Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005)

This Castlevania entry for the Nintendo DS is a standout entry in the long-running series, blending classic 2D action-platforming with RPG elements and a rich gothic atmosphere, one of the many entries inspired by the SOTN formula, which I just can't get enough. A direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, the MC this time is Soma Cruz as he grapples with his dark powers and a cult seeking to resurrect Dracula. It refines the Tactical Soul system, allowing for deep customization and varied combat styles, visually, it pushes the DS hardware with detailed sprites and moody environments.

While the touch screen elements (like drawing seals to finish bosses) feel a bit forced, and I'm really not a fan of this mechanic, the tight gameplay, memorable soundtrack, and strong level design make it one of the best Metroidvania titles on the system. This is easily a must-play for fans of SOTN, or Metroidvanias in general, and I'll say the same to all the other similar Castlevania titles, because this formula never gets old.

The enemy and boss variety further elevates the experience, encouraging experimentation with the Tactical Soul system rather than relying on a single overpowered setup. Absorbing souls and discovering rare abilities gives combat a constant sense of progression, and hunting for specific drops can be surprisingly addictive. Boss encounters are generally well-designed, mixing pattern recognition with aggressive pacing, and they do a great job of testing how well you’ve learned to combine weapons, souls, and movement rather than just raw stats.

As for its narrative, this game leans more heavily into anime-inspired character designs and storytelling, which may be divisive for long-time fans, but it still delivers a compelling continuation of Soma’s internal struggle. The themes of destiny, free will, and the lingering shadow of Dracula are handled with enough weight to give context to the action without overstaying their welcome. Taken as a whole, this entry feels like a confident refinement of what Aria of Sorrow started. It is slightly rough around the edges in places, but packed with personality, depth, and replay value that earned its place among the strongest Castlevania titles.

Definitely a step down from Aria, but still better than Harmony and Cotm. Julius mode is pretty good, but not the game-saving mode some sell it as. The base game has some annoying stuff to it, but overall, it's fairly solid, even if this game doesn't do anything particularly fresh compared to its predecessors

Currently Castlevania Vania's/Metroidlike Rankings:

1. Aria of Sorrow(9.25)
2. Symphony of the Night(9)
3. Dawn of Sorrow(8.5)
4. Circle of the Moon(8.25)
5. Harmony of dissonance(8.0)

To do: Portrait, then Order of Ecclasia

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was one of my favourite games as a teen so I was interested to see how it holds up today in the Castlevania: Dominus Collection. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the game is still a lot fun but I can't see anymore why I was willing to place this right next to Symphony of the Night in terms of quality. It's not quite that good.

The best way to describe Dawn of Sorrow is 'safe'. It takes so much cues from Aria of Sorrow and the previous Castlevania RPG's. The end result is a good, well-designed and fun game but also one that feels a bit thin on own ideas. For example, the soul system returns from Aria of Sorrow. There's couple of new twists but mostly it's very similar. The areas of Dracula's castle are very reminiscent of Aria of Sorrow and pretty much every Castlevania after Symphony of the Night. There's a lot of same enemies. The music is also very much akin to Aria of Sorrow, maybe a bit Castlevania-on-autopilot but good nevertheless.

One thing that Dawn of Sorrow absolutely botches when compared to Aria of Sorrow are the character portraits. They are not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but changing Ayami Kojima's incredible moody gothic art to a bland anime style is unfortunate.

Another nitpick that I have is the inclusion of "Magic Seals". When Dawn of Sorrow was released, it was very much in vogue to highlight the touchscreen capabilities of Nintendo DS. Thus, at the end of every boss, you would need to draw a specific symbol to kill the boss. Fail drawing the seal and the boss would regain some health. Yeah... It's a really tacked on thing. On Dominus Collection, you can do the magic seals by pressing correct button inputs, which is fine, but it's still a bit of an unnecessary hassle to do. Otherwise features made possible by DS were fine then and in the Dominus Collection. For example, the game has a few puzzles where you break some blocks with the touch screen to form a path. A nice little puzzle. In addition, it was super helpful to have the map or status screen at all times displayed on the second screen of the DS. In the Dominus Collection rerelease, you actually get to have both status and map shown on your screen at the same time. Sweet.

At the end of the day, Dawn of Sorrow really is a quality game. It's addicting, it's got great controls and a good presentation. The biggest fault it has is relying too much on it's older siblings. I guess Konami noticed this too since the next game, Portrait of Ruin, shook things up more.

When you play lots of castlevanias in a row, you automatically starts to compare them, even unintencionally. And when you play Aria of Sorrow just before Dawn of Sorrow, it's impossible to unnotice how bad this game really is.

Starting by the art style that changes from Ayama Kojima's dark and gothic concepts, to that generic anime crap. Besides that, why they tried so hard to force the use of touchscreen in the game in such bad ways? that finishing rune you need to use on bosses, and that "power-up" you get that destroy blue blocks, it doesn't even can be called a power-up, you kinda use it in 3 or 4 rooms and i didn't feel stronger when i got it at all, and getting stronger is the point of progressing in a metroidvania.

About this same "progressing subject", when i got the double jump the first time, i had to try it like 12 times to make sure i was really getting higher, 'cause that animation is so much worse than the others castlevanias, that's even more perceptible with the attack moves, they're pretty slower than the other games.

I didn't play the others DS's castlevanias yet, but i expect they are better than this, because it was the most boring metroidvania i've ever played, even Chasm was more exciting than this

This was my first metroidvania and it's hard for me in some ways to actually give this a fair review as a result. I have not been able to get into others in the series as I did this one though, and that maybe speaks to the element of similarity across them all.

I loved unlocking the map, the sense of progression from grinding up the weapons and "souls" and the idea that each new enemy could grant a new ability. Even the stylus action at the end of each boss battle didn't bother me too much.

I think ultimately the RPG advancement in this one that isn't in other similar games is what I enjoyed so much about it; I could afford not to be so good at the action of it over time.