>>11954059
As a kid it was fun to play around with souls and equipment in New Game plus, but these days I feel basically satisfied after clearing it on a Hard Mode new game.

Julius Mode is different, but it's really just a throw-in because there's no real progression. You've got all your movement abilities to get around at the start, so you can go basically anywhere right away, but there's no items or conventional leveling, so there's no point to go around exploring.
The goal of Julius Mode is to go and kill all of the bosses, and you get powered up some for each boss, then you go and kill Graham, and that's it.

Julius Mode was more elaborate in Dawn Of Sorrow, because you get three characters to switch between like back in Castlevania 3 : Dracula's Curse, and it plays as an alternate continuity.