Castlevania is perhaps the most well known vampire video game series, famous for its gothic horror elements and of course, the constant threat of Dracula. Much like the vampire the series is based around, it rises and falls time and time again. Recently, it has been re-emerging from its coffin with the success of the animated Netflix series that’s still considered to be among the best on the platform and seeing re-releases of older games. For example, the Anniversary collection which features the original NES/SNES titles plus a few extras like Bloodlines and Kid Dracula and the Advance Collection which includes the GBA trilogy of games as well as Dracula X. With the recent announcement of Castlevania Nocturne getting its much needed season 2, now seems like a good time to talk about the most recent collection of re-releases, Castlevania Dominus Collection.
Castlevania Dominus Collection features the three DS Castlevania games: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia. It also comes with various extras such as concept art, the soundtracks and even the arcade game Castlevania Haunted Castle, both original and a revisited version. I won’t spend much time talking about Haunted Castle here. It's an arcade style platformer that sees Simon Belmont traverse through Draculas Castle in order to defeat the count and rescue his kidnapped bride. It's also quite difficult as it was made for arcades in 1987.
There’s a lot to like and enjoy here if you appreciate extras and this collection even has a basic achievement system for the DS titles. During one of those games, an extra menu can be opened up that allows for on the spot saving and includes features such as a comprendium for each game that features all the equipment, enemies, and unlockables for easy reference. Players can even rewind the games a little bit in order to quickly correct mistakes. These are all optional features that you can totally ignore if you want a more authentic experience. The right bumper simulates using the touchscreen, which is important for a couple of mechanics but thankfully I had little need to use it outside of those instances.
Now let’s get the important question out of the way, is this Collection worth it? Absolutely. If you’ve ever wanted to experience these games or have an interest in metroidvania style titles, then this is for you. The original DS releases for these aren’t easy to find(especially Order of Ecclesia) and certainly you aren’t gonna find all three of them for the bargain price of the Dominus Collection. Now, as for those individual games.
Dawn of Sorrow(2005)
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is a sequel to 2003’s Aria of Sorrow, which was released on the Game Boy Advance. As such, it features returning protagonist Soma Cruz, the modern day reincarnation of Dracula. Other familiar faces include Genya Arikado, Julius Belmont, Yoko Belnades and Hammer. The game takes place in 2036, a year after the events of Aria. Soma and his childhood friend Mina are living normal lives when they are suddenly attacked by Celia Fortner, a cultist who seeks the revival of the Dark Lord Dracula. Despite being warned away by Genya, Some decides to take the fight to Celia and her cult by attacking her hideout. The game then plays out like a standard Metroidvania style Castlevania. The cults hideout is divided into several areas, each of which contains a boss Soma must defeat in order to progress through different areas of the hideout. The locals range from a garden, to a clocktower, to a demon guest house and even some foreboding ruins. Soma can equip a variety of different weapons to attack enemies with and the soul system also makes a return, where Soma has a chance of gaining the soul of an enemy he defeats. Red souls are “bullet” types that function as the game's sub-weapons, blue souls, known as “guardian” souls, are activated with the R button and feature abilities like summoning familiars and transformations. Finally yellow souls, called “enchant” souls, are entirely passive and range from simple stat boosts, to letting Soma gain money every time he's hit. There’s quite a few different abilities and players are unlikely to discover them all over the course of a single playthrough, lending itself nicely to replayability. New gameplay features include the ability to swap between equipment loadouts on the fly and weapon synthesis. By talking to Yoko, players can spend souls they aren’t using to upgrade their weapons. On paper, this seems like a great idea. Unfortunately, its mandatory to do this for the strongest equipment in the game as finds in the hideout itself are lackluster. This is made up for somewhat by Hammers shop, but even then, his inventory only gets so good and those weapons cost a small fortune. Either way, be prepared to grind. Another new addition is the Seal System which is…unfortunately still a drag. When Soma defeats a boss, he has to draw a magic seal on screen to seal the boss away. If he fails to do this, the boss recovers some hp and he has to whittle it down again. There are 5 seals in total, which get increasingly more complex and are required to even reach certain areas. Thankfully the Dominus Collection makes this a little more bearable by letting you press buttons to complete the seals and even telling you which buttons to press on subsequent attempts. It's still annoying though and I would’ve preferred an option to turn it off altogether. I will say the main antagonists for this particular entry aren’t the most memorable, Celia is the only one with any semblance of character and she doesn’t show up often enough to matter. In fact the whole plot is weird since Aria serves as a sort of conclusion to the battle against Dracula. All in all, It's still a pretty fun game even if it's the weakest of the DS trilogy in my opinion.
