A Modern DAWN OF SORROW Review - Is This The Best Game On The Dominus Collection?

Thanks for the review, I enjoyed it!

Great review!

I only played dawn of Sorrow... It was one of the best games ever.

Dawn of Sorrow is my favorite of all the Castlevania games and I'm so glad I can play it again as well as the other fantastic DS games on the Dominus Collection

Dawn of sorrow had the best idea with the tactical soul system making every enemy interesting in that you never know what soul you'll get, Portrait of ruin had the best map designs given the freedom paintings allowed the devs and finally order of ecclesia had the best executed and balanced mechanics in the series.

On a first playthrough basis Dawn feels the best since the surprise of each new soul is a great feeling but imo is the least replayable of the DS trilogy once you have obtained 100%.

Portrait of ruin is usually regarded as the least popular since the combat mechanics weren't as interesting as the tactical soul system but imo is better than dawn because its the only castlevania that goes beyond the aesthetics of a castle, more replayable given you have a mage type character, and has more interesting boss with arguably the best dracula fight in the series.

Order of Ecclesia had the most balanced combat mechanics in the entire series period. The stamina like MP bar, boss designs, end game mobility with magnes and redire makes this game the most replyable given how high the skill ceiling is compared to the rest of the series. But besides the gameplay imo has the least interesting maps of the DS trilogy.

Each game on the collection has a major charm but imo order of Ecclesia was the best. It broke a lot of rules, but it had the best music, a fresh story, insane post game and a lot of monsters that were brand new.

The only thing I would’ve changed about the first two games is the art direction, however

Very cool Review! Personally I prefer ecclesia from the DS era, however sorrow as still aged as wine! I love his soundtrack and is sooo cool playing as alucard again on Julius mode!

Julius Mode was so GOATed they based the entire next game around expanding its multi-character control system

It is! Goated

If we can just got SOTN on Steam I'll have almost all of my favorite CV games. Idk if they'll ever go as far as putting the N64 and PS2 games on Steam but I'm here for it

Luck does next to nothing in DoS and is a waste of time. Use the Soul Eater Ring to get Souls.

Luck does nothing in Dawn

Man I wish Soma, Johnathan/Charlotte or Shanoa were in Smash rather than Simon and Richter. Johnathan/Charlotte would probably be the hardest to balance with being able to character swap. But Soma and Shanoa I think would be interesting. They could almost work like Kirby in taking abilities. If Soma launches an enemy or KOs you see the soul come to him. Or hold down special down for Shanoa and it draws it in but leaves her vulnerable, like Cloud charging a limit. Weapon wise I don't know, too many options.

Each of the Castlevania DS games are great in their own way. My favorite touch with DoS is the Julius mode. They really wanted to evoke Castlevania III with that one and did a good job.

Literally, this and Aria of Sorrow are my two favorite Castlevania games, with Portrait of Ruin being a close third

It's the best castlevania

Dawn is easily the worst of the DS trilogy and honestly feels like a watered down Aria of Sorrow. It’s still a decent game but best? Not even on its platform.

Order of Ecclesia is def the best. Dawn is the most annoying even with the m2 enhancements but still a great title. I love the level based structure to Ecclesia and the well thought out difficulty curve. In Dawn of Sorrow you can just tank everything like in SOTN, the gameplay gets easier as the game goes on. In Ecclesia they returned to having an actual difficult Castlevania game with a fantastic difficulty curve.