Halloween is on the way and it’s that time of the year where you start seeing vampires, mummies, bats, spiders, zombies and all kinds of other spooky symbols of horror all over the place. Know where else you’d see these scary creatures all over the place? Castlevania. That’s right, to celebrate Halloween, we’re journeying back to Dracula’s castle and exploring the best frights he has to offer. Of course, you can’t have Castlevania without the Belmont family running around trying to stop Dracula's evil from spreading. Be ready to whip some candles for hearts and to throw boomerang-like crosses at skeletons, because Castlevania has returned. Dracula always resurrects himself somehow, and it's time we revisit Count Vlad to conquer the best and worst 2D entries this series has to offer.

The Castlevania series focuses on the Belmont family's ongoing fight across the centuries to thwart Dracula whenever he decides to arise from his coffin. The series' overall lore spans nearly 1,000 years, starting (chronologically) with Leon Belmont and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence on the PlayStation 2 and ending with Soma Cruz and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on the Nintendo DS (we're just going to act like the reboot series never happened, mainly because Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2 were horrible). Each game traditionally has you playing a Belmont (or some other hero character trying to end the evil emanating from Dracula and his castle), where you must explore the depths of Castlevania and destroy its dark lord. Along the way, you'll fight Dracula's legions of monsters, most of which are taken from the Universal and Hammer era of classic horror films. Don't be surprised to fight Frankenstein's Monster, Medusa, the Mummy, aquatic monsters that look like they were taken from the Black Lagoon and even Dracula himself.

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