TOTAL: 3 / 5
Portrait of Ruin(2006)
Another sequel, this time to 1994’s Castlevania Bloodlines which originally came out for Genesis. Portrait of Ruin follows two new protagonists, Jonathan Morris(son of John Morris from Bloodlines) and his friend Charlotte Aulin as they are asked to investigate the mysterious return of Draculas Castle during WWII. Not long after, they encounter the mysterious vampire sisters, Stella and Loretta, and discover the castle is controlled by their father, the vampire Brauner instead of Dracula as usual. The two main gimmicks of Portrait of Ruin are the tag team system and of course, the titular portraits. Players can switch between Jonathan and Charlotte at will, with Jonathan playing like a standard Castlevania protagonist. He's able to use a variety of weapons and can gain access to a surprising variety of sub-weapons, which are equipped like normal items in this game. Charlotte acts as a mage type character, able to get access to a number of spells ranging from lightning bolts and ice shards to an owl transformation and stat buffs. Charlotte can even get access to a healing spell, adding to her versatility. Aside from swapping characters, the other character can also be called in for support, supplying regular attacks or sub-weapons/spells if needed. Players can use team attacks, which are powerful, oftentimes screen ranging attacks that also cost a significant amount of MP. In addition to the main castle, Jonathan and Charlotte will also encounter paintings they’ll need to enter and defeat a boss in. These paintings cover a fair amount of variety in terms of visuals, from a demented circus to an Egypt inspired desert and pyramid to a magic academy in a forest. These levels are quite linear though and aren’t around long enough to make much of an impact. A quest system is also present as players can receive tasks from an npc called Wind. These tasks are pretty menial though and range from mastering weapons to literally running your wallet dry and showing up cursed. There are some decent rewards hidden behind it but it's not necessary to complete the game. I enjoyed my time with Portrait of Ruin far more than Dawn of Sorrow and the unique team mechanic influences gameplay in some fun ways here. Sadly the castle feels a little smaller in comparison and the last part of the game can feel a little tedious. It's still a very fun time and thankfully the seals from Dawn do not make a return here.
Total: 4 / 5
Order of Ecclesia(2008)
The only one of the DS trilogy not connected to any other games in the series, Order of Ecclesia follows Shanoa. A member of Ecclesia which is an organization dedicated to stopping Dracula in the absence of the Belmont clan. The story starts off with Shanoa accepting the ultimate glyph Dominus, until its stolen by fellow Ecclesia member Albus. The interruption of the ritual results in Shanoa losing her emotions and memories. Afterwards, Shanoa must pursue Albus across the land in the hopes of retrieving Dominus and along the way, rescue the kidnapped residents of Wygol Village. It's actually a very unique premise for a Castlevania game and doesn’t feature the titular Castle until much later. The main mechanic of Order of Ecclesia is the glyph system. Similar to the soul system from the Sorrow games, Shanoa can discover glyphs along her journey which grant her different abilities. These glyphs can be basic weapons, spells and yes, even transformations and summonings. These glyphs can be found in special statues, hidden areas of the map and even gotten from enemies. Using glyphs always costs MP which means players will have to be especially mindful of that. Early on, Shanoa will find a glyph sleeve that’ll allow her to switch between 3 different loadouts, which comes in handy as different enemies come with different weaknesses and resistances. Speaking of enemies, they’re comparatively harder in this game as well, tending to have more hp and take more work to defeat as well as dealing more damage. It makes for a harder Castlevania experience more akin to the original games. Another new feature here is the overworld. A natural evolution of Portrait of Ruins portraits, Order of Ecclesia has Shanoa travel across a variety of locales in pursuit of Albus. Dark forests, foreboding lighthouses, an underwater cave and more await. As Shanoa explores, she’ll also encounter the missing villagers of Wygol Village. Serving as the main hub, players can rest, save their game and buy supplies from the town shop. Rescued villagers can offer side quests, which can be completed for rewards and unlocking new items to be bought in the shop. The side quests aren’t much different from what Wind in Portrait of Ruin gives out, but at least there’s more personality behind it as each villager is different. Order of Ecclesia was very well received on launch and it's not hard to see why. A solid soundtrack, some memorable locations and solid gameplay round out this decidedly harder entry in the long running franchise. It's just a shame that Order of Ecclesia was originally released during a rough patch for the series, which resulted in low sales and the eventual rebooting of the franchise. It's still very worth it to experience.
Total 4 / 5
All three DS games were pretty fun in their own rights and I enjoyed my time with them all. They each had their own issues and highlights and despite the same general gameplay loop across the three of them, they play differently enough in some aspects not to feel like repeats of one another. If you’re needing a good fun time with a game that has that horror vibe without being overly spooky, then Castlevania is always a safe bet and this collection certainly dominates with some of the best the series has to offer.
