How to play the Castlevania games in timeline order

A story that spans over a millennium, the Castlevania franchise has seen its ups and downs during its long run. With many games that leave the main story’s timeline, nobody truly understands what the chronological order of these games is. After a lot of research, we have brought you a list of all the Castlevania games, from the main timelines, in timeline order. We will give a quick plot synopsis for all of the games, so be careful of spoilers.

Chronological order of all Castlevania games

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (1094)

The story of Castlevania and Dracula starts in 1094 when Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist head over to the castle of powerful vampire Walter Bernhard to save Leon’s fiancee, Sara. During this quest, Leon rejects the Church, and Sara dies, giving birth to the famous Vampire Killer Whip which appears in all Castlevania games. By the end, we learn that this was all a ploy by Mathias to become a vampire and defy God, ultimately becoming Vlad Dracula Tepes.

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1476)

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is the base material for the popular Netflix Castlevania show, where a descendant of Leon Belmont, Trevor, along with sorceress Sypha, and vampire Alucard team up to stop Dracula from ending the human race. In the game, we also have a fighter named Grant Danasty that joins the crew in the quest to save humanity. The story ends with them killing Dracula and living happily ever after (besides Alucard, who goes into an eternal slumber).

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (1479)

Five years after the events of Dracula’s Curse, Hector, a former Forgemaster that worked for Dracula, heads on a revenge quest to kill his mentor, Isaac. Players will take over as Hector and fight around Dracula’s castle to get Isaac and learn the secrets surrounding his wife’s death. In the end, we learn that this was all the plot of Death, who tried to resurrect Dracula by taking over Hector’s body after his revenge plot was done. Dracula does manage to come back to life, only to die again at the hands of Hector.

Castlevania: The Adventure (1576)

One hundred years after the events of Castlevania III, Dracula resurrects, and it is the job of a new Belmont, Christopher, to take the reins of the Vampire Killer Whip and send Dracula back to Hell. Christopher, however, fails to kill Dracula, and only defeats him, after which the vampire count escapes by turning into mist.

Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1591)

Fifteen years after Dracula’s defeat, the dark lord comes back to mind control Christopher’s son, Soleil. Christopher now has to go through four different castles and finally kill Dracula once and for all. The Vampire Hunter does manage to end the life of Vlad Tepes, saving his son and the world in the process.

Castlevania (1691)

Another century has passed since the death of Dracula, and, inevitably, some villagers managed to bring back the vampire count from the dead for another round with the Belmonts. This time, it is the time for Simon Belmont to head over to Dracula’s castle and defeat him with the help of the legendary Vampire Killer Whip. Simon does manage to kill Dracula but ends up wounded with a curse as a result.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1698)

In Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, the brave vampire hunter has been slowly rotting away due to the curse but learns that he needs to gather all the parts of Dracula’s body and burn them where the ruins of the vampire’s castle stand to end the curse. Simon travels around Transylvania and gets five body parts, which he brings to the remains of the castle. When he starts burning them, the ghost of Dracula appears and Simon defeats the vampire again, postponing his revival for probably another century.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (1748)

This time, we only jump 50 years later, to witness the story of Simon’s grandson, Juste Belmont, as he hunts for Dracula’s relics and inadvertently brings his castle back. His best friend, Maxim, gets possessed due to Dracula’s remains and kidnaps Lydie, their childhood friend, to sacrifice her and get Dracula’s castle. Luckily, the three friends manage to defeat the spirit that possessed Maxim and the castle disappears once again.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1792)

This time, Dracula decided to revive a bit earlier, with the help of the Dark Priest Shaft. When Richter Belmont’s fiancee, Annette, is kidnapped by the vampire count, Simon’s descendant decides it’s time to kill the dark lord again. This time, with the help of a young vampire huntress, they manage to destroy Dracula and Shaft, but Richter ends up cursed as his ancestor Simon did before him.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1797)

With Dracula’s curse slowly taking over Richter, Shaft manages to possess him and Maria Renard, the vampire huntress, has to go and save him. Alucard also wakes up from his 300-year beauty sleep to stop Dracula, as there is nobody else to do it this time. He manages to save Richter and fight and defeat Dracula after another unsuccessful revival. After these events, Alucard goes back to his slumber.

Related: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has a lost Game.com port — it was just found

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (19th century)

We are now in the 1800s and the Belmonts have disappeared and no one can find them. Due to this, many orders of vampire hunters have formed to combat the armies of the dead, one being the Order of Ecclesia. In this game, the main character, Shanoa, works for this order and has to fight her own leader who wishes to revive Dracula. The bloodsucking lord does come back to life in the body of the order’s leader, but Shanoa manages to defeat him and send him back to Hell.

Castlevania: Bloodlines (1917)

John Morris, a distant relative of the Belmonts, and Eric Lecarde work together to stop Elizabeth Bartley, Dracula’s niece, from reviving the dark lord. She plans the start of World War 1 to use the souls of the dead to revive Dracula and even manages to do so, however, as we have come to expect by this point in time, both vampires get killed by our protagonists with the Vampire Killer Whip.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (1944)

Due to the many deaths of World War 2, Dracula’s castle appears once again and a vampire named Brauner claims it as his own. Jonathan Morris, John’s son, heads over to the stronghold along with Charlotte Aulin and fights this new vampire along with Dracula, who manages to come back to life again. Unfortunately, the vampire count fails once again to destroy the world.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2035)

Back in 1999, Dracula was permanently killed (again) and couldn’t come back to life without a host body. Now, in 2035, Soma Cruz, a high school student, gets transported to Dracula’s castle during a solar eclipse and learns that Dracula has taken over the body of Graham Jones, the leader of a religious sect. After Soma and his friends defeat Graham, the protagonist learns that he is actually the reincarnation of Dracula, and works to get rid of the vampire count.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2036)

Soma is now living a normal life, one year after the events of Aria of Sorrow, and gets attacked by Celia Fortner, the leader of a dark cult. Celia is trying to revive Dracula by making Soma embrace his dark side but fails as many other vampire hunters come to the help of Soma. However, the gang does stumble into a new enemy who proves to be as dangerous as Dracula.

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