Castlevania Dominus Collection

A collection of some of the absolute best games in the series. Every single game here is absolutely fantastic and they are all great in different ways. So let's break them down. Dawn of Sorrow: Out of this collection, and generally, this is one of the weaker Igavanias, I would honestly only consider it better than Circle of the Moon. The main reason for this is that it's basically an exact repeat of Aria of Sorrow but worse. Story? Less interesting. Level design? Significantly worse to the point that an entire quarter of the map has nothing of value in it. Combat? This is the ONLY part of Dawn that is genuinely excellent, but it really isn't enough to carry it. As it is let down by the terrible changes to the Soul system, with several souls now requiring MORE souls in order to make them better (basically just extra grinding for no reason), and this is due to the crafting system requiring certain souls. The problem with this crafting system though is that it actually discourages exploration because near ALL weapon types BEST weapons come from the crafting system. The saving grace of this game really is the Julius mode, which is not only storywise way better than the base game, but actually uses Dawn's level design in interesting ways. Ironically, Soma's bad ending timeline, ended up being the main attraction this time. Overall an 8/10. Portrait of Ruin: Oh my GOD this game is so good. Literally everything works about the game from a gameplay stand point, with Johnathan and Charlotte being both great alternate playstyles. Every painting is a great linear adventure, with the castle having really solid level design as a hubworld. The actual issues with this game that don't have to do with pure taste (some people would prefer less linear game design I get it) however, are mainly due to the item drop rates being pretty terrible, with pretty much required equipment for several of the side quests to be locked behind these drop rates. Wind's quests are overall great and the reveal of his true identity, and the story in general is great, but some of his quests really do feel like they were running out of ideas. Charlotte also does suffer from being clearly a lot more simple than Johnathan, odds are you are gonna be playing as Johnathan for most of the game simply because of how much more complex and tanky he is. The Richter gamemode is also nice, but honestly it felt like a huge missed opportunity to not have a John and Eric gamemode. This IS supposed to be the sequel to Bloodlines afterall. Despite these issues tho, this is still an excellent entry in the series. 9/10. Order of Eccelesia: Aria and Order battle for which I consider the best Igavania in the franchise constantly. This time Order wins out for me. The story, the return to a more Gothic artstyle, the sheer amount of options for combat, the excellent marriage of both Classicvania and Igavania design philosophies, and excellent side quests. This game has it all. Shanoa has an excellent journey, start to finish, with the game basically never stepping off the gas with throwing so many different ideas at you. The choice to change the mana meter to a stamina meter, adds so much strategy in the boss fights, with regular enemies also managing to put you down really quickly, even by the end of the game. The Albus gamemode is also a delightful powertrip after the sheer level of brutal difficulty in Shanoa's adventure, leading to a very well rounded game overall. The only really issue I have for the game is that the requirement for the good ending is very difficult to figure out, and it's more likely you'll stumble into the requirements without even realizing there WAS a bad ending. It's just an awkward part of the game's design when everything else is done so well. Overall though a genuine masterpiece. 10/10. Haunted Castle (Original): This game blows, it's so bad, worst game in the franchise by far (besides the mobile games). It's only redeeming quality is that it's short. 2/10. Haunted Castle Revisited: A remake so good it's a shock to the system. I cannot overstate how good of a glow up this game is. Turning the worst Classicvania by far into one of the most replayable and fun ones is an outstanding feat. Absolutely worth buying the collection just for this game, as it makes this collection better than any emulator can do with these other games. 8.5/10. (Still reuses a bit too many of the issues the original had). Now please Konami release a collection with Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness, Chronicles. Rondo of Blood, and Symphony with a remake of Belmont's Revenge I beg, it will be so nice to have.

I will review each game in this collection individually from first to last. Dawn of Sorrow short version: 10/10 video game. Longer version: It’s a metroidvania at it’s finest room lay out enemy variety bosses weapons music soul system with addition of soul transfusion system that lets you use souls you don’t use or in general souls to upgrade a sword spear mace dagger etc. to higher quality version of each weapon type and it’s a really good system. Art style was changed from Ayami Kojima gothic atmosphere to more anime shounen style and it’s not bad but is worse than what we had in Aria of Sorrow. Another new thing are Magic Seals in original release some people hated it cause the symbols you need to draw where more complex and you had to do them on touchscreen now it’s a bit easier Konami added buttons to do it faster and I actually like these. One thing that is weak is story cause they want to resurrect Dracula and Soma goes to castle to stop it. There is a special mode just like in Aria you can play as Julius but not only him Yoko and Alucard as homage to Castlevania 3 also there are mini voice lines in Japanese just like in GBA trilogy. Actually nothing more to say this game alone (like the 2 other DS games) is worth the price. Portrait of Ruin is a bit worse game cause the game is set in WW2 and that alone makes it interesting but spoiler alert [spoiler] they do nothing with it at all [/spoiler] . Game features 2 characters Jonathan and Charlotte and you can switch with them without any loading on command it’s really nice both of them work as a team sometimes you both need to push pillar cause one person won’t do it or just jump on shoulders of your partner. Jonathan is more of a John Castlevania guy (literally) just fist whip sword daggers etc. to fight with and Charlotte is you magic girl with wind electric or other ones. Both of them work seamlessly in battle if you want to summon your friend in need it cost nothing no mana needed but if He or She gets damaged you loose some of mana bar and if it runs out they are stunned and just vanish to be summoned again. Duo have a special attack that uses big chunk of mana to cast and deals huge damage depending on version you can swap ultimates in menu to other and find them on map and it ranges from big lightning 1000 blades to meteors and volcanos. Story it self is going to castle to defeat Brauner but there are twist made early also this game includes a quest system early on and is first Castlevania after SoTN to include English dubbing. There are sub modes 1 is where you play as sisters and other one is where you play as Ritcher and Maria so you have a lot of content and this game spans in various location cause whole game is not in Dracula castle but in portraits where you explore towns pyramids and all sorts of things but they will repeat these later in a sort of “gauntlet” something like Castle A-B in Harmony of Dissonance but not as bs. Also music is a total banger a bit worse than Dawn for my taste but still great not the less. Overall worth the price alone for this one 9/10. Order of Ecclesia is the best Castlevania game I’ve played so far. It got great music great characters great locations great art style done by new guy Masaki Hirooki and it’s perfect the story is not bad too but is a bit on less greater side though there are side quest that create who Shanoa is later on. She uses glyphs similar to soul system but yet different some souls have synergy creating massive attacks with huge damage also I need to mention Ecclesia is the hardest castlevania metroidvania style game with bosses who can shred you into pieces but Shanoa is also somehow the strongest character in entire series (in terms of player control) with right set up she can become the destroyer of worlds. There is “new” mechanic mana bar but I see this as stamina bar cause it regenerates so fast you don’t need items to refresh it ever and to use this big attack you need hearts they come back but in a twist in older entries you could get 5 hearts as one here there is always 1 and that makes you always backtrack to village to regen hearts before boss fight. Special mode is Albus and it’s the worst sub mode of any DS vania game no lore reason like 1 mode in Dawn and Portrait no dialogues special music outro nothing just a speed run type mode. Overall 10/10 worth the price alone. Haunted Castle is the worst castlevania game or one of the worst it’s bad but worth a try 3/10 great music tho Haunted Castle Revisited is a really good classic vania game with re arranged music and some twists to bosses basically what a remake should be re doing a bad game to make it good. 7/10 Overall whole collection is worth the price 10/10 will play each game again someday.

old gold. good play, fun times. still really hoping for Symphony of the night to come to steam.