Chronicles of the Wolf Review - Screenshot 1 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

Chronicles of the Wolf is a tough game to review. A decade or so ago, 2D Metroidvanias were rarer, but they now represent one of gaming’s most enduring and best-developed genres.

But how do I assess a production like this that purposefully ignores many of the design changes that made the genre more accessible? This meaty retro-inspired game will leave a lot of players battered and bruised, ready to give up and swan off to the nearest tavern in its rural 18th-century French setting.

First, an essential statement: Chronicles absolutely nails its aims. It seems to want to be the definitive old-school Castlevania. It channels and improves on Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest from the NES, but with a design aesthetic that lands somewhere between the SNES and PS1 eras.

As you head off on your adventures, you’ll explore towns, fight enemies and bosses, interact with villagers, interpret clues. But Simon’s Quest’s divisive characteristics — hints that lead nowhere, obscure and hard-to-interpret instructions — have only been toned down, not entirely removed. Chronicles of the Wolf is an improvement on the design, not an apology.

Chronicles of the Wolf Review - Screenshot 2 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)

The game’s second section, which takes up the majority of the 20-hour runtime, is a dead ringer for Symphony of the Night’s castle location. That’s if you make it that far; the Castlevania tradition of hoodwinking and misdirection is alive and well here, manifesting in five possible endings and — I was less happy about this — multiple locations that lead to cheap, surprise deaths.

Forgetting nefarious tricks for a moment, Chronicles of the Wolf confidently forges its own mythology, separate from vampires, which allows it to stand on its own two feet.

You take on the role of Mateo Lombardo, an apprentice of the Rose Cross Order trying to rid the French countryside of the mysterious Beast of Gévaudan – a true-life creature that terrorised rural communities in the 1700s, which in this iteration appears very much to be a werewolf.

The developer — Migami Games (Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula), responsible for the two highly rated Castlevania: Lecarde Chronicles fan games — understands what makes Castlevania tick, but it just so happens that Konami’s series often asks a lot of its players, which, here, is the source of my general hesitation about who I can recommend the game to.

Chronicles of the Wolf Review - Screenshot 3 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

I love Metroidvanias. I’ve played more than my fair share. Blasphemous and Hollow Knight are two of my favourite games over the last decade, but these two examples seem pretty mainstream in comparison to Chronicles of the Wolf. Anyone who lacked the patience for either example need not make this visit to France. And if you did, then it still might not be for you.

It's not that Chronicles is hard – it’s not. Its combat is well-balanced, fun, and just challenging enough. But making progress can sometimes feel like a chore. Just as Mateo Lombardo moves through the game screens with Castlevania’s almost characteristic lack of pace, the game’s design demands genuine patience. For the right player, this will transport them back to the '90s – Chronicles of the Wolf feels refreshingly retro. For others, they’ll want to play something else.

Initially I enjoyed Chronicle’s specific flavour of exploring and backtracking. I was happy scrutinising the map for areas that I might be able to reach with one of the huge number of new abilities I was collecting along the way – the double jump, the air dash, feather boots that let me ride air currents.

Chronicles of the Wolf Review - Screenshot 4 of 4
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)

But given the vastness of some of the areas, and the smattering of fast-travel options, it feels inevitable that some players will miss a crucial hint or overlook a tucked-away item needed to progress. I feel as if these bottlenecks are more frequent here than most modern games would allow.

Your patience level for dealing with this kind of thing will define whether the game is for you or not. Personally, mine was tested multiple times, and by the halfway point, with so much of the game to go, my sense of having fun began to falter a bit. It’s a shame because smashing through skeletons, monsters, and acolytes with my ever-growing arsenal of weapons and attacks was genuinely fun, as was the platforming and the worldbuilding.

The game’s Castlevania-inspired (and therefore excellent) soundtrack did its best to keep my spirits up, and mostly succeeded. The bosses were enjoyable without ever causing me too many issues — as long as I stocked up on plenty of potions — and even ultimately minor technical issues (a bit of slowdown at two points in the game and a flashing black screen when I changed items in the menu, which seems to be a problem on other systems too) won't taint my final score below. In a way, they added to the retro charm.

Conclusion

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 embrace it as a worthy challenge.

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