Castlevania Dominus Collection Review

Castlevania is one of my favourite franchises, especially everything after and including Castlevania: Symphony of the Night but before Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Though some may argue that the original level-based arcadey retro Castlevanias are the best, I will always love the 2D adventures that dominated (heh, get it?) the Nintendo handheld systems for multiple console generations! After replaying some of my childhood firsts in the Castlevania Advance Collection, I was wondering if the Nintendo DS games would ever make the same leap… but wonder I shall no more as I was handed arguably some of the best titles in the series thrown in one neat package, the Castlevania Dominus Collection.

Now, before we go on to discuss the individual games, some general notes. In each of the three games I will go into (we’ll talk about the fourth in a bit), the Dominus Collection offers some nifty features to make the experience a bit more enjoyable and manageable. First off, each game has a compendium showing every collectable item, enemy, and special skill you may encounter during your various adventures. Though pretty simple, it’s nice to be able to look up what a certain enemy drops before I grind myself ragged trying to get some rotten meat. Additionally, it helps seasoned veterans find the enemies or items they want without having to wrack our now-old-and-withered brains. The Collection also has a gallery showing off some fun artwork for the games, as well as a music box mode where you can listen to the, arguably amazing, soundtracks for the games. You can also choose which region’s (US, Europe, Japan) version of the games you’d like to play.

In addition to some lovely light reading and music, the Dominus Collection, much like its predecessor, allows you to save and load your game at any point, making the ever-familiar panicky scramble for a save room a thing of the past. You can also rewind the game up to a certain amount, allowing you to say nu-uh to that last-second hit you took, though if you’re anything like me, you’ll wind up running around with very little HP left, rewinding every other moment. Finally, the Collection menu allows you to alter how the many displays are arranged.

As these are indeed Nintendo DS games (DS standing for Dual Screen), the three titles within are reliant on using both screens. To compensate for this, the collection allows you to pick between different arrangements of screens: you can have the main screen and both your status and the map visible (screens one, two, and three) side by side, or you can have only two screens visible (either next to, or stacked on top of, each other), with the other being toggleable between the map and your status. Though this took me a minute to get used to, the space is used surprisingly well. Being designed for the relatively tiny screens of yesteryear, much effort was put into making everything visually distinct.

Finally, the pen-shaped elephant in the room: the stylus. Being the unique selling point of the handheld console, all of the Castlevania games on the DS used the touchscreen to some capacity, which was no doubt a challenge to port onto the newer consoles. While using the mouse as a stylus on a PC, or simply using the touchscreen on a Switch would probably work fine, I played the Dominus Collection on the PlayStation 5. Whenever the stylus was needed, there were two options: I could use the DualSense trackpad in the same way as a touchscreen or I could control the stylus with the right thumbstick, pressing the right trigger whenever I wanted to “press down” on my virtual stylus. Both methods were clumsy, to say the least, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker as the stylus wasn't needed often.

Now, on the DS trilogy, or as I like to call it, the Anime trio. The first game on the roster is the continuation of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Following the life of Soma Cruz, erstwhile owner of the power of Dominance, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow picks up a year after the events of the last game. Soma has lost his powers and is living a normal life until a new foe makes herself known in the form of Celia Fortner. This fanatical cult leader is trying very hard to bring back the previously defeated Dark Lord, Dracula, and would very much like for Soma to die so this can happen.

With his childhood friend Mina being caught in the crossfire, Soma reawakens his power of Dominance and slurps up a few souls to take on this new threat. Quickly retreating, Celia taunts the (not) level-headed Soma before teleporting away. So the stage is set for Soma to rush off to face this threat, joined by his previous supporting cast, though it’s mostly a solo journey. The unique selling point of Dawn of Sorrow, and the mechanic that makes it one of the best in the series, is the aforementioned power of Dominion. With this power, Soma can literally absorb the souls of his enemies, gaining their powers! What this means in gameplay terms is that every enemy you face has a chance to drop a soul. Once gained, you receive a power somehow related to that foe. For example, a zombie soul allows you to summon it in battle or a skeleton giving you the ability to… throw bones.

Separated into three categories — Bullet, Guardian, and Enchant — the vast amount of souls on offer allows you to create a combination fitting your play style and adds a lot of fun variety as you experiment with the many powers. Additionally, as in most metroidvania Castlevania titles, you can equip yourself with various weapons with different attack styles to further tweak your playstyle. My go-to was always the heavier axes for their amazing hitbox!

Now, swinging swords and throwing bones is all fine and well, but regretfully Celia’s cult has come up with a sure-fire way to defeat you: invulnerable enemies. Yes, with the power of portals, the cult has managed to make the strongest monsters (read: bosses) almost unbeatable, as the portal will simply revitalise them upon defeat. Luckily, Soma knows a mage or two and is given Magic Seals, which can be used to seal a weakened portal monster. This mechanic was also one I dreaded the most, as in the original game, the Magical Seals required the player to use the Nintendo DS styles to actually draw the lines lest the seal falter. Playing on the PlayStation (which, in hindsight, is itself pretty wild), this aspect could be a bit janky. Luckily the developers did account for this, replacing the drawing phase with simple timed button presses.

Dawn of Sorrow, being the first DS game for the series, uses the stylus much more than the other two titles. Some Soul powers rely on you breaking blocks by poking them, for example. But I found these sections seldom required me to rush, so the clumsy controls weren’t much of a bother. Requiring me to write my name with the thing in the beginning was humbling though.

In summary, Dawn of Sorrow is the same fun, engaging, and grind-heavy title it was back in 2005, only better with the addition of timey-wimey powers. The only real negative I can add is that some of the background and the many lanterns in the game are very flickery, making it a risk for someone with epileptic tendencies. I do not recall them being this bad in the original. While it could be the vastly different screen size compared to the original, it may also be my rose-tinted glasses.

