Born in the distant 1986, the series of Castlevania is one of the most important and influential in the video game world. Although the franchise is struggling to stay in vogue since the transition from the 16-bit to the 32-bit generation, Castlevania continues to be talked about thanks above all to some collections of the historical titles of the series. After the Anniversary Collection of 2019 and the Advance Collection of 2021, Konami once again delights fans of the brand with a new collection, called Dominus Collectionwhich contains the three titles released on the Nintendo 3DS portable console, namely Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin And Order of Ecclesia. The question fans had after learning that Konami would be remastering the aforementioned titles was: how will they make video games accessible? designed to be played using the Nintendo DS dual screen? In this review we will find out whether Konami succeeded or failed.
A Truly Superlative Conversion
As previously mentioned, fans had several doubts about the feasibility of converting titles designed to be played on a peculiar console like the DS to modern hardware such as PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch (we tried the title on the latter). The presence of the two screens and the use of the stylus and touchscreen, on paper, do not adapt at all to the ninth generation platforms, but the solution to this problem has been foundas you can see from some of the screenshots in this review. The left side of the screen presents the main game screen in the original aspect ratiowhile the right side It has the map and other data that were displayed on the second screen of the DS.
It takes a few seconds to get used to the display, but after a while you get used to it and everything it works great. As regards the use of the stylus, a feature present in all three games on Nintendo DS and in particular in Dawn of Sorrow, the right stick will control a cursor that will act as a stylusWhile with the right trigger you will press in the area where the aforementioned cursor is positionedacting as if we were touching the screen with the stylus. In more complex gameplay phases, however, the use of touch has been completely eliminated. In the original titles, during some fights the player was required to draw sigils with the stylus on the second screen of the DS. These fights have now been simplified by making them quick time event.
Three historic titles
Having clarified the issue regarding the transfer of the three games from the DS to current-generation consoles and PC, let’s talk about what is themain attraction of this Dominus Collection, that is, precisely the three titleseach with its own story, its own protagonists and its own unique mechanics that differentiate it from the others, but all linked by the same genre, that is, the Metroidvania.
Specifically, each of the above titles follows the format that was introduced with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, in which the player is free to explore the castle in a non-linear wayrelying on the acquisition of new items or special abilities to advance into new areas.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. The player checks once again Soma Cruz and his ability to dominate the souls of his enemies. Some of these souls grant special attackswhile others can offer passive stat boosts. As previously mentioned, Dawn of Sorrow made the use of the Nintendo DS stylus its trademark more than its successors. The implementation of this feature was certainly interesting but, in the long run, all in the long run it was getting pretty boringsignificantly affecting the fluidity of the gameplay. The new control system, which completely eliminates the touch functions of the original, makes the work much more usable and smootheffectively making Dawn of Sorrow the title of the collection have benefited most with the elimination of gameplay peculiarities tied to the Nintendo DS.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin It is set during the Second World War and, as Castlevania Bloodlines, features two protagonists, namely Jonathan And Charlotte. Unlike Bloodlines, the player controls both protagonists during the game, which will be the cornerstone of the entire experience since certain puzzles can be solved through theuse of both characters. Some areas of Portrait of Ruin, in fact, require one character to remain still while the other moves an object or presses a switch, which makes it one of the most peculiar titles of the entire Castlevania series.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesiafinally, is the title more difficult than harvesting and, according to some fans, also the best of the Nintendo DS trilogy. The structure of the title is different from many of the titles in the series, as it is not tied to the exploration of a single large area but is made up of twenty different areasaccessible from the game map. There is also a village which contains shops and other features, available as you go. Shanoa (the protagonist of Order of Ecclesia) will free the various inhabitants of the village. Order of Ecclesia also introduces the Glyph System through which all of Shanoa’s weapons and abilities are equipped via collected glyphs, allowing for a wide range of equipment and abilities, including attacks and spells.
An unpublished title is added to the three, namely Haunted Castle Revisiteda true reinterpretation of the arcade title Haunted Castlealso present in the collection.
The latter is universally recognized as one of the worst chapters of the seriesbut with the Revisited version the title is rebornimproving on the original title in every way. The main reason to buy Castlevania Dominus Collection is the three Nintendo DS games, but Haunted Castle Revisited It’s a great gem that’s worth playing.
The dominion of the past
What makes Castlevania Dominus Collection so impressive is the amount of work that went into making it work, and how good the final result came outThe DS’s unique hardware made this collection unlikely on paper, but despite this the development team found a way to adapt the original titles to current systems. without distorting themThe three Castlevanias for DS are among the best titles for Nintendo’s portable console and are incredible how did we manage to keep the spirit unchanged of those works despite the drastic change in hardware. Also worth mentioning is the commendable work done with Haunted Castle.
The team could have included the aforementioned title alone, as a bonus, but they did the unexpected creating a new game starting from this, not at all excellent, base. The amount of care that went into creating this specific game with the goal of making it both contemporary without distorting the original feel is impressive. In addition to the games, collections like this are expected to include quality of life improvements, and Even from this point of view the Dominus Collection does not disappoint.
They have been included multiple states of rescue and there is a replay feature which, if the player makes a mistake, allows him to go back a few seconds to try again.
Castlevania Dominus Collection It’s not only a great collection of games, but also aimpressive technical feat. For Castlevania fans, the DS titles are all must-have games and the development team has gone to great lengths to ensure those games remained greatimproving some elements where possible. Retro game compilations are now the norm, but this specific collection, thanks to the quality of the titles included and the production effort, It is among the best available.
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