Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is literally Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow 2. It merely builds on the foundation of its predecessor, rather than striving for something completely new. This isn’t a bad thing, though; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Dawn’s Tactical Soul System is pretty much identical to Aria’s, so it’s still fun to combine various attacks, helpers, and stat buffs and create a perfect build. There’s also a new crafting system which I really liked. You combine Souls with various weapons to create even stronger equipment. It can be super grindy if you’re going for 100%… but I wasn’t going for 100%, so I just enjoyed casually building up my arsenal as the game progressed. I think weapon crafting fits Castlevania really well, and I’d like to see it brought back at some point.
The map design is amazing, once again. The locations didn’t feel quite as varied as Aria’s, but it’s still got plenty of classic Metroidvania items, environmental blocks, and fun backtracking that you’d expect from this series. The Cursed Clock Tower might even be my favorite Clock Tower in the series.
The story isn’t amazing, but there was still plenty of intrigue and mystery throughout to keep me hooked. The fact that the entire main cast of Aria (minus Graham, because we fucking killed that bastard) returns means that we get to spend more time with them and watch their dynamics play out. Julius is a badass, Hammer is hilariously pathetic, and Arikado, who is definitely not just Alucard with dyed hair, gets some great heart-to-heart dialogue with Soma at the end. Hell, even Soma’s arc and personality are pretty interesting, as he tries keep his inner darkness under control.
The bosses are fantastic and definitely some of the best in the series. My favorites have gotta be Paranoia, a mirror-controlling sorcerer with two forms, Aguni, a giant fucking fire demon from another dimension, and, of course, Death, who once again shows up completely outta nowhere to deliver an epic showdown with his master’s reincarnation.
The music is great, too. Obviously. Michiru Yamane strikes again with her magnificent compositions, now made even crisper with the DS’ superior sound channels compared to the GBA. Listen here.
So, if Dawn of Sorrow is so on par with its predecessor, then why did I give it half a star less than Aria? Well, there’s two main problems I have with this game:
1) The Magic Seals. This is an early DS game, so naturally, the devs just had to shove in an unnecessary touchscreen gimmick. At the end of most boss battles, you have to trace increasingly difficult patterns on your screen in a very short amount of time. It’s basically a really convoluted quick-time event, and I generally dislike QTEs since they feel like a cheap way of inflating difficulty. The Magic Seals are no different, since if you fail the prompt, the boss regains HP and you gotta beat it down again for another attempt. It’s annoying and inconvenient, but you can at least practice the Seals beforehand in your inventory.
2) The art style. I hate this art style. In-game, the sprites and backgrounds look great, no problems there. But during cutscenes and dialogue, we’re treated to a bunch of anime-like character designs. Now, an anime-esque art style isn’t necessarily bad; Rondo of Blood looks awesome. The problem is just how fucking generic this particular style is. It looks like your bog standard, 4Kids, Saturday morning anime artwork, and it does not fit the tone of Castlevania at all, especially since this one largely retains the gothic aesthetic from Aria. It’s a bafflingly awful choice on Konami’s part in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience… for this T (sometimes M)-rated, notoriously difficult series? What? I don’t know, I hate this art style. Ayami Kojima’s beautifully intricate designs are sorely missed.
Don’t let the length of those criticisms fool you, though; Dawn of Sorrow is still an excellent entry in the Castlevania franchise that lives up to the standard of its predecessor. It’s well worth playing.
Dawn’s Tactical Soul System is pretty much identical to Aria’s, so it’s still fun to combine various attacks, helpers, and stat buffs and create a perfect build. There’s also a new crafting system which I really liked. You combine Souls with various weapons to create even stronger equipment. It can be super grindy if you’re going for 100%… but I wasn’t going for 100%, so I just enjoyed casually building up my arsenal as the game progressed. I think weapon crafting fits Castlevania really well, and I’d like to see it brought back at some point.
The map design is amazing, once again. The locations didn’t feel quite as varied as Aria’s, but it’s still got plenty of classic Metroidvania items, environmental blocks, and fun backtracking that you’d expect from this series. The Cursed Clock Tower might even be my favorite Clock Tower in the series.
The story isn’t amazing, but there was still plenty of intrigue and mystery throughout to keep me hooked. The fact that the entire main cast of Aria (minus Graham, because we fucking killed that bastard) returns means that we get to spend more time with them and watch their dynamics play out. Julius is a badass, Hammer is hilariously pathetic, and Arikado, who is definitely not just Alucard with dyed hair, gets some great heart-to-heart dialogue with Soma at the end. Hell, even Soma’s arc and personality are pretty interesting, as he tries keep his inner darkness under control.
The bosses are fantastic and definitely some of the best in the series. My favorites have gotta be Paranoia, a mirror-controlling sorcerer with two forms, Aguni, a giant fucking fire demon from another dimension, and, of course, Death, who once again shows up completely outta nowhere to deliver an epic showdown with his master’s reincarnation.
The music is great, too. Obviously. Michiru Yamane strikes again with her magnificent compositions, now made even crisper with the DS’ superior sound channels compared to the GBA. Listen here.
So, if Dawn of Sorrow is so on par with its predecessor, then why did I give it half a star less than Aria? Well, there’s two main problems I have with this game:
1) The Magic Seals. This is an early DS game, so naturally, the devs just had to shove in an unnecessary touchscreen gimmick. At the end of most boss battles, you have to trace increasingly difficult patterns on your screen in a very short amount of time. It’s basically a really convoluted quick-time event, and I generally dislike QTEs since they feel like a cheap way of inflating difficulty. The Magic Seals are no different, since if you fail the prompt, the boss regains HP and you gotta beat it down again for another attempt. It’s annoying and inconvenient, but you can at least practice the Seals beforehand in your inventory.
2) The art style. I hate this art style. In-game, the sprites and backgrounds look great, no problems there. But during cutscenes and dialogue, we’re treated to a bunch of anime-like character designs. Now, an anime-esque art style isn’t necessarily bad; Rondo of Blood looks awesome. The problem is just how fucking generic this particular style is. It looks like your bog standard, 4Kids, Saturday morning anime artwork, and it does not fit the tone of Castlevania at all, especially since this one largely retains the gothic aesthetic from Aria. It’s a bafflingly awful choice on Konami’s part in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience… for this T (sometimes M)-rated, notoriously difficult series? What? I don’t know, I hate this art style. Ayami Kojima’s beautifully intricate designs are sorely missed.
Don’t let the length of those criticisms fool you, though; Dawn of Sorrow is still an excellent entry in the Castlevania franchise that lives up to the standard of its predecessor. It’s well worth playing.
2 Comments
@petro_sino I didn’t play it cuz I gotta move on to Ecclesia. Maybe another time.
petro_sino
3 days ago