Slain: Back from Hell is a side scrolling hack and slash title out now for the Playstation 4 and PC. It looks and sounds like it could be a Castlevania spin off. But that’s not enough to save it from vapid combat and tedious gameplay.

Using mist to leap off an enemy and reach a higher ledge would be tough enough on its own in Symphony of the Night, but doing so blindfolded? Let’s leave that to the experts, like amazing Castlevania speedrunner romscout.

Sometimes we play games because we want stories, or otherworldly out-of-body experiences, or to drive a Euro Truck. Other times, we just want to kill some shit. Slain happily obliges.

Figure maker Neca has been doing great things with their video game appearance line over the past couple of years. Lance and Bill from Contra might be the best yet. It’s all about those bullets.

The very first stage of the original NES Castlevania, the spooky Ghost House from Super Mario World, our first battle with Bowser in Super Mario Bros. Scenes we probably all remember and encountered one way or another, from the NES days, that Mark Green resurrected with brilliant dioramas.

The setting and the story of the third Evil Dead movie would have been perfect for a Metroidvania game. Something similar to the first Castlevania. We never had one, so CineFix imagined how it’d look.

Wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that Vampire Killer. Even if it’s solid stone and doesn’t move.

Konami, the company behind Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill, does not appear to be a fun place to work. That’s according to reports in the Japanese press and new information shared with Kotaku by people close to the company. They describe a game development environment where Big Brother is always watching…

With the successor to Castlevania funded on Kickstarter, now is a great time to read former Kotaku columnist Leigh Alexander’s take on what makes Castlevania so great—and why people keep going back to it.

Koji Igarashi’s hustle to make a new Castlevania-style game has paid off: his spiritual successor to a series Konami keeps screwing up—because Konami is Konami—has in less than 24 hours made over $1 million on Kickstarter.

Koji Igarashi is best known for work on countless Castlevania games. He’s left Konami and is now ready to work on a new one. It’s not called Castlevania. It’s not for Konami. But it might just be what fans have been eagerly awaiting.

A massive game board inspired by the original NES classic, 11 characters with upgrade-able weapons and abilities, battle dice, movement dice and more than 100 item and monster cards — this is the ultimate Castlevania board game.

Artist Vadu Amka turned his PAL SNES console into the embodiment of darkness, just in time for October.

An Animus workstation screen is one of today's dozen gaming wallpapers:

One of this week's ten new desktop wallpapers. You'll find more at each link: