Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is a platform-adventure game developed and published by Konami. The game was released on November 16, 2006 in Japan, and in North America on December 5, 2006 for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. Portrait of Ruin is the first Castlevania to feature a cooperative multiplayer gameplay mode and the first handheld Castlevania to have English voice-overs, outside of its original Japanese release.
Portrait of Ruin is set in 1944 Europe during World War II, and is a continuation of the story from Castlevania: Bloodlines. The game introduces protagonists and antagonists to the Castlevania series as well as expand on the two character gameplay found in the previous Nintendo DS Castlevania title, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Portrait of Ruin has met with an overall positive critical response and has received high ratings from reviews, along with several awards.
Plot[]
Prior to the start of the game, the two sisters, Stella and Loretta travel to Dracula's castle in search of their father, Eric Lecarde. After traversing through the castle, the two arrive at Brauner's lair where they find their father defeated. Seeing the two sisters, Brauner grabs them and turns them into vampires. At the beginning of the game, Jonathan and Charlotte encounter Vincent at the gates of the castle, who serves as a merchant. Upon entering the castle, Jonathan and Charlotte encounter an enigmatic blue figure that they first identify as hostile. After the figure transforms into a humanoid male, he explains that he was killed a short time ago and had cast a magical barrier to keep himself conscious while still within the confines of the castle. He introduces himself as "Wind".
Shortly after meeting Wind, Jonathan and Charlotte find one of Brauner's magical portraits. Unable to destroy it from outside, the two travel into the world within. Soon, they find Brauner's channeler, a Dullahan. Shortly after its defeat, one of the vampire sisters appears and disdains their efforts, saying their control is lessened in only a minor degree. Later, when entering the second portrait, they find Brauner and the two twins; Brauner laughs at the notion of reviving Dracula, as he has failed too many times to control humanity, but concedes his power is too great to ignore. Both sisters desire to kill the two humans, but Brauner sees Dracula's servant Death as a greater threat, as he could wrest control from him far more easily than them. While exploring the castle, Charlotte and Jonathan encounter Death, who acts as if Dracula were already revived. When informed Dracula is still dead, and that another vampire is controlling the castle, he scoffs at the idea of a hand other than Dracula's to rule Castlevania. Yet, he is gravely disturbed when he sees the statements are true, and promptly leaves to seek a way to destroy Brauner and revive Dracula.
Jonathan and Charlotte encounter Stella at the base of the Tower of Death, and after being promptly defeated, she loses her locket as she flees with her sister. Opening the locket, Charlotte finds a photo of the twins with Wind, and both decide to question him. Wind confesses his true name, Eric Lecarde, and that the twins are his children. Later, Jonathan and Charlotte confront Death, who wants to disassociate himself from Brauner and has no desire to fight. Nevertheless, he engages them but is defeated and flees. When Jonathan and Charlotte reach the towering spire of the Master's Keep, they find the Dracula's throne room sealed off, and conclude that Brauner is delaying Dracula's revival to siphon his power.
After searching the castle, Jonathan and Charlotte obtain the Sanctuary spell, a magical attack that dispels curses and allows the dead to rest in peace. During the battle with the twins, the sisters are cured of their vampirism by Charlotte's spell. This allows them to regain their sanity, and they subsequently offer to perform a ritual that allows Jonathan to utilize the Vampire Killer whip's full power. After Jonathan passes the test and defeats the Memory of the Whip, an entity bearing the likeness of Richter Belmont, he is warned against overusing it, as the Vampire Killer drains life force of a non-Belmont wielding the full power, eventually killing the user as it did Jonathan's father. After the twins are defeated, they open a passage leading to a massive storeroom that contains a portrait leading to Brauner's studio. The two confront Brauner and defeat him. When confronted about his acts, he admits justice wasn't on his side, but refuses to acknowledge it was on the heroes'. Death suddenly hovers from above, and kills Brauner with one swing of his scythe. This act destroys the painting sealing the Throne Room, and Jonathan and Charlotte then go to battle with Dracula.
Before they can engage Dracula, Death enters the room and sides with his master, and together they attack the heroes. During the course of the battle, Death and Dracula merge into a more powerful form, but they are eventually defeated by Jonathan and Charlotte. When destroyed, everyone flees the castle, and sees from the distance as the walls collapse. Later, the twins, Jonathan and Charlotte are visited in the fields outside the castle by Eric's ghost, who gives some advice to the twins and thanks Charlotte and Jonathan for destroying the curse before his spirit finally fades from existence. As the four of them leave, they end up forgetting about Vincent, who is comically trying to get their attention as he chases after them.