Castlevania Dominus Collection PS5 Review. Castlevania is a series that co-defined an entire genre of games in the modern industry, and has a storied legacy to its name that most haven’t had the opportunity to explore. While Symphony of the Night and Alucard is synonymous with the original PlayStation, the series has spun a tale over a variety of platforms and characters that have been largely left to history.
The Castlevania Dominus Collection continues the effort by Konami to reinvigorate interest in the series in conjunction with a variety of multimedia projects, with this particular trilogy of games being the console debut of previously handheld exclusives, with Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia being the main games on offer here. Konami has made a convincing effort in bringing these dual-screened experiences to just one and it feels far more than just an emulation effort.
Castlevania Dominus Collection Review (PS5) – A Brilliant Showcase of the Series Best
Ghosts and Ghouls Abound
These three games are Castlevania down to their very foundations and each one stands as a totally distinct and content-filled gothic adventure to become invested in. The exploration that so defined the franchise with Symphony of the Night is well and truly accounted for in this trilogy, and evolves in some interesting directions across all 3 games independently, while almost perfectly transitioning from two screens to a single one.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is the direct sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and takes the Tactical Soul system from that game and brings it into a new entry. The Tactical Soul system offers a great deal of flexibility and remains as an exciting addition to the formula. Out of the entries in this collection, Dawn of Sorrow makes the most use of the second screen and therefore features some of the larger changes across the board. Any functionality that was previously stuck to having to touch the screen is now assigned to easy button prompts that are displayed on screen.
Pleasingly, it doesn’t feel like this was a rushed inclusion. Small things like the button prompts of the DualSense controller being in the same pixelated look help to sell that these games were carefully considered for home-console play, rather than some other conversions that I’ve played.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is the next game chronologically and moves away from the reliance on the touchscreen to jump into dual-character action. Taking control of two characters at the same time, Portrait of Ruin is a fluid experience that maintains the high pedigree of Castlevania games before it. It is an impressive game, considering the hardware it was originally released on. There was an obsession with making games that feature swapping abilities during this era, and Portrait of Sorrow manages to deliver on this idea while not feeling cumbersome or forced in.
Finally, Order of Ecclesia rounds out the main three games of this collection as arguably the most distinct, with a far greater focus on linearity and level progression when compared to its predecessors. People often associate Castlevania with exploring a huge environment and returning to areas over time to steadily expand on the places you can explore, which is an aspect that this game slightly shifts away from.
Instead of one or two big environments to sink your teeth into, Order of Ecclesia moves towards self-contained areas – that while you can revisit – the scale feels far grander than other games in the series. The same type of experimentation found in Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin is found here, with the introduction of the familiar Glyph system allowing for careful consideration of approaches and exploration.
Blow for blow, the Dominus collection offers a fantastic trilogy of games that – while not inherently tied together – do manage to show the very best of what Castlevania does, preserving the classic action for a new audience and doing so impressively with the hardware.
Attention and Care
The humble game compilation has certainly developed over the last few years, and Konami appears to be following in the footsteps of its contemporaries with this collection. Despite having to make some pretty major concessions to get these games onto a single screen, it never felt like I was playing a compromised version of these DS games. As much as Symphony of the Night is an iconic title for Castlevania on the PlayStation 1, these games are iconic for a totally different system.
The pixel art of the original games has been immaculately brought to a bigger screen and – if I wasn’t already aware of these being from a handheld from nearly two decades ago – I simply would have thought they were ports of older console games. These three games move slightly from the gothic aesthetic of the originals in favour of designs that evoke classic anime of the age – but the flavour of Castlevania is undoubtedly here to enjoy.
From the cold ramparts of Dracula’s new castle to abandoned cathedrals and forests, each area is distinct and thoroughly detailed. Castlevania has always made use of smart environmental design in order to subtly guide players to their next destination without waypoints and this remains true here too. Music has also been totally preserved in this collection, with no replacements to be heard throughout every game here. In a time where licensing and new creative visions can change the way that classics return, having such a faithful collection is lovely.
A helpful inclusion of a save state system and a rewind button helps to ease new players into these games while being easily ignorable for veterans. In a way, the save states and easily suspendible gameplay directly reflect the pick-up-and-play nature of the originals on the DS, so this is a nice feature to essentially formalise for a console release. And the option to rewind (only a few seconds at a time, mind) is a neat addition in its own right.
Digging Deep
If this set of games had been just a straight rerelease, I would have been plenty impressed already, but the commitment to adding on top of these three is staggering. As well as this trilogy, this collection includes the original Haunted Castle arcade game, one of the very first Castlevania games that was released in arcades in 1987. Oft derided in the Castlevania fandom as a pretty middling entry, this is a great curio that belongs in an archive like this for future players to at least experience briefly.
Not only that, this collection also features a remaster of the original game by the developers of this collection. Where the Dominus trilogy is remastered and brought to new systems, Haunted Castle Revisited is a far more robust remaster project that injects a new life into a game that I don’t think anybody was expecting. I still wouldn’t say this tops the best of Castlevania (or even the best in this collection) but this addition speaks to the passion behind this project.
These are on top of the almost standard gallery and music player functions that have become a mainstay of these kinds of releases now. A catalogue of design documents, concept art and in-game materials are free to peruse at your leisure, alongside a shockingly comprehensive codex for each game as you play. Instead of consulting an online walkthrough from years ago, this collection offers the option of consulting actual developer-mandated guides and walkthroughs to guide you, which is something I’d not seen before – I appreciate it regardless!
Castlevania is a series on the rise again, which is a bizarre statement in itself. It defined a generation of 2D platformers for many and is the herald behind one of the medium’s most revered types of platformers, and yet it feels like Konami is only now beginning to realise the cultural impact Castlevania has had. Better late than never – maybe that Symphony of the Night rerelease will appear one day. For now, this set of games is more than enough for me.