Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

I’ve been an avid Igavania fan ever since I discovered Aria of Sorrow in my teenage years. That experience led me to play nearly every Castlevania entry in the series directed by Igarashi. It’s hard to overstate how influential Igavania has been on my gaming life as it formed my core foundation for the metroidvania genre as a whole.

Fast forward to 2026, and I finally had the chance to revisit one of the DS Igavania trilogy titles, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, thanks to the Castlevania Dominus Collection. I was glad to complete my run, even though it took me around three months due to real-life circumstances.

Dawn of Sorrow is the direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, continuing the story of Soma Cruz, the modern reincarnation of Castlevania’s Dracula. Although Soma manages to escape the entrapment of Dracula’s castle sealed within the eclipse, he soon faces another threat from an evil organization, seeking to awaken his sealed Dark Lord powers once again.

In terms of gameplay, Dawn of Sorrow inherits the soul system from Aria of Sorrow, allowing Soma to absorb the souls of defeated enemies and use them as power-ups. The game also introduces several new mechanics, including a simplified weapon crafting system inspired by Curse of Darkness, as well as Nintendo DS touchscreen features. As the first entry in the DS Igavania trilogy, Dawn of Sorrow had fairly high expectations to live up to.

As an Igavania title, Dawn of Sorrow is overall a decent game, though it does suffer from noticeable flaws likely caused by rushed development. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked among Igavania fans, largely due to the misfortune of being released between Aria of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, two top-tier Igavania titles in terms of gameplay. Personally, I feel that Dawn of Sorrow suffers from an overcorrection in balance, removing some of the fun elements that made Aria of Sorrow so memorable. Players can no longer enjoy the infamous Claimh Solais “cheese” from Aria, as combat pacing is noticeably slower, even though Claimh Solais still reigns as the strongest weapon in its class.

My first playthrough of Dawn of Sorrow via Castlevania Dominus overall took around nine hours to complete. Could have trimmed that down to about five hours if I hadn’t spent extra time grinding souls to craft endgame weapons. It’s a shame that we never received a continuation of Soma Cruz’s saga that could have potentially redeemed Dawn of Sorrow, largely due to Konami’s circumstances at the time that led to Koji Igarashi’s departure.

While I could always go back for a 100% Hard Mode run just like what I did 15 years ago, in the near future I’ll more likely start a fresh playthrough of Portrait of Ruin or perhaps Bloodstained instead.