Order of Ecclesia Confirmed and Thensome

Well, it’s been confirmed by several accounts, including Konami’s official website that Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was indeed the game that featured screenshots that were leaked some time ago. Slated for a fall release, Order of Ecclesia features newcomer protagonist Shanoa as a member of the elusive Order, who has been trained as an agent to be used against Dracula’s forces when the Belmont family mysteriously vanishes. New tidbits featured are, as mentioned, a female main character, which is a first since IGA took over the series and eliminated Gameboy’s Castlevania Legends from canon for the same reason. The other new feature is a glyph system of fighting, which is mentioned as akin to Aria of Sorrow’s tactical-soul system.
An interview with series producer IGA maps out these new fighting systems and a few other interesting aspects of the new game, including new artwork not of the anime-genre of Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruin, but neither from series’ usual artist Ayami Kojima.

Another interesting bit of Castlevania news has been rumored as to the next Castlevania game after Ecclesia, which has been confirmed as being for a console. The title “Castlevania: Judgment” has been registered by Konami almost right on the heels of Ecclesia, and whispers from Japan hint that the console of choice very well might be the Nintendo Wii. The real reason this is interesting is because IGA had stated long ago that he was frowning at the idea of having a Castlevania on the Wii due to obvious gimmicks that would be associated with the Wiimote and a whip-weapon system. Only time will tell if these rumors, like the ones for Ecclesia, prove to be true.