Konami and M2 have been treating the Castlevania sequence exceptionally properly lately. Positive, we haven’t gotten any new entries, however they’ve been preserving the sequence’ backlog fairly contemporary with the likes of the Castlevania Advance Assortment and now the Castlevania Dominus Assortment. This takes three of the sequence’ ultimate “Metroidvania” outings from the Nintendo DS and brings them to each trendy console.
The primary of the bunch (situated on the backside of the primary menu, curiously) is Castlevania: Daybreak of Sorrow, the direct sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. I had first performed Aria of Sorrow about two years in the past when the Advance Assortment got here out and felt it was an ideal iteration on what Castlevania: Symphony of the Evening established. The second of the video games, and the primary within the sequence that I ever performed, is Castlevania: Portrait of Spoil. This has two playable characters as an alternative of 1, each with their very own fight kinds and gimmicks. Lastly, you will have the headliner sport, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. If I needed to rank the three I’d say it’d be Portrait of Spoil, Order of Ecclesia, after which Daybreak of Sorrow. Perhaps there’s a little bit of nostalgia bias there, however I wasn’t actually having fun with Daybreak of Sorrow as a lot as I did Aria of Sorrow. I’d say all of those video games are a minimum of adequate to get pleasure from, particularly with all the brand new quality-of-life options.
Every of those video games has you side-scrolling in giant maps, tackling the “Metroidvania” type in several methods. Daybreak of Sorrow is nearly the identical as Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Evening with a giant single fort to discover, Portrait of Spoil has your fort whisk you away to smaller ones, and Order of Ecclesia tries to supply a extra conventional linear Castlevania expertise with the extent design of the MV titles. All of them have their place, and for essentially the most half play with numerous the identical concepts in how gameplay and development work.
You additionally get to see the workforce develop extra assured with the {hardware} over time, resulting in the video games feeling extra polished with every entry. Taking part in the gradual Daybreak of Sorrow to ultimately get to Order of Ecclesia with fast-paced combos? It’s an important expertise to see all of it play out. It’s a tough factor to explain, however these really feel extra responsive than they ever did again once I performed them on DS. And in between each of these see the workforce actually experiment with their puzzle design by having two characters who can work together with the world on the similar time. It’s actually cool, and it makes me a bit unhappy that after these video games Konami shifted away from this type of sport.
Every of those video games has by no means seemed higher than on this assortment, M2 actually outdid themselves. Whereas I’ve varied issues with every of the video games right here (Daybreak of Sorrow particularly meanders for many of its runtime), how they arrive throughout visually is just chic. Backgrounds are introduced at a better decision, particularly the 3D belongings. The pixel artwork itself is splendidly crisp. You’ve gotten about 5 totally different display screen settings to show the dual-screen presentation in several methods based mostly in your choice. There are some conventional layouts that may hold the data unique to the 2 screens as earlier than, prioritizing the way you need to show each. My choice is the default, with a brand new third display screen that may hold enemy data alongside your map.
These really feel much less like emulation and extra like a port job with how seamlessly the trendy additions have been built-in. Daybreak of Sorrow’s contentious contact display screen gimmicks have now largely been mapped to buttons for one, which might be absolute showstoppers as they have been obligatory to defeat bosses. With added options like the power to rewind the sport at any level whereas enjoying, even fumbling the button execution on this new model may be remedied to avoid wasting you a while. For a extra sensible instance: unintentionally hit the Begin button to skip an essential story cutscene? Shortly maintain the rewind button and scroll again to the precise second the cutscene was nonetheless going. You’re most likely going to make use of this usually for bosses if we’re going to be actual although. Don’t fear, I received’t inform anybody.
It’s value mentioning that when you play this sport on the Nintendo Swap undocked you will have full utilization of the contact display screen, however the identical factor may be emulated with the thumbsticks if you’re enjoying on one other platform or docked. For me, enjoying these video games in handheld mode simply felt good, particularly in a sport like Daybreak of Sorrow which makes use of the touchscreen often for varied room gimmicks. The ice partitions you may break little by little with the stylus? That is manageable now along with your finger, and it’s responsive as properly. It makes these video games really feel at residence on the moveable residence console.
The Castlevania Dominus Assortment has made me understand that this particular period of Castlevania is perhaps my favourite total. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was once my favourite sport within the sequence, however I’d be hard-pressed to advocate the opposite titles in that assortment as a result of they really feel unfocused and unpolished. On the very least, there’s a fairly large hole in high quality between them. Even when I’m not very keen on Castlevania: Daybreak of Sorrow, I feel this assortment has numerous worth in it. That is when this particular type of Castlevania sport began to actually department out and experiment, with most of these experiments being very profitable. That is the definitive option to play three of essentially the most attention-grabbing Castlevanias, higher than I ever dreamed they’d be. I feel the Nintendo DS being such an experimental console inspired the unique builders to attempt numerous enjoyable issues, and I hope the suggestions to those video games is robust sufficient to make Konami need to revisit this type.
Model Examined: Nintendo SwitchReview copy supplied by Konami
