I've been playing this for the last several days. It's a collection of the three Castlevania games that were released for the Nintendo DS. I beat all 3 games and unlocked the true endings for each. I want to post my thoughts on these games while they're still fresh in my mind.
Dawn of Sorrow (2005): This is a direct sequel to "Aria of Sorrow" (2003), released on the Gameboy Advance. As a Castlevania game, it's very good, but it feels like a slight downgrade from Aria. This is mainly because of an annoying mechanic where you need to memorise and press a series of buttons in a very specific order to finish off bosses once their health is depleted. If you get it wrong, the boss revives with some health. This was probably thrown in to make use of the DS's touch screen system. Fortunately, on the Steam version, there's a rewind function that can be used in case you mess up.
Order of Ecclesia (2008): This is very different in terms of level design. It's a mix of a Metroidvania and a level based system. For the most part, it's a level based game as opposed to a fully open world metroidvania. You use an overworld map to access different levels, and as you progress, new areas are unlocked. Dracula's castle is the last level and feels more like a proper "Metroidvania" game, with a huge open world with various zones. This game's weapon system is pretty well designed, and allows you to equip and switch between 3 sets of weapons/spells. Interestingly, this game has many concepts that appear in "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" (2019) which was also produced by Koji Igarashi.
Portrait of Ruin (2006): This game is excellent and is my favorite in this collection. This game is rather unique among the Castlevania games in that it let's you switch between 2 protagonists at any time during the game. The main protagonist specializes in hand held weapons like swords, spears and axes. The secondary protagonist performs spell attacks. IMO this is an excellent way to solve (at least a bit) the problem of constantly going to the inventory to change weapons. While this game is a traditional Metroidvania with a big open world castle area, there are also 8 smaller levels detached from the main map. These are accessed through portals inside the castle and need to be completed in order to unlock the final areas.
This collection also includes an arcade Castlevania game called "Haunted Castle" (1987). It's basically a linear classic style platformer. You get the original version and the modern remastered. I've only played the first level. It seems decent but I'm currently not in the mood for it and will get back to it later.
Check out the game on Steam:
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2369900/Castlevania_Dominus_Collection/
Dawn of Sorrow (2005): This is a direct sequel to "Aria of Sorrow" (2003), released on the Gameboy Advance. As a Castlevania game, it's very good, but it feels like a slight downgrade from Aria. This is mainly because of an annoying mechanic where you need to memorise and press a series of buttons in a very specific order to finish off bosses once their health is depleted. If you get it wrong, the boss revives with some health. This was probably thrown in to make use of the DS's touch screen system. Fortunately, on the Steam version, there's a rewind function that can be used in case you mess up.
Order of Ecclesia (2008): This is very different in terms of level design. It's a mix of a Metroidvania and a level based system. For the most part, it's a level based game as opposed to a fully open world metroidvania. You use an overworld map to access different levels, and as you progress, new areas are unlocked. Dracula's castle is the last level and feels more like a proper "Metroidvania" game, with a huge open world with various zones. This game's weapon system is pretty well designed, and allows you to equip and switch between 3 sets of weapons/spells. Interestingly, this game has many concepts that appear in "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" (2019) which was also produced by Koji Igarashi.
Portrait of Ruin (2006): This game is excellent and is my favorite in this collection. This game is rather unique among the Castlevania games in that it let's you switch between 2 protagonists at any time during the game. The main protagonist specializes in hand held weapons like swords, spears and axes. The secondary protagonist performs spell attacks. IMO this is an excellent way to solve (at least a bit) the problem of constantly going to the inventory to change weapons. While this game is a traditional Metroidvania with a big open world castle area, there are also 8 smaller levels detached from the main map. These are accessed through portals inside the castle and need to be completed in order to unlock the final areas.
This collection also includes an arcade Castlevania game called "Haunted Castle" (1987). It's basically a linear classic style platformer. You get the original version and the modern remastered. I've only played the first level. It seems decent but I'm currently not in the mood for it and will get back to it later.
Check out the game on Steam:
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2369900/Castlevania_Dominus_Collection/
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