Castlevania: Dominus Collection [Nintendo Switch]

Fans of the Castlevania series have been clamouring for a new game for around a decade now. Considering that the series was once so prolific, it’s strange that it just diedall of a sudden – being sent to the fiery depths of Pachinko Machine hell. Things have improved slightly since then as the series has seen several great collections lately on modern platforms that allow new gamers to be reintroduced to the classics, but we still had nothing new.

And then, out of nowhere, we suddenly got the first new Castlevania in about ten years. And it’s relegated to an extra tab in the latest collection.. 

What a time to be alive.

ASSERTING DOMINANCE
Unlike other collections that Konami have put out, Castlevania Dominus Collection has a much harder job to deal with: in addition to providing competent ports of their classic games, they also need to contend with adapting the Nintendo DS functionality to the Switch. Thankfully, this second screen was mostly used to display the game’s map and stats, which have now been relegated cleanly to the right side of the screen. The screen arrangement is good and feels non-obtrusive, but there are others to choose from should you wish to do so. The games also feature touchscreen support in handheld for any stylus oriented actions, but gamers playing docked needn’t worry as it’s never actually a requirement.

Aside from the actual presentation of the games though, the package is just really well put together as a whole too. There’s all the different versions of each game, a gallery, music player, and even achievements for you to unlock should you desire to do so. The amount of care and attention poured into this release is honestly quite astounding, and they even went as far as including manual saves and rewinds too, which I didn’t expect would be included for these DS games.

As for the games themselves, they still hold up amazingly well as some of the best metroidvanias of all time, making this package already an essential purchase for the amazingly cheap selling price. However, if you need more convincing we’ll give you a quick breakdown on our thoughts for each of the games included in the package.

ORDER OF ECCLESIA
The first game in the package is 2008’s Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Rather than starring one of the Belmont clan, you instead take control of a young woman named Shanoa who is about to undergo a ceremony fusing her with the Dominus glyphs that will give her the power to fight Dracula. With the Belmonts not around, The Order of Ecclesia has to find other ways to take care of him, and using her as a vessel seems like the best way.

Unfortunately, her brother Albus interrupts the ceremony whilst it’s in progress in order to take Dominus for himself. His motivations are unclear, but Shanoa is left without her powers or memories, and thus has to start from scratch trying to reclaim those lost glyphs and take care of Dracula herself.

It’s an interesting setup, and Shanoa makes for a very likeable and unique character. She doesn’t carry weapons, but instead absorbs glyphs that can provide her with various attack and defensive options. Combos can be done by alternating between the X and Y buttons, with a special fusion attack when holding down both together along with the up direction.

Some glyphs will also allow you to traverse the world easily, thus feeding into the metroidvania element of the game. The Magnes glyph, for example, will allow her to propel herself into the air via the use of magnetic discs – thus allowing her to reach higher places and further distances. It’s pretty much a substitute for a double jump, but it works well enough.

Whilst Order of Ecclesia doesn’t provide anything revolutionary to the metroidvania format, it still offers a fun and oftentimes challenging experience throughout. Seriously, any fans bemoaning the lack of difficulty in the previous titles should love how much Ecclesia steps things up a gear – although if it’s your first time with the series, you should probably leave this one until last!

PORTRAIT OF RUIN
Following on from the fantastic Castlevania: Bloodlines on the Sega Mega Drive, Portrait of Ruin is set during World War II as Jonathan Morris – son of the Bloodlines protagonist – embarks on a journey to stop Dracula. He’s not going about it alone, as he is accompanied by the young sorceress Charlotte Aulin. Whilst Jonathan does carry the legendary Vampire Killer, he’s not actually able to fully wield its power due to him not being a direct descendent of the Belmont Clan. But that won’t stop him from trying, of course.

Whilst exploring the castle, they come across a mysterious ghost who refers to himself as ‘Wind’ who advises that the master of the castle is actually not Dracula at all, but a powerful vampiric artist known as Brauner who uses his enchanted portraits to give power to the castle. With no way to destroy the paintings directly, the two must enter the portraits and find a way to destroy the evil within them. Think of it like a horror themed Super Mario 64, as Jonathan and Charlotte will be hopping into different worlds quite different from the castle they’re found in. The approach allows the game to be quite experimental, as in no other Castlevania game would you head off to the circus or ancient Egpypt!

