It seems the people at Konami have decided to pilfer more money from my wallet in November of this year, as they have just announced a second Nintendo DS Castlevania title, Portrait of Ruin. The news was not exactly a surprise, on account of Nintendo Power’s less than cryptic remarks in their last issue, which utilized some of the worst wordplay ever.

They have not announced an official release date (I mean, when do Nintendo DS games ever release on time) but it is expected to hit stores in November, at the dawn of the early Christmas rush.

This Castlevania title - according to the description found everywhere - will apparently play in a similar fashion to Julius’ Mode from Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrows. That is to say, there are two main characters - Jonathan Morris, a vampire hunter who uses a whip (the Belmont clan) and Charlotte Orlean, a magic user (the Belnades clan) - and the player can freely switch between the two during gameplay.

The game takes place during World War II, where Morris and Orlean are battling two vampiric sisters who are attempting to bring Dracula back to life because, well, it seems to be the “happening” thing to do. Both characters - apparently - have the ability to use summons, and the game makes a note of pointing out there are 100 different adversaries.

Due to this number being cited, I’m inclined to assume that the next Castlevania installment will have the characters operate in a similar fashion to Soma Cruz - lead character of Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow - who could kill enemies and take their souls for future usage. While Soma could use souls in different ways (offensive, defensive, tactical and ability), it is unclear if Portrait of Ruin will offer the same opportunities or if the main characters can merely “acquire” all 100 enemies as offensive summons (think every modern RPG-style summoning).

Personally, I was quite partial to the Soma-method, and I would like to see it return with a few more useful creatures to use. There were some that were pathetically useless in Dawn of Sorrow, and it made gathering the more useless ones to be a tedious task.

Now that we’ve heard a bit more information on this title, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is going up on my game wishlist (which presently consists of mostly DS games). I’m beginning to hate the temptation of that foul little device…