Chronicles of the Wolf Review

Among the colored-in-wool Metroidvania fans, Migami Games is a well-known name. The French studio has long produced fan -games based on Gastlevan Series, with both Castlevania: Lecarde Chronicles And its sequel is often quoted as two of the best unofficial games in the universe responsible for half of Metroidvania Portmanteau. Migami took his experience of making fans games and produced his first original action platform, Wallachia: Dracula reignback in 2020 and has now followed it with its first original Metroidvania, Wolfs Chronicles. In line with the spirit of what the studio has done best over the years, Wolfs Chronicles is an unthinkable tribute to the old school Metroidvania design. It is clumsy, sometimes shocking, and there is a constantly present layer of Jank throughout the experience. I loved every second of it.

In its core, Wolfs Chronicles is an obvious continuation of the “igavania” style of Gastlevan game design, which follows closely in the footprints Castlevania: Night's symphony and Myriad of Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS titles produced by the Longtime Series Shepherd Koji Igarashi. But there is also a surprising inclusion of any proto-metroidvania game design in Wolfs Chronicles It is both completely unexpected and incredibly welcome. Prolonged Gastlevan Fans will immediately be able to take up how much Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest DNA is present in Chronicles of the wolfAnd it's a double -edged sword.

Chronicles May have the spreading, interconnected map, progression and RPG-style upgrade and several endings of the Igavania line, but it also packs in lots of deterrent puzzles, rigid movement, sometimes sharp difficulties and a general lack of clear direction that arbitrarily extends the experience. As someone who has consumed every Metroidvania I can get hold of since before the semester was coined I could not put Wolfs Chronicles down, but it is undoubtedly old-school in a way that can turn off newer Metroidvania fans used to play as games like Hollow knight and its ilk.

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Chronicles of the Wolf - Trailer Screenshot

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Chronicles of the Wolf – Official Release Date Trailer

Take a look at the official release date trailer for the Chronicles of the Wolf, an action adventure game developed by the Migami Games.

Wolfs Chronicles feels like a natural successor to Castlevania's golden era

The setting for Wolfs Chronicles is appropriate gothic, given that it is obvious Gastlevan Inspirations, and incredibly well done for a genre that is not always known for its strong narrative move. Based on the real events centered around “Wolf of Gevaudan” and the mysterious murders that plagued that region in France for several years (the same historical inspiration for the film Wolf's brotherhood, Wolfs Chronicles Goes to some truly interesting places with their supernatural occurs on events founded in reality. But as good as the story is, most Metroidvania fans come to the genre of their game, and that is an area there Wolfs Chronicles Lights.

While Migami's previous game, Wallachia: Dracula reignwas a traditional linear action platform, Wolfs Chronicles is a pure metroidvania. The twin pillars in the genre, battle and exploration are in the middle of the experience, and they are each appropriately for anyone who holds Night's symphony And the like Gastlevan Titles loved ones for their hearts. Players will start with a limited set of areas to explore, gradually reveal new abilities and equipment that open up new roads for exploration, provide space for larger combat challenges and present individual puzzles or the shock test for players to overcome through either character group, assignments or new ability upgrades.

In other words, Wolfs Chronicles is a spiritual successor to the golden age of Gastlevan in all respects. The closest comparison you can make is Night's symphonyAnd it does an admirable job that replicates the general gaming trail and atmosphere in one of the most loved and important titles in the Metroidvania genre. All the standard abilities you can expect are forward and mine – a double jump, air that strikes, the ability to breathe underwater and so on – but there are also some new twists that Migami puts on the formula that make it feel like a loving tribute rather than a direct imitation. In particular, the sliding ability is a prominent who is perhaps even more useful in battle (both ordinary enemies and boss meetings) than to get through tight gaps in the environment. In addition, you slide through the map-while a little immersion-never becomes old as the fastest way to get from point A to point B.

Migami's connection to the old school Metroidvania Design in Chronicles of the Wolf is a sword that cuts both roads

If Wolfs ChroniclesFighting and Character Progression constitutes the “Igavania” parts of its Gastlevan impact, its exploration component is undoubtedly indebted Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. And as everyone who has played Simon's Quest In the latest memory, it can attest that tribute gives as many frustrations as it makes old-school charm. The Metroidvania genre is built on the twin pillars in battle and exploration, with rewarding character group that acts as the glue that binds them together. But at the time when proto-metroidvanies like Simon's Quest was made (which took the influence of games as Xanadu and Maze of Galious), that formula was still in their childhood and lacked many of the modern flowers that make it more tasty as the genre developed.

Wolfs Chronicles Is admirable and sometimes comforting in its old school tribute to the origin of the genre, but it is also not without its fair proportion of pain points. Movement is an area where Chronicles“Old-school influence sometimes damages it, because checking the protagonist Mateo regularly feels stiff and defending. It is one thing to lose a fight against a challenging manager because you are under-valued, but it is another completely to lose because the animations and the input removal. After the end of the screen, as an end. With a minimal platform, it becomes a central component in Traversal, and there is even a large platform challenge to overcome before they get some extremely important upgrades that make it easier to try to 100%.

Perhaps the most polarizing aspect of Wolfs ChroniclesHowever, Old School, Proto-Metroidvania tribute is how the game handles puzzles and assignments. Players will acquire a significant amount of upgrades all the time Wolfs ChroniclesAs each is practically essential to clear a certain-gated-progression block or carry out a mission that leads to the game's “true” end. But as in Castlevania 2: Simon's QuestThe guidance you get for these assignments is just minimum, which leads to a lot of frustration when you ping-pong over the map and looking for something you may have missed or an NPC to talk to again to get clarification. It does not help the map lacks any revelation of modern quality of life functions that Metroidvania fans have expectedThe This means that you cannot knock on leaving markers that point to specific issues that can lead to progress.

Players are in for a significant experience with Chronicles of the Wolf that most delivers

However, despite the frustrations that Wolfs ChroniclesThe Old School method presents, it is still undeniably an incredible Metroidvania. Especially for fans of the genre that cut the teeth on Portmanteau's origin – Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Chronicles of the Wolf Feels like a lovely homecoming. To say that games like this simply have not been done anymore is an understatement and Wolfs Chronicles Packs a surprising amount of content in their driving time.

To really dive into Wolfs Chronicles And get the full experience, I chose a longer playthrough where I could unlock all the game's several finishes and eventually see the “best” end that requires 100% completed. To do so took just under 10 hours.

Wolfs Chronicles is not for everyone. It is not even for all Metroidvania fans. But for those that it clicks with, it may well be the best game in the genre you have played this year. It is not without its fair proportion of frustrations as far as its mechanics and games go, but the elegance of its design and the obvious passion that Migami poured into it makes these frustrations worth carrying. If you can look past a little jank and forgive Wolfs Chronicles For their old schooling, what you find is one of the best Metroidvanias of the year with the best of what the genre has offered in 2025.