Much like the game this game follows on from, Portrait of Ruin will also see you playing as the two characters; however, instead of choosing one at the start you’ll be free to switch between them any time with the press of a button. Jonathan is more of a weapons expert, as opposed to Charlotte’s magic usage, but they’re both equally as good as each other. The advantage of having two characters to play as, is that it also allows for some co-operative puzzles that call for the use of a second character. Whilst there’s not as much depth to it as you may have expected from the mechanic, there are still some good uses throughout – notably when used as an attack strategy against the game’s fantastic bosses.

DAWN OF SORROW
The final game in the list is typically seen as the best game in the DS trilogy, and many even consider it the best in the franchise too. Sure, there are plenty who still consider Symphony of the Night to be best, but most of those would probably consider Dawn of Sorrow a close second. That’s just how damn good this game is.

Continuing on from the GBA’s Aria of Sorrow, the protagonist Soma Cruz continues to fight against the dark powers that are trying to turn him into the new Dracula. He had thought that sealing away the dark lord in the previous entry would make him lose his powers, but it seems like this isn’t the case. 

Being the reincarnation of Dracula, Soma is able to harness the souls of those he manages to kill. In gameplay terms, this allows you to gain the power of enemies; this could be the skeleton’s bone attack, being able to summon the bat as a familiar, gaining additional strength or … preparing a curry. There are various soul types you can equip, with some being passive, and collecting multiple souls the same type will make it stronger. Of course, not all enemies drop them, meaning that earning them is entirely luck based – and some are rarer than others. Anyone who has played Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night should be pretty familiar with how the system works, as that game works in pretty much the same way.

What makes Dawn of Sorrow superior to both that game and almost every other metroidvania is that both the souls and level design are absolutely top notch. Whilst the soul system may seem to act like Order of Ecclesia‘s glyphs, there’s actually way more variety and utility here, making the game far more enjoyable as a result. Completing your soul-dex is addictive, but the real joy is obtaining a new soul and playing around with it. Some of them may be a joke and have limited utility, but you’ll find that most of them have their own uses. The boss souls in particular are quite handy, and make for a suitable reward for taking down these threatening foes.

Perhaps my biggest concern with Dawn of Sorrow was with the touchscreen functionality that the DS version has. Whilst the other games used the touchscreen in inconsequential ways, this game requires you to draw magical symbols in order to seal away the bosses. With accuracy and timing being of fundamental importance, using the on-screen pointer via the analogue stick just wouldn’t cut it. What Konami have done to get around this is assign buttons around the casting circle which you then need to press in order to draw the necessary lines. It’s quick, it’s intuitive, and most importantly – it works.

And I’m really glad that it does too, since Dawn of Sorrow is easily my favourite entry in the franchise. With stunning locations, an addictive magic loop that makes you actively want to grind enemies for souls (even though it’s never required), and some of the series’ best bosses, there really is little to complain about. An absolute must-play classic for any gamer.

HAUNTED CASTLE / HAUNTED CASTLE REVISITED
Truthfully, I’m lumping these two extra games together just because I really don’t want to go in-depth with the original Haunted Castle. It has a pretty dire reputation amongst the Castlevania franchise for a reason. It’s terrible. As Konami’s first arcade adaption of Castlevania, this monstrosity is designed to gobble up all your loose change; even as early as the first stage, you’ll be forced to dodge moving blocks that would give Mega Man’s Yellow Devil a run for its money. Add to that some obnoxious enemies and terrible controls, and this game will likely make you walk away from the cabinet than stick another coin in the slot. 

Haunted Castle Revisited on the other hand is a complete breath of fresh air. This completely new remake of Haunted Castle barely feels like the original at all due to how much of the game has been given an overhaul. The stage design has been altered to seem more fair, as have the enemies and Simon’s basic functionality, and they’ve even added difficulty options and a very forgiving continue system that makes the game easily beatable within an hour. The biggest change, however, is with the bosses who have been completely redesigned and offer a fun and fair fight now – and the final Dracula fight really has to be seen to be believed.

Visually, the game is also a significant step up from the original, even if it’s not exactly the sharpest spritework in the series. It still has that gritty Haunted Castle feel to it that makes it feel distinct from the main Castlevania games, yet the spritework and presentation is still strong enough to live up to modern standards.

Konami may have their issues in recent years, but you really have to give them credit for this newly remade version of Haunted Castle. They have put in an awful lot of work turning one of their worst games into one of their best. It may not be as good as the other three games in the collection, but I’d still say the game is good enough to stand by their side.

VERDICT
Castlevania Dominus Collection would be a must own title for the three excellently ported DS games alone. They really are some of the best games in the series, and deserved to be played by everyone. However, the true star of the show is Haunted Castle Revisited, which is not only the first new Castlevania game in about a decade, but manages to turn one of Konami’s worst games into one of their best.