Castlevania: The Lecarde Chronicles is a series of Castlevania fan games made by Mig. They focus on Efrain Lecarde, ancestor to Eric Lecarde and a Knight of the Catholic Church. Dracula is not involved in any of them (although Death appears in both), but even without him, there appears to be more than enough evil throughout Europe to fight.
The first game is set in 1776. After witnessing strange occurrences in his local cemetery in Segovia, Efrain heads to Austria to investigate the whereabouts of the Von Viltheim family.
The second game, set five years later, sees Efrain purge the French countryside of the dark forces plaguing it.
Official site
(with a decidedly early 2000s look).
Specific tropes:
- Anachronism Stew: L'auberge rouge appears in the game despite it not being built until 1805.
- And I Must Scream: Count la Tourvelle's diary mentions that he has gone too far to reason with, when translated from French.
- Animorphism: Happens in both games. In the final battle of the first Katharina transforms into a giant wasp. In the second game, Count La Tourvelle transforms into a giant raven.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Both games center upon the corrupt aristocracy of both Austria and France.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: With a few bosses in the second game, it's just more convenient to get to them with enough energy, tank some damage and hack away, rather than spend time avoiding their attacks. Of course, it cannot apply if you're playing Ring of Fury mode.
- Big Good: Pope Pius VI, only being mentioned in narration but still serving as Efrain's boss.
- Bilingual Bonus: Both games feature locations rendered in their native tongue.
- The first game is set in Austria and features two locations in the village named "Der Steinadler" and "Das Einhorn".
- Many places within the second game are given French titles. "Le chien de chasse" serves as one of the shops in the game, while a minidungeon is "L'auberge rouge". An entire diary entry by Count la Tourvelle is written in French as well.
- Boring, but Practical: The second-best armour in the second game is the Heavenly Plate, a resplendent suit of purple and gold armour with a magnificent red cape, blessed by a French cardinal. The best armour in the second game is the Guard Armour, a bog-standard suit of armour dropped off some archer enemies in the late game. It's not even a particularly rare drop. Of course, neither one will show up on Efrain's sprite anyway.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing: A Man-Eating Plant appears in the Albaret city park, but it has a high amount of health and can easily kill Efrain if he's careless and doesn't have strong enough weapon and armor.
- Boss Rush: Two in the second game. The first is in the Princely Quarters, per below, while the second can be initiated if Efrain has all the required items for the Golden Ending.
- Trio Boss: The second boss in this boss rush, the Shadows, are rematches against Count Servigny, Count La Tourvelle, and Constance d'Albaret.
- Both games have a Boss Rush mode that is unlocked after getting the best endings. In it, you have to face the bosses in a succession of rooms, using a fully-powered Efrain from the beginning. An update to the second episode allows you to play the Boss Rush as Alucard.
- Breakable Power-Up: Two of the Von Viltheim spells in the second game will increase Efrain's attack power and Critical Hit chance (the attack power boost can also be rarely found as a pickup), but the buffs are lost upon taking damage. They become much more useful when you unlock the final Von Viltheim spell: a protective barrier that nullifies all damage for three hits.
- The Bus Came Back: The second game has Alucard make a major appearance in the game's plot, despite taking place sixteen years before Symphony of the Night.
- Call-Back: The Princely Quarters boss fight in the second game is a call back to the Attendant's Room in Super Castlevania IV with the boss order being Evil Slogra, Gaibon, and Death. Returning to the boss room after speaking with Alucard will initiate a miniboss fight with Evil Slogra and Gaibon, similar to returning to the room where Death steals your equipment in SotN.
- Call-Forward: During the ending, Alucard sends Efrain a message telling him that he will forever honor his family. Anyone who remembers their Castlevania lore will recall that Eric ends up with the Alucard Spear in '"Castlevania: Bloodlines''.
- Composite Boss: Several bosses in the first game borrow tactics from the main series. The best example is Leopold Von Viltheim, beginning first as a Shaft expy before becoming a Corpse Legion.
- Creepy Crows: Count La Tourvelle transforms into a giant crow and sends more crows to attack you.
- Degraded Boss: In the first game, the Lord Zombie appears as the first boss. Visiting Riff Monastery will have two of these appear as minibosses. It finally comes to a head when more of these appear in Von Viltheim Castle as regular enemies.
- The second boss of The Lecarde Chronicles, a giant spider, reappears a few times in the sequel as a regular enemy that's also much less dangerous than it looks.
- Downer Ending: Two out of three endings in both games. In chronological order:
- The worst ending of the first game: Efrain survives, but only because he deemed himself too weak to fight right after fending off Death. His quest having ultimately failed due to this, the land surrounding the Von Viltheim Mansion is proclaimed damned.
- The average ending of the first game: Efrain succeeds in his quest to end the threat poised by the Von Viltheim family. However, due to an affliction left behind by Katherina's last attack, he succumbs to illness years later.
- The worst ending of the second game: Without all eight of the Black Orbs collected, done so through thorough exploration of the Castle of Eternal Night, Efrain dies as the castle collapses on top of him. The narration scene following afterwards notes of Efrain's family name being forgotten in the midst of a bloody fight between Lucifer and man. Potentially made worse if Efrain enters the center of the Altar as soon as he absolutely can - which is before the fight with Death.
Considering that Alucard is found wounded after defeating Death... - The average ending of the second game: Efrain manages to flee from the collapse of the Castle of Eternal Night, thanks to having found all eight of the Black Orbs. However, Christine is still dead, and the looming battle between Lucifer and man is still present. The narration scene following afterwards does note that Efrain played a role in that battle, but was still burdened with guilt over not being able to stop the ritual that happened in the Altar. On the plus side, since Death has been fought and defeated, at least Alucard is practically guaranteed to live long enough to play his part in the events of Symphony of the Night.
