Castle of Heart dev says the game's surroundings are loosely inspired by real-life locations

A portion of a Miketendo interview with developer 7Levels...

Miketendo64: Given Castle of Heart does feature levels inspired by real-life locations, can you tell us about some of them?

7Levels: The game’s surroundings are loosely inspired by real medieval locations in our region – both the architecture and landscapes. Moreover, some enemies also find their roots in Slavic fables. For example, one of the bosses is called “Żmij” – a three-headed Slavic dragon.

from GoNintendo