphony Of The Night?
No, simply because that game is a masterpiece, it's perfectly crafted in every single possible way, and even getting remotely close to it would be a really hard task.
* If SOTN is not an option, what about Simon's Quest, Dracula Curse, Bloodlines or Rondo Of Blood?
If i had to work on a sequel, it would probably be Simon's Quest, but i have no plans for that at the moment
* Can i use your mod as a base to make my own Castlevania mod? Can i make addons for your mods?
Sure! You can do whatever you want with it, just put me in the credits!
* I like your stuff, are you working on other mods?
Yes! I'm working on Doom: The Golden Souls 2, a mix of oldschool games and Doom! Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/goldensouls2/

 

  Reveal hidden contents

[[  THINK YOU SHOULD BE IN THE CREDITS BUT ARE NOT LISTED? SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE I'LL ADD YOU TO THIS README AND THE INGAME CREDITS  ]]

Fangame by Andrea Gori "Batandy"

Whip - Mike12, TerminusEst13
Sway- Nash
Enemies - Vader, Finalizer, Horror Movie Guy, Tormentor667, Espi, Popsoap, Ghastly_dragon, Rolls, DoomJedi, Ringman
Props - ETTiNGRiNDER, Blox, Captain Toenail, Gez, Gothic, scalliano, cgman
Fonts - Boba Fonts, Jimmy, NeuralStunner
Textures - Zdoom Texture Thread, osjclatchford, Enjay, empessah, Gothic

Music (Spoilers ahead!)

Poison Mind - Yaworski Remix Studio
Level 1 - Dracula Battle I - Perfect Selection
Level 2 - JILost
Level 3 - devilbelmont
Level 4 - Castlevania The Arcade
Level 5 - Dinnick the 3rd
Level 6 - The Lost Vampire Killer (Album) composition arranged by nijeil
Den - Dracula Battle II - Perfect Selection
Title Screen - Dracula New Classic - Perfect Selection
Dracula Battle:
Phase 1 - Matthew Beckham
Phase 2 - Castlevania The Arcade
Phase 3 - Friedrich Habetler

  Reveal hidden contents

Build your own Simon's Destiny retro box!

* Download the template here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/y50lmq53tz684cx/SimonDestinyBoxart.zip
* Print the two files on A4 paper
* Cut, glue and assemble!

 

How this did not win a Cacoward for 2017 is beyond me.

[Batandy]

Thanks for the appreciation, but please do not quote the entire first post

 

 

http://www.moddb.com/games/hello-neighbor/features/editors-choice-mod-of-the-year-2017

Castlevania: Simon's Destiny won an Editor's choice award in ModDB's Mod Of The Year 2017! Really unexpected and i can't be thankful enough!

[Batandy]

V1.3 Is Out!
Download

https://www.moddb.com/mods/castlevania-simons-destiny/downloads/castlevania-simons-destiny-v13

Experience Castlevania : Simon's Destiny like never before with tons of visual improvements!