- Driven to Suicide: Anna von Viltheim before the second game, after her fiancé broke off their engagement.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: If you play the first game at Easy difficulty, it ends prematurely after the first of the three final levels.
- Eternal Light/Endless Night: The castle in the second game is set in the Forest of Eternal Night within the Albaret District. The final area in the castle and the setting of the battle with Lucifer is in perpetual daylight.
- The castles of counts Servigny and La Tourvelle, and Constance d'Albaret's convent, are stated to be places where time has stopped, shrouded in perpetual night.
- Expy: Efrain in general could pass off as one for Richter Belmont, although this is more pronounced in the first game. Some of the bosses even behave much like other bosses in the series.
- Game-Breaking Bug: The July 2017 update added a super-hard mode where Efrain has an item that turns him into a One-Hit-Point Wonder. Unfortunately, it was released with bugs that made this mode active even with a regular new game and the effect of the item permanent (unequipping it was useless), turning the game into massive frustration for anyone but the most expert and patient players... except the ones who wanted to tackle that mode anyway. And since Mig went on vacation before realizing that, it took a few weeks before a version that fixed the error was made available.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: At the beginning of the second game, Death warns Efrain that he's going to face more powerful enemies than the ones he fought in Austria. However, the game itself is far less difficult than the predecessor.
- The Hero Dies: If playing on Normal difficulty in the first game, Efrain dies two years after the events of the game. leading to a Bad Ending.
- In the sequel, this happens if you reach the final area without some important objects: after defeating the Duke, without any means to open a magic portal for escape, Efrain is killed in the collapse of the castle.
- Harder Than Hard: Ring of Fury Mode, added in the July 2017 update. Efrain's got an item — the eponymous Ring of Fury — that trades great attack power for defense so lowered, he dies in one hit. A prize was even offered for whoever managed to beat it first.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the second game, Efrain has a set of buff/support spells based on the Von Viltheims, who have been apparently purified and are now benevolent spirits helping him. Katharina, who was the last boss, now gives Efrain a powerful protective barrier. Alternately, Efrain may have learned to draw powers from darkness too. No in-game explanation is given to how he got the powers.
- Light Is Not Good: The final area in the second game, "Endless Light", serving as the location of the final boss. Lucifer himself has two attacks that use light to deal heavy damage.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Katharina Von Viltheim in the first game and the Duke of Guillecourt in the second. Their deaths lead to the destruction of their castles.
- Mirror Boss: Efrain Fake appears in both games. In the first, he is a miniboss summoned by Friedrich. The second game features two fights against him. The first is as a standard doppelganger fight in the midst of the cemetery, while the second is found in a cursed mirror.
- Multiple Endings: Each game has three of them. In the first episode, they depend on the difficulty level, while in the second game, from having some specific items when you go and confront the Big Bad, also leading to the True Final Boss if you've got them all.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Castle of Eternal Night was built in 1666, the year that the cancelled Castlevania: Resurrection was supposed to take place in.
- The Le Carde Sword in the second game is a vastly inferior imitation of Efrain's own Lecarde Sword, much like the Alucart equipment which were vastly inferior imitations of the Alucard equipment in Symphony of the Night. However, unlike the Alucart equipment, the Le Carde Sword is actually necessary for something, since Efrain Fake 2 doesn't take damage from anything else.
- Number of the Beast: The castle in the second game was erected in 1666.
- Nuns Are Spooky: One location in the second game is the St. Justine Convent, which has as its enemies the ghosts of nuns and an Arachne-nun hybrid as the boss.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Death in his first encounter appears as "The Masked Demon," although his Sinister Scythe and fight tactics give him away.
- Satan: The villain of both games is the Fallen Angel Lucifer. The Duke of Guillecourt built his castle as tribute to him.
- Sequel Hook: The good endings of both games have Efrain receive a letter about a threat somewhere else in Europe.
- Suspicious Videogame Generosity: At the beginning of each of the three final levels of the first game, and also at some checkpoints within them, you can find candles that drop extra lives. They are signs you are going to die a lot.
- Spooky Painting: The Hell Portrait in the second game, a large painting of a party which is haunted by three of the people shown in the portrait. The spirits can't be harmed, you have to attack the corresponding party guest in the painting itself. Upon destruction, the ruined canvas shows three corpses entombed behind it.
- Takes One to Kill One: In the second game, the only way to damage the Efrain Fake in your second battle against it is to use the Le Carde Sword, a poor imitation of Efrain's own Lecarde Sword. In other words, it takes a fake Lecarde Sword to kill a fake Lecarde.
- Take Your Time: No matter how many hours it takes you to open the access to the final chambers in the second game, you'll always find Duke Guillecourt as he's about to complete the summoning ritual for Lucifer by sacrificing Christine. Must be a very slow ritual...
- Vocal Dissonance: Death in the first game has a high-pitched voice which carried over into the demo of the second game. This was averted when he was given a voice in the final product.
- The Von Trope Family: The von Viltheim family.
- White Sheep: Heloise de la Tourvelle. She repudiated her family, was buried in a solitary grave, and people in the Duchy of Guillecourt remember her as a dishonorable person. In truth, she was the Only Sane Woman who saw how her family was descending into evil.
- Wolfpack Boss: Several battles in the second game. The Possessed Tree summons ghouls and hangmen to afflict Efrain with the stun or weakness conditions. Count La Tourvelle summons a flock of ravens. Fleamen drop from above during the fight with the Trap Statue.
