While Konami has seemingly taken a break from many of its franchises likeSilent HillandMetal Gear,Castlevaniaremains the lone bright spot for the company thanks in large part to the success it hasrecently found on Netflix. With a third season currently in development, Konami could be thinking about using that positive momentum to bring the franchise back to gaming platforms in the near future.
According to a recent filing with the Australian Classification Board, Konami has registered a multiplatform game calledCastlevania Anniversary Collection. While the listing doesn’t have many details, it has been rated PG for mild fantasy themes and violence. What makes this listing so odd is that it’s been 33 years since the very firstCastlevaniareleased, a milestone which isn’t typically celebrated. Therefore, it’s more like that this filing is intended to either be a placeholder in case the company wants to do something down the road or perhaps signalling a collection is coming down the road.
It’ll be interesting to see what games make this potential anniversary collection considering the lengthy lineage of the franchise. Could this include classic games from the NES and SNES side-scrolling days or perhaps something similar to therecent PS4 exclusiveCastlevania Requiemwhich included the popular classic titlesCastlevania: Symphony of the NightandCastlevania: Rondo of Blood. There’s also a chance this collection could be a more robust offering and include many if not all games from the franchise.
However, the biggest clue as to what’s included could come from the listing which indicates brief nudity, something which was present for the more recent MercurySteam games. In fact, next year will technically be the 10th anniversary sinceCastlevania: Lords of Shadowfirst launched on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms. Perhaps this listing hints at a possible collection forLords of Shadowand the two games that followed it.
Following the very public Hideo Kojima split and the critical failure ofMetal Gear Survive, Konami has been fairly silent in the months that followed.Castlevaniahas remained one of its strongest IPs lately thanks to the aforementionedCastlevania Requiemlaunch as well as both Richter and Simon Belmont being prominently featured as playable characters in Nintendo’s popular fighting game,Super Smash Bros Ultimate. With this recent classification listing as well as a storyrecap being added to the officialCastlevaniawebsite, it’s looking more and more likely that something new may be on the way soon.