Portrait of Ruin, the oft-forgotten middle child of the DS era, follows the adventure of Jonathan Morris, son of John Morris of Castlevania: Bloodlines fame and wielder of the legendary Vampire Killer, and Charlotte Aulin, a descendant of the Belnades clan of witches. As the Belmont clan is currently off doing some serious soul-searching, the Morris family is called when a new vampire lord, Brauner, is up to no good. Joined by a cowardly priest named Vincent and an enigmatic ghost calling himself Wind, the duo must travel through painted portals to thwart the newest attempt to bring darkness upon humanity.

The unique selling point of Portrait of Ruin is the dual-character gameplay where you can play as both Jonathan and Charlotte, though only one at a time. Jonathan is more of a “hit things” kinda guy, so his weapons and playstyle revolve around different kinds of weapons and their uses, much like previous protagonists. He has the Vampire Killer but isn’t able to use its full power due to the whole “not a Belmont” deal, so he uses whatever weapons he finds. Charlotte, on the other hand, is a witch and a pretty powerful one at that! Her main weapon is weapons conjured from books, though her true strength lies in powerful spells she can find and use. She can’t hit as hard or be hit as often but makes up for it in variety and range.

As these heroes venture deeper into Brauner’s painted worlds, they’ll gain more experience and power, allowing them to both attack at once and even combine their powers into very powerful Dual Crush attacks. Though having to manage two sets of inventories and weapons can be draining, having a constant companion does allow the game to include more dialogue and “cutscenes” unlike the mostly solo affairs in the other games. Additionally, the game does a great job of adding little details into the game. For example, some enemies absolutely hate Jonathan but may fall madly in love with Charlotte, offering her flowers instead of pain.

When compared to the other games in the Dominus Collection, I can see how Portrait of Ruin may have some trouble standing out. It’s an absolutely fantastic little title and has some great ideas and character moments, but suffers from some repetitious design and some less-than-great levels… like the circus. Regardless, the slightly lower difficulty, great variety, and fun enemy interactions are still noteworthy and make this a good jumping-on point for anyone looking to get into the series!

The (kinda) final game in the trio is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, a rightfully iconic title in the franchise and also the final entry in this style of gameplay before the franchise rebooted itself into regrettable oblivion. The game takes a departure from the usual protagonists and instead follows one of the many countermeasures humanity has created to fight Dracula’s influence, an organisation called Ecclesia. Shanoa, one of two disciples, is set to become the vessel for a trio of powerful Glyphs, called Dominus. As the ritual is underway, the other disciple, Albus, bursts in for an unknown reason, steals the Dominus and makes for the hills. Left without memory or emotion, Shanoa must rebuild her strength and chase after her former colleague to retrieve the power needed to keep the Dark Lord at bay.

Order of Ecclesia takes a few departures from the standard formula, the most noticeable of which is the level-based progression. Whereas the other titles all took place in either one big space or had you travelling to other levels through one hub area, this game has a proper map screen, where you can choose which area to face, though they are mostly unlocked in linear order.

Unlike previous games, Shanoa does not use traditional weapons. Instead, she uses magical Glyphs to form weapons and elemental attacks. Much like in Dawn of Sorrow, new Glyphs can be obtained by defeating enemies or found in the levels. Unlike souls, however, these magical powers need a tad more strategy to obtain. Not every enemy drops them and the ones that do may need to be defeated in certain circumstances. For example, a Spear Knight will drop a Lance for you to use, but it needs to be defeated while holding their spear! If they manage to chuck it at you, you’re out of luck. Some magic-user enemies may use Glyphs themselves, which you can steal by sucking them up as they’re casting, which is always a fun time.

Order of Ecclesia has a reputation of being one of the harder entries and I do believe it is definitely earned. Enemies do a fair bit of damage and take a lot of punishment, with save spots being few and far between. To balance this, you are able to use a limited item to simply teleport away to a nearby village to heal up, but you’ll have to start over on the level (unless you find a teleport room). Regardless, the game also does a lot to make each level look distinct and dynamic, with the waves of the ocean slowing you down, alchemical laboratories dripping goo, and the general area and enemy design being the best in the series! The game also happens to be my absolute favourite in terms of soundtrack. It is amazing.

Now, you may have noticed me dancing around the whole “three games” thing and indeed, there is one more item to check out in the Dominus Collection: Haunted Castle Revisited. The second Castlevania arcade game, this six-level adventure follows Simon’s quest to take on the eternal evil. Played as a side-scrolling platformer, you are equipped with your trusty whip and subitems and are tasked with making it to the end of each level and beating the boss.

In the Revisited version of the title, the visuals have been updated and the music has been remade, though none of the original challenge or charm have been lessened. Simon still looks like his clothes were just mauled by a tiger and the whip knows only one direction, forward! The experience is over rather quickly and with the endless continues the port provides, it’s not overly challenging. It is, however, a great time and I especially loved the remade soundtrack that added some epic kick to the journey. If you find these new graphics offensive, however, the original is also available to play. Oh, and the cutscene at the beginning is absolute gold.

The Castlevania Dominus Collection is an absolutely wonderful collection of some of the best metroidvanias out there, at least to me. They each bring unique mechanics and experiences to the table and are different enough that you don’t feel bored by the second title. If you are a completionist, however, turn away as these may be the grind-heaviest games in the series, especially with Dawn of Sorrow’s soul farming… regardless, if you’ve never tried these classics, I vehemently recommend them! If you have, you probably bought it already.