Souls

• Axe Armor
  
  4 stars
  It is incredibly helpful for fighting bosses that jump above you and can be found as early as Wizardry Lab. You will also need it for a puzzle door much later on in the game. The skill itself throws an axe in an upward arc and then comes crashing down ahead of you. Just like all the other Castlevania thrown axes.
  
  
• Persephone
  
  5 stars
  Soul grants you the hp sucking vacuum. It gives hp back and can double up attacks with whatever weapon you are using. It scales with int and not many creatures are resistant to its damage type. It has a low cost mana consumption rate. You can farm for her soul as early as Demon Guest House.
  
  
• Golem
  
  3 stars
  Golem is a guaranteed soul at the start of the game's combat tutorial. But, It can be empowered to level 9 granting you much more damage per swing of your equipped weapon. It is unlikely you will swap out Golem until way later in the game. Getting more stacks of it will ultimately make the bosses much easier. You can find it as early as Wizardry Lab
  
  
• Ouija Table
  
  1 star
  I wouldn't recommend farming for this soul because Persephone is much better at healing your HP up, but it does have some niche case uses later on when you are near any chairs and want to have a no hassle full heal available. It is also a three star rarity meaning it has an incredibly low drop chance. But, if you do happen to snag it while exploring the areas don't forget about its niche uses! It can be found in the Lost Village.
  
  
• Skull Archer
  
  5 stars
  With this soul you can charge up an arrow shot and unleash devastating damage. It is your highest damage soul by far. It is useful for taking down bosses and long corridors of enemies marching behind one another. It may take a little bit of time to get used to the charging process, but it is incredibly powerful. You can find it as early as the Wizardry Lab.
  
  
• Ghost Dancer
  
  1 star
  This soul raises your luck and sockets into the same slot as your Golem skill. I would only use this soul when you want to farm other souls at a hyper fast rate and can still one shot enemies without the Golem skill active. You will find Ghost Dancers all over the place in The Dark Chapel. Luck is a key stat for finding items, weapons, and souls. *Edit* Luck is still busted in this version ignore this soul until the luck stat gets fixed.
  
  
• Great Armor
  
  4 stars
  One of the best summons in the game, possibly the best. The only downside is that it drains mana like crazy. A giant armor will fly over you and swing with you. It causes major damage and just looks neat, to boot! It can be found as early as the Dark Chapel.
  

Just a reminder that this isn't the end all be all list for early game souls, These are just the souls that I've found that have helped me the most while playing the game.

• Rusty Food Tin
  
  2 stars
  This gives a full heal when you have the Ghoul soul equipped. It is a common drop from any Dead Pirate and they can mostly be found in Subterranean Hell.
  
  
• Three 7s
  
  1 star
  An armor that gives you 7 luck. It's other stats aren't as impactful, but It is one of the only armors with luck early on. *Edit* It does indeed seem like luck is still broken in this new version. Hopefully an official patch comes out to fix it. I would avoid using this armor until a patch or mod fixes it.
  
  
• Elfen Robe
  
  3 stars
  This armor is great for early protection and increased damage for your skills. It can be found in the Garden of Madness
  
  
• Eversing
  
  5 stars
  This will pretty much be on you at all times until you get Olrox's Suit which is deep into the end game. It can be found in the Subterranean Hell secret wall to the left of the waterfall.
  
  
• Shaman Ring
  
  3 stars
  This is found in the Cursed Clock Tower and boosts your exp gained. It is behind a Money door. (Check the Secrets section for more info).
  
  
• Power Belt
  
  2 stars
  This can be acquired after unlocking double jump from the end of the Dark Chapel. Just back track a little ways after defeating Malphas.

• Blunt Sword
  
  2 stars
  It has a fast animation and longer reach than a lot of the other weapons you can find early on. It can be upgraded to Katana which does more damage, its fast animation and long horizontal reach make it a decent starter weapon. It can be found in the Wizardry Lab.
  
  
• Claymore
  
  5 stars
  It can be a bit clunky to get used to, but it has the highest damage of any of the starter weapons. It is found very early on and can be re-bought at Hammer's shop. You can't move while swinging it on the ground, but if you swing while in mid-air you can guide your location while also having a strong 120 degree angle overhead swing. Great-swords are great in general!
  
  
• Garian Sword
  
  3 stars
  I personally love this sword, but it is a hassle to unlock it. It's main point for it is that its fast and does a lot of damage. You need to create it from Yoko's shop. The steps involved are as follows. Find Estoc or Small Sword and then upgrade one of those two using a White Dragon soul into a Whip Sword. Then combining the Whip Sword with a Quetzalcoatl soul.
  
