When Konami’s previous Castlevania collections launched, I wondered if we’d get the DS games packed into one. And if we did, in what form, given that the Castlevania DS games had touchscreen features as their core gameplay feature?
Unsurprisingly, one month ago, gamers and fans of Metroidvania received the Castlevania Dominus Collection, which unshackled the Nintendo DS games from the handheld console. Fortunately, despite bringing the games to consoles and PCs, the titles retained the essence of the original.
Filled with a healthy dose of backtracking and great action-adventure gameplay, the Castlevania Dominus Collection carries over the fun aspect of its predecessor. It is equally enjoyable and jam-packed with goodies anyone can enjoy.
Four great Castlevania goodness from the Arcade and Nintendo DS
Before I get into the nitty-gritty gameplay details and how it gets the job done, let’s first look through what the package contains. Dominus collection has four games for players to enjoy, each with a unique gameplay feature attached to it:
- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, which is the direct sequel to the Gameboy Advance game Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, taking place in 2035 (Nintendo DS)
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, which continues after Castlevania Bloodlines ends and takes place in World War 2 (Nintendo DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, which is the direct sequel to the fan-favorite Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for PlayStation 1 (Nintendo DS)
- Haunted Castle, the second game in the Castlevania series, was previously only available on arcade systems. As a bonus, Haunted Castle Revisited is a complete remake exclusive to this collection.
Hence, each game follows a completely different storyline with no direct connection. The only real connection is that three of the four games were Nintendo DS-exclusive. The other thing the games share is their paper-thin storyline of stopping Dracula’s arrival.
So, you don’t need any existing knowledge of previous Castlevania games to enjoy the Dominus Collection. It is good knowledge to have, but one that isn’t necessary. So, what do the stories explore if the stories and characters don’t share any similarities outside of stopping Dracula?
Order of Ecclesia follows Shanoa, a member of the Order of Ecclesia, a group formed after the Belmont clan vanished. Set in 1800, Shanoa is tasked with stopping one of her confidants, Albus, after he turns against the order and plans to summon Dracula.
Similarly, Dawn of Sorrow follows Soma Cruz of Aria of Sorrow, the reincarnation of Dracula in the distant future. After a mysterious group plans to kill and steal his powers, Soma ultimately decides to stop them once and for all, venturing into the castle and beginning his adventure.
Taking place during World War 2, Portrait of Ruin follows Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin thwarting the plans of vampires in control of Dracula’s Castle. Finally, Vampire Castle follows the vampire hunter venturing into Dracula’s castle after he kidnaps his wife during his marriage day.
These are good entry points to the series if you’ve never played any previous Castlevania games. They loosely connect themselves to their predecessors and have a straightforward storyline. Then again, the primary experience of the Metrodivania lies in its exploration and gameplay, so it gets that done well.
So, if you are a newcomer, you’ll highly appreciate the Castlevania Dominus Collection, given that you have the patience to play 2D side-scrollers. And to ensure you enjoy the games, the gameplay has gotten some nice uplifts.
An almost flawless gameplay experience
Thankfully, there are barely any complaints on the gameplay front. Castlevania Dominus Collection effortlessly transfers the standard Nintendo DS gameplay to fit the modern controllers and further changes the touchscreen features to fit your layout.
You can use the C-Stick to move your characters. The touch-screen prompts for making sigils have become rhythmic button presses, and your right C-Stick acts as your Stylus to rub on the screen. Comparing them to the Nintendo DS, these are significantly simplified and remove that added player interactivity with the game.
Fortunately, these touchscreen features never really took center stage in any of these games. The majority of the games still relied on the classic exploration gameplay, which Igavania is synonymous with.
So yes, while it is a bummer that you don’t get touchscreen controls, Konami has taken the utmost time and effort to keep everything intact while further enriching the gameplay experience to fit modern standards.
It introduced and transferred almost every feature seen in Nintendo DS launches to Castlevania: Dominus Collection, and they were relatively simple changes that didn’t ruin the experience. You aren’t missing out on anything substantial if you’ve never played the original launch.
Furthermore, my favorite feature of the Castlevania Dominus Collection is having information right at the side of the screens. Since we don’t have the Nintendo DS’s dual-screen setup, the map and enemy/player stats are readily shown on the right of the screen.
This makes keeping track of things very easy. You no longer have to switch between screens to find data. Of course, you can always play it in a two-screen format, thanks to the display setting. But trust me on this: Play it in its default format, as it feels natural. And your pixels stay moderately intact in visuals.
The Dominus collection also comes with a handy rewind function exclusive to this version. This benefits newcomers unfamiliar with the game’s difficulty and is a great accessibility feature. So, if you are having trouble against a boss and forgot to save the game, you can rewind and retry.
So yes, the entire package, in terms of gameplay, tries to keep the essence of their original launch as intact as possible. However, while most of the work done here is commendable, there are some obvious problems, most of which stem from the stylus emulation and C-Stick.
For Starters, C-Stick also comes with its downside in miss-inputs for specials. Most of the time, you will be doing an up input on C-Stick while attacking, inadvertently using specials. It isn’t a dealbreaker, but it gets annoying over time. The biggest fault comes from the right C-Stick emulation for Stylus.
Stylus emulation doesn’t have that accuracy you’d get from an actual thing. It is either slow or too fast. It becomes annoying for games like Aria of Sorrow, where you’d have to use your Stylus to perform specific unique inputs like swiping to wipe bricks because of the inaccuracies.
Unfortunately, the only two problems are the byproducts of translating controls from the Nintendo DS. You can’t address them perfectly and have to live with it. I wish there were any other way to get this done.
End of the day, both of these experiences are entirely different from each other. You’ll never get the same experience of using a physical stylus on the Nintendo DS in the Castlevania: Dominus Collection. Then again, let’s be honest – almost anyone getting this collection has possibly not played these games.
So, for those who never got themselves a Nintendo DS as a kid or never picked up any of these Castlevania games, you are technically not missing out on anything significant.
And suppose you are a returning Nintendo DS gamer picking up Castlevania: Dominus Collection. In that case, you replay the entire experience again with some modern quirks and omission of touchscreen features, which I think isn’t a bummer.
Closing thoughts
Ultimately, the Castlevania Dominus Collection wraps up and makes nearly every relevant Castlevania game available on modern consoles—minus Symphony of the Night and 3D Castlevania games from PS2 and Gamecube. And much like its previous two entries, Dominus Collection knocks it out of the park with the collection.
Coming jam-packed with four whole Metroidvania experiences, the collection packs a lot of value in gameplay hours. And even from a gameplay standpoint, they have aged like wine.
If you want a game for your Steam Deck or some retro game to enjoy and maybe stream, the Castlevania Dominus Collection is the perfect choice to pick up whenever possible.
Reviewed on: PC and Steam Deck
Code Provided by: Konami
