LogFAQs > #959526730

I would personally say it is. Horror is as much a thematic quality as it is a genre. Castlevania is Gothic horror not only because of its aesthetic, but how it broaches the subjects of death, curses, isolation, and madness as a broad stroke, which rather than concretely trying to scare the player, it's something that lingers in the background as a constant anxiety and the reason that drives your quest. I also argue that having power does not necessarily take away horror. The games' appropriate levels of challenge consistently challenge that power making death teeter constantly on the verge against an onslaught of unholy enemies, along with often labyrinthine, eldritch locations again emphasizing a sense of isolation and feeling lost. It's not something that may "scare" you per se, but I'd argue most Gothic horror isn't really, being more purely focused on the self and emotions and that's what Castlevania gets at the most with its horror, in my view.