Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Portrait of Ruin features alternate modes of gameplay; four single player modes for the main story and a "Boss Rush" mode that can be played with either one or two players. Aside from Health and Magic Power enhancements, items cannot be obtained nor used in any of the extra modes of the main game. Initially, only one story mode is available and features the main protagonists, Jonathan and Charlotte.[9] After obtaining the better of the two endings with Jonathan and Charlotte, the player will unlock a prologue to the main story, "Sisters Mode", and additional stages in the Boss Rush Mode.[11] Completing the game also gives the player the option to increase the difficulty, add level caps on new games, and start a game with all previously obtained items and skills. If the player meets certain requirements in the game, two other versions of the main story mode are made available; "Richter Mode" and "Old Axe Armor Mode".[9]

• In "Sisters Mode", the player controls Loretta and Stella Lecarde. This mode serves as a prologue to the storyline in Jonathan's Mode. They have different controls compared to the normal gameplay in that attacks are controlled completely with the stylus. Loretta is able to use an ice spell which is aimed with the player's stylus, and Stella is able to damage enemies and objects that the player passes the stylus over. Instead of reaching Dracula, the game ends when Brauner is reached.
• Richter mode allows the player to control Richter Belmont and Maria Renard, the latter in the first time as a playable character in an American or European release. There are a few minor differences in the control scheme, and they begin with all of their mobility upgrades, which allows the player to explore the castle freely from the beginning.[9] 'Richter' is also misspelled as Richiter within dialogue boxes in the main game.[11]
• In Old Axe Armor mode, the player controls the Old Axe Armor enemy. Because there is only one character, the player is unable to switch characters as in the other modes. The character also lacks any magic spells and has only two sub-weapons.[9]
• Boss Rush Mode is separate from the main game; essentially, it is a time attack mode. There are three separate stages to choose from, though initially only one is available. The other two become available after obtaining the true ending of the game. Each stage is a series of rooms that the player traverses from left to right. Within each room is a boss or collection of monsters from the game. Depending on how quickly a player completes each stage, they will be rewarded with special items which can be added to the inventory of the normal game. This mode also features a wireless, cooperative two player option.[9]

Portrait of Ruin is the first game in the Castlevania franchise with cooperative multiplayer.[8] However, this is the second multiplayer Castlevania game; Dawn of Sorrow, also for the DS, was the first to have a multiplayer mode. Players can interact through either the Co-op mode or a Shop mode. Both modes can connect by local wireless or Nintendo Wi-Fi.[6] The online cooperative mode allows two players to complete Boss Rushes together. The character used in this mode can be chosen at the beginning and is selected from a list of characters that is unlocked through standard gameplay. The Co-op mode is initially limited to one boss-run challenge, but after a file is beaten, two more challenges become available. The online Shop mode allows players to sell their items to other players. When another player buys the item, the selling player gains the money, but does not lose the item.

Portrait of Ruin introduces characters to the Castlevania series: Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin. Jonathan is the wielder of the legendary whip, "Vampire Killer", which was passed down to him by his father, John Morris from Castlevania: Bloodlines. As he is not a direct descendant of the Belmont clan, he is unable to unlock the Vampire Killer's full power without the assistance of a member of the Lecarde family. Charlotte is a mage and distant descendant of the Belnades clan. The game features the same antagonists as previous Castlevania titles and introduces three new ones. The main villain is Dracula who serves as the game's final boss.

The new antagonists are three vampires that have taken control of Dracula's castle. Leading them is Brauner, an elderly vampire based on the real-life artist Victor Brauner from the same time period. Brauner recreated Dracula's castle using the souls of the dead from World War II in order to draw power from the castle and plans to use that power to destroy humanity.[12] He disdains humanity because his two real daughters had been killed 30 years prior during World War I. Brauner is able to construct paintings containing pocket dimensions in order to harness the castle's power for his own purposes. He is joined by twin vampire sisters Stella and Loretta. Although the two are vampires, they are actually Eric Lecarde's daughters who were turned into vampires by Brauner, who they believe is their father. In the bad ending, Brauner gives up and escapes from the castle in order to save the lives of his two adopted daughters.

Assisting the two main characters are a priest named Vincent Dorin who acts as a merchant selling weapons, potions, and magic spells, as well as a ghost who introduces himself as "Wind" and provides Jonathan and Charlotte new skills and equipment that once belonged to him if they perform certain tasks called "quests".[6] Wind's identity is eventually revealed to be Eric Lecarde, Stella and Loretta's true father who once fought alongside Jonathan's father to slay Dracula in Bloodlines.

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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18]

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.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.

Portrait of Ruin featured English voice-overs for portions of the game. The original Japanese dialog was also included as an easter egg. Michiru Yamane returned to compose the music, with additional songs by Yuzo Koshiro. IGN noted that the style of the music tracks ranged from "hauntingly morose to almost jovially up-tempo".[31] The audio tracks are also accessible via a "Sound Mode" that is unlocked by defeating Dracula. The player can also collect records of certain tracks that can be used to replace the game's default background music. The songs "Sandfall" and "In Search of the Secret Spell" that play in the Forgotten City level are originally from Konami's own King's Valley 2 released on the MSX2 computer, composed by Koshiro.