What an impressive transition into the Nintendo DS but I’m not that surprised. By Aria of Sorrow, IGA & his team were getting back into their groove of making consistent quality Castlevania games after their bit of rocky reintroduction with Harmony of Dissonance.

Dawn of Sorrow is just taking the formula that Aria of Sorrow has refined at this point and cranking it up with upgraded visuals & soundtrack whiles improving on the combat due to having 2 load-outs to customize your equipment or souls that you switch on the fly that makes the combat flow less intrusive and boss fights aren’t as piss easy as Aria of Sorrow at times. Due to the upgraded presentation and more out of the box themes, Dawn of Sorrow's Castle somehow surpasses Aria of Sorrow's Castle by a bit, which is impressive.

Once again, the story isn’t anything mind-blowing, nor are the villains that great, but they make the plot work & it is nice to see more of Soma, Julius, Genya, Yoko, and Hammer which who I have grown to appreciate by the end of Aria of Sorrow, but this game elevates them to my favorite cast of characters in the series so far.

I do want to get my few complaints out of the way. The magic seal system is unsurprisingly not a fun gimmick that gets on your nerves, your luck stat doesn't work, and I really dislike the anime-style art.

However, this game is still an excellent Metroidvania that I enjoyed from start to finish and even beat Julius mode, which is by far the best unlockable mode in the series so far. A very strong start for Castlevania on the DS. I'm curious to see how Portrait of Ruin & Order of Ecclesia stack up since I have heard nothing but good things about these ones