  
• Halberd
  
  3 stars
  This has a long reach but not very good for enemies above you. It is easy to find in the Dark Chapel. You can also buy it from Hammer's shop or Yoko's shop.
  
  
• Katana
  
  2 stars
  This has a nice fast attack rate and pretty easy to handle style of attack. The only issue is that you either have to upgrade a Blunt Sword with the rare Bomber Armor soul or buy it for 9000 gold from Hammer's shop. Gold is hard to come by early on in the game.

- There are three doors in the game that are locked behind your last three digits of your gold amount. Their location and amount needed are as follows.

• First door, Garden of Madness. *Edit* 777 is what your last three digits of money need to be for the door to open. It is on the bottom right side of the Garden. You will get the Triple 7 armor for your troubles.
  
• Second door, Cursed Clock Tower. *Edit* 573 is what you need to unlock this door. You will find a Shaman Ring behind the door. You will find it near the entrance to Condemned Tower.
  
• Third door, Wizardry Lab. 666. Behead all Satans. You will find the Gold ring behind this door. You won't be able to reach this place until you travel through the Subterranean Hell to the secret backside of the Wizardry Lab. You will need the Bone Ark Soul to get past the spike pit in the Sub. Hell. Bone Ark Soul can be found in the Silenced Ruins. You will need the Boss Soul Zephyr to enter the Silenced Ruins. The boss soul can be found at the top of the Cursed Clock Tower. To enter the Cursed Clock Tower you need to beat Gergoth and find the Tower Key in the Condemned Tower.

• Lost Village: south east area past the 5 zombies in a row. The floor is breakable. Use Axe Armor soul to break the floor.
  
• Wizardry Lab: after defeating Balore go back to the long horizontal room with a floating movable platform. Break the ice before taking the platform and use axe armor to break the ceiling near the middle. I would clear out the enemies and the ice and break the ceiling before taking the ride, you get one chance before resetting the room and trying again.
  
• Garden of Madness: Ceiling near a Skeleton Ape. You need to have bat company to get into the secret area. It is a breakable wall on the ceiling.
  
• Demon Guest House: The breakable ceiling is near the connecting entrance to the Garden
  of Madness. You won't be able to access the secret until after getting Bat Company soul.
  
• Subterranean Hell: On the left side of the giant waterfall. It is fairly high up. I usually try to do a double jump from the highest point in that room while swinging a Claymore down in hopes that I break the wall and safely enter the secret room. You must remember that the waterfall will push you down and impede your speed. It can be quite a chore to make it back to that point to try again. I would recommend saving before trying the technique.
  
• The Pinnacle: The last secret areas are in the Pinnacle, two of them are just in two seemingly random walls, hit every wall and floor! The last hidden ceiling is right before Dracula's Throne room, you will need Bat company to make it to the secret area. Most Castlevania games have that in as a secret area!

BEST ENDING

In Soma's playthrough you can get the ultimate ending by fighting the monster behind Dario in the mirror in Dracula's throne room at the Pinnacle. To get Paranoia's soul that grants the ability to enter mirrors, you will need to have three souls, Ukoback, Killer Clown, and Axe Armor.
Axe Armor is found in Wizardry Lab. Killer Clown is found in the Demon Guest House. Ukoback can be found in the Subterranean Hell. Paranoia can be found in the Demon Guest House at the top after using those three souls to unlock his boss room location. Once you beat the monster in the mirror behind Dario you then equip Mina's Talisman and head to the center of the Garden of Madness to find your enemies. MAKE SURE TO HAVE Mina's Talisman equipped! After the cut-scene head to the Condemned Tower at the bottom right of the map to find Julius opening the secret area. Just keep on pushing until you meet up with the final boss. There are a couple of bosses before the finale and a whole lot of dungeon to explore. (It's mostly linear).
Quick flowchart of events.
>Get Ukoback, Killer Clown, Axe Armor souls > Open door to Paranoia > Kill Paranoia > Head to Dario at the Pinnacle > Enter Mirror in Dario's boss room > Kill boss in Mirror > Equip Mina's Talisman > Head to center of Garden of Madness > Watch cut-scene > Head to bottom right of Condemned Tower > Watch cut-scene > Fight through Mines of Judgement > Fight through the last zone > Fight final boss > Watch ending credits