Actually... They kinda are. Look up Vampire Killer on the MSX. It's obviously not as expansive and open-ended as the SOTN-style titles, but hey, it's from 1986.Compared to the exaggerated anime hell hole the last few Castlevania games have suffered from? And just a reminder, SoTN open ended type games are not the original game type of Castlevania. Nor is the multiple 3D type games that Konami is adamant about producing. LoS is either the third, or fourth type, of game to share the Castlevania brand.