The Seeds of Castlevania: Verismo of Love

Like a lightning bolt, it came to me. I had a vision. A vision about the strength of Love, and I asked myself: "What would a person do for the one they truly loved?"

That's the thought I had running through my head when I came up with my own vision of the venerable Castlevania series, aptly titled Verismo of Love. But I wasn't thinking about the generic sense of love we all see in the movies, where the guy unbelievably falls in love with the chick in the first 5 seconds. No, I'm talking about the one you actually feel. Like, for example, the love you have for your mother, or for your wife/husband. You actually feel something, don't you? To me, that's the most emotional relationship I know of. And I know a few other people that have expressed the same feeling. It's something inherent within us all. I wish I could explain it, through evolution or mysticism, but for now, it eludes explanation. Which I'm glad, cuz sometimes the mystery of it makes it more romantic.

So, how did it all come to be? Why did I even start thinking about this crazy game with an awesome name (that rhymes, btw)? In actuality, it all started with a cheesy horror movie. Not as biblical as I first portrayed, but it's interesting nonetheless.

For Hallowe'en, my girlfriend and I decided to watch Drag Me to Hell, a horror movie written and directed by Sam Raimi (Spiderman). I really don't like horror movies, mostly because of the gore associated with them. However, I'm also a big pussy. Even if there isn't any gore, bad things happen to good people, and I get close to sympathizing with our troubled heroes, where I actually feel their pain. Literally. And Drag Me to Hell was no different. It documented the last 3 days of a girl that gets cursed by an old gypsy, where our heroine is destined to burn in Hell for all eternity at the end of the third day.

----SPOILER ALERT----

Sadly, no matter how hard this sweet girl tries to release the curse from her damned soul, nothing works. She gets sucked into Hell at the very end of the movie, with the love of her life watching the whole scene unfold in front of his eyes. The movie was pretty cheesy up until that part, but that scene really got me, and I don't think I will ever forget it, primarily based on how it made me sympathize with her. This was a woman that pretty much did nothing wrong. She was just a normal, sweet girl that tried to lead a normal life. She was also a loan officer at a bank, and regrettably denied the aforementioned old bitch a 3rd extension to her mortgage (as if). Now, she did this to get ahead in her company (which was probably the writers' artistic message: follow the rules of capitalism and your soul is destined for Hell), but that's something we all do. Society generally dictates that we must compete to achieve. I know she done bad, and needed to learn from her mistakes, but her lesson was to burn in Hell for all eternity? Pretty fucking harsh, no?

And the saddest thing about it all was that her boyfriend, who saw actual fucking demons suck his love's soul into Hell, was about to ask for her hand in marriage. It fucking kills me to know that this woman is suffering a horrible fate for the bullshit reason cited above. I have a logical brain, and that just doesn't compute.

So, to end the never-ending sorrow that I was experiencing, I extended the story. It was the only way. She had to be saved, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep soundly that night. So, what would happen in my Extended Director's Cut? Well, I basically turned it into Evil Dead 2.

Our hero was her soon-to-be fiancé. After seeing his love get sucked into the bowels of Hell, he wipes away his tears and jumps in and tries to save her. Now, that's fucking hardcore. That signifies a massive amount of passion on the hero's part. I mean, this is Hell we're talking about: the worst place ever devised/written by mankind. Nothing good can ever come from going to Hell, but our hero feels completely justified in doing just that. He must save her. His life will be a waste if it's not spent in her loving arms.

Sadly, I didn't get much further than that. He of course saves her, hopefully with the help of a chainsaw hand, so all is well for the guy and girl in Drag Me to Hell. They get married and live happily ever after, with some demon-slaying on the side just for kicks.

Coincidentally, when my mind was going through this whole thing, I just started listening to OCRemix's newest remix album, Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned. The first song, more importantly the first 48 seconds of the first song, was what I was listening to, over and over again, when I came up with the true ending to Drag Me to Hell. It perfectly embodied the emotion I felt when I thought of our hero's resolve. It's emotional and demonic, but it's also energetic and campy, which was what I was going for, what with the whole Evil Dead 2 vibe. I seriously couldn't have come up with a better song myself. It was exactly what I needed to get the creative juices flowing. And seeing as how I was listening to a Castlevania remix album, I knew exactly where to put it: into Castlevania: Verismo of Love.

So with this emotion coursing through my veins (and phat beats filling my ears), I put my thoughts down on paper (Twitter):

My idea for the story would be simpler like the older ones. The hero's wife would be kidnapped and sacrificed in order to resurrect Dracula.

Nearing the castle he has a dream where his wife reveals she's been killed, her soul sent to Hell. Enraged, our hero runs for Castlevania

You get to Castlevania and with your rage, you fuck shit up. Out for revenge, you see Dracula flee to Hell. Most of game takes place there.

I would try to develop the wife more, to show the man's strength came from her, through her love/compassion/wisdom. She'd be a real woman.

I always liked that one part from Symphony of the Night, where Alucard had that dream about his mom. Very moving, even with the bad voice

I of course would let the hero rescue his wife. I couldn't let the player lose her, after creating a strong and loving bond between the two

Maybe each level is Dracula using a past memory between you and your wife, but turning it around to make it look like you failed her.

When I wrote those tweets, I was constantly revisiting that emotion I had when I listened to the first 48 seconds of that song. Over and over and over. Suffice it to say, music brings out my creativity. I tried to define what I was feeling and add it to the gameplay experience. And I think I did a pretty good job.

The hero in my extended Drag Me to Hell would be portrayed in video game form. He feels so passionate about his wife's soul that he's risking eternal damnation to save her. My buddy at work thinks the generic setting kind of dilutes that idea, but I seriously think it enhances it. Again, it's fucking Hell, man. It's not my fault it's used so often. And ask yourself: would you go to Hell to save the one you loved?

Amazingly, from what I've read, a verismo is an Italian form of opera that talks about everyday people and events, not the standard kings and devils and whatnot. Just ordinary people with ordinary problems. And that's exactly what I wanted to do with Verismo of Love's story. When the hero defeats a section of the map, he remembers the true memory that Dracula tried to taint. And all of the memories would be about something that he and his wife experienced together, like the birth of their child or their first date. Something simple where the player could relate, which resonates in their hearts more. And yes, I know it's not a true verismo when I cite Dracula as the main antagonist, thank you for bringing that to my attention, Mr Smarty Pants.

However, I won't lie, I just randomly chose that word for its badass-ness factor, and its association with music, which most Castlevania games do (Symphony, Harmony, Aria, etc). It's just a complete coincidence that its meaning is exactly what I was trying to express in Verismo of Love. Chalk that up to dumb luck, I guess.

So that's basically how I came up with Castlevania: Verismo of Love. It's not that complex an origin story, but it just goes to show you how simple it can be to come up with something cool. I got dragged into a cheesy horror movie, listened to an awesome song, and badda bing.

I would love to play this game, but sadly it will never exist. It exists only in our minds. I have a good idea of how the first area of Hell's map plays out like, but it hurts to know I'll never be able to play a Castlevania game called Verismo of Love. Now, I might be able to play a new game, one without the Castlevania name attached, but I guess we'll never know:)