There aren’t too many games that can say that they have had an entire genre named after them, but that is the case for Castlevania. The genre in question is, of course, that of Metroidvania, an amalgam of Castlevania and Metroid, which gave their names to a style of platformer that requires new abilities and items to make progress through a large map.
What we have here is the Castlevania Dominus Collection from Konami; a collection of a few of the older Castlevania games. There are games here from the Nintendo DS era, and even older ones ripped straight from the arcades – there is a lot of content in this release, that is for sure.
But is it worth playing games that are coming up to their 20th birthday, and do they still stand up today? I’ll deal with each game in turn, going chronologically from oldest to newest.
To begin with, we will have a look at 2005’s Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. The story of this game continues from a previous offering, Aria of Sorrow, which helpfully isn’t included in this collection. Given that the first line of the story synopsis is “The adventures of Soma continue!” then this seems like a bit of strange inclusion. Still, Soma Cruz is the main character in this story, and he is once again trying to stop Dracula from being resurrected. However, a mysterious cult is trying to get Dracula to return, and so it is down to us to stop him.
The presentation of this one is very much like someone just lifted it straight from a Nintendo DS and inserted it to Xbox, which I think is a good thing. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is pretty good looking anyway, and any HD tickling or fancy effects would be a waste of time – the look is part of its charm, as it is for all three of these DS games. The sound is also very well replicated, with all the tunes that we know and love from the earlier games being here.
The second of the games is Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and this one is separated from the others by the simple trick of having two protagonists instead of one. Yes, Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin are the heroes this time around and although Dracula’s Castle has reappeared yet again, ol’ Drac doesn’t seem to be at home. So who is, and what do they want? Can Jonathan and Charlotte stop the baddies and save the day?
Again, here the presentation is exactly as it was back in the day – and let’s face it, I don’t think Konami have made a rubbish looking Castlevania game yet. The design of the heroes and the enemies is as sharp as ever, and having two people to choose from is a great idea – and having them team up to use certain abilities is a masterstroke.
The final game in the DS section is that of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and this revolves around a character called Shanoa, who, in a twist never before seen in video games, has lost her memory. I know!
Neatly, Shanoa has a cool ability to absorb things called Glyphs, that are either dropped by enemies or found in the wild, and these give her the ability to use new attacks and skills. The animation for absorbing a Glyph is pretty great, and all in all this should be seen as another near- perfect port, looking good and playing very well.
One thing to mention about these two later games though is that they try to use the touchpad of the DS in gameplay – something the Xbox lacks. Luckily, the solution is to use the right stick to move on the pad, imitating the stylus, and then pulling on RT to enter your inputs. This system works pretty well to be honest, and I’ve had no issues.
Finally, there are a couple of arcade games that have also made it into Castlevania Dominus Collection, and they live in the “Extras” section of the menu. These are Haunted Castle and Haunted Castle Revisited, an arcade experience that takes us back some. Haunted Castle feels clunky to play, and has dated poorly, but the Revisited version is a lot better; more fluid and modern. As added extras, there can be no complaints about what is being offered.
All of the games play pretty much as platform adventures, with a bit of RPG thrown in. You’ll know this if you have ever played a Castlevania game, but all the tropes are here – hitting torches to get extra health, various weapons to find and use, and in Dawn of Sorrow, those weapons can be upgraded by putting the captured souls of monsters into them.
Each game has its own hook too, whether that be two playable characters, absorbing glyphs or harnessing monster souls, and they all add to the strong base gameplay that Castlevania has always had. It means that you should have a really good time with Castlevania Dominus Collection, and after a while you really won’t care that they aren’t complete with the latest or greatest whizz bang graphics. The gameplay is what matters here, and it is strong enough to pull you in and keep you playing.
Bear in mind that the challenge is real, and there are no easy games included in the Castlevania Dominus Collection, but that means there is a real sense of achievement as you finally find the thing that will allow you to get a bit further into the castle. You can also choose not to use the new rewind function if you wish, to preserve the difficulty – just don’t do what I did, forget all about it, beat a boss and die without finding a save room, then have to go back and do it all again.
All in all, the Castlevania Dominus Collection is a very good collection of great games from years gone by, and for the reasonably low price, it feels like storming value as well.
Buy Castlevania Dominus Collection on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/castlevania-dominus-collection/9p07h5jq4r5q
The Castlevania Dominus Collection revitalizes classic titles with enhanced graphics and updated soundtracks, blending nostalgia with modern gameplay improvements. It retains the series’ iconic platforming and combat while introducing quality-of-life features. With bonus content like developer interviews and concept art, it’s a must-have for fans and newcomers alike, celebrating the legacy of Castlevania in a compelling package.