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| The white-haired hero returns. |
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the first in the Castlevania series to release on Nintendo DS way back in 2005. A sequel to the amazing Aria of Sorrow on GameBoy Advance, it saw the return of hero Soma on a new quest to thwart a dark cult. I enjoyed playing the predecessor, so it's time I finally get around to checking Dawn of Sorrow and see if it's just as good.
One year after discovering his dark powers in Aria of Sorrow, young student Soma Cruz is on another adventure to stop a cult aiming to bring Dracula back to life. Finding himself at the center of it all again, Soma journeys to a mysterious castle to stop their leader, Celia. He's joined by familiar faces in Yoko Belnades, a kind and caring witch; desperate romantic vendor, Hammer; stoic vampire hunter, Julius Belmont; and the enigmatic government agent, Arikado. The story was straightforward and decent, offering more screen-time with the cast who I grew to like in Aria of Sorrow. The villain, however, were a forgettable bunch and just served as obstacles in Soma's journey.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a 2D platformer with RPG elements. You play as Soma as you explore the cult's castle searching for new abilities and items that will aid you in unlocking more segments of the castle. Initially, many paths are blocked till you obtain a certain ability that will let proceed through. Soma can pick up a variety of weapons like swords, guns, and axes to kill enemies as well as use magic. Movement was fluid as Soma can backstep to dodge attacks, dash, and jump without him feeling slow or clunky.
The "Tactical Soul" system of Aria of Sorrow returns as Soma has the special ability of absorbing the souls of every enemy he slays and can equip them to either summon said enemy, use their abilities, or use their souls as stat increases. For example, when you defeat the bat boss fight, you'll obtain the bat ability where you transform into one and fly above enemies and into crevices. Using said abilities consumes the magic meter, so you'll need to be careful for that. It was an engaging mechanic as I often found myself trying new abilities to suit a more aggressive play-style.
New additions were dual screens-- courtesy of the DS-- that splits the action with you playing on the bottom screen while the top displays the entire map to track your progress and health, which was handy. Being an early DS game, Dawn of Sorrow has some mandatory touchscreen controls where you use the stylus to draw magic seals to defeat bosses and destroy ice blocks. I didn't like it as I would often forget the more complex seal patterns and the boss would drag on. Speaking of those, they were mostly forgettable and I didn't enjoy them except for the last ones like the menacing Death and large monstrosity, Menace.
The levels were good, offering a decent amount of interesting scenery from snowy villages, occult labs, and fancy castle halls. There's some annoying bits when it came to platforming and enemy placements, but traversal was overall solid. Scattered across the map were save rooms, warp rooms that transport you back to previous areas, and shops to upgrade weapons and buy potions. It took me 9 hours to beat at 97% map completion. Post-game content include a Boss Rush and Julius modes, where you play an alternate version of the story as Julius.
Dawn of Sorrow is a visual upgrade over its predecessor boasting more detailed character sprites, fluid animations, and some 3D backgrounds. Sadly, Ayame Kojima's iconic art-style is absent and instead, we're greeted with standard anime designs that looked nice. The soundtrack was great as you'd expect from the series. Some of my faves were "Pitch Black Intrusion", "Wizardry Lab", "Dracula's Tears", "Underground Melodies", and "Scarlet Battle Soul".
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was a great adventure since it's more of Aria of Sorrow. The exploration was always fun, combat was engaging, and presentation was top-notch. Some drawbacks hold it back from being better than its predecessor, but it remained a worthwhile game for fans and quickly became one of my favorite games on DS.
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