Why Now is The Time to Start Playing Castlevania Dominus Collection

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 18, 2024 6 Views 6 Min Read
Why Now is The Time to Start Playing Castlevania Dominus Collection



Despite it being such an influential cornerstone of gaming history, Castlevania has been on the backburner for series publisher Konami. In the last 10 years, the franchise hasn’t received a single new game for home consoles, whether it be a spin-off or a mainline entry. However, a few Castlevania game compilations have been released during that time frame. In 2019, Konami launched the Castlevania Anniversary Collection to commemorate the company’s 50th anniversary, and in 2021, it released the Castlevania Advance Collection, both of which were well-received. Konami’s latest collection, though, may be its best one yet.




During the August 2024 Nintendo Direct, Konami announced and simultaneously released an all-new compilation called the Castlevania Dominus Collection for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. This collection not only included remastered versions of three beloved Castlevania games from the Nintendo DS, but also a remake of an arcade game from the 1980s called Haunted Castle Revisited. Castlevania Dominus Collection was launched at a fairly accessible price of $25, and it received glowing praise from reviewers on storefronts like Steam. While the compilation was already great at launch, a new update has made it even better.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
(2005),
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
(2006),
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
(2008), and
Haunted Castle Revisited
(2024) are all included in the
Castlevania Dominus Collection
.



Castlevania Dominus Collection Received a New Update That’s Made It Even Better

A New Boss Rush Mode for Haunted Castle Revisited Was Added in a Recent Patch

Konami has recently rolled out a patch for Castlevania Dominus Collection that fixed some bugs and added a few pieces of previously-unannounced content. One of the new features included in the update is a display layout customization setting, which allows players to alter the positions of the dual screens that are present in the DS Castlevania games. The other, more significant feature that Castlevania Dominus Collection‘s version 1.03 update contains is a new Boss Rush Mode for Haunted Castle Revisited.

In the Castlevania series, Boss Rushes are special side modes that task players with defeating wave after wave of bosses at a gradually more challenging rate in order to receive rare and valuable in-game items. This feature has been a staple of the Castlevania franchise since 2002’s Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, and can often be found in other video games as well, especially Metroidvanias. Boss Rush modes are not accessible to players right off the bat, though. In most Castlevania installments, players must either beat the game once or defeat all the bosses in order to unlock its Boss Rush Mode. The new iteration of this feature in Haunted Castle Revisited is no different in this regard.


It’s important to note that Haunted Castle is perhaps the one game in the Castlevania Dominus Collection that the developers have given the most attention to. The original Haunted Castle and its enhanced Revisited remake are both action platformers, but they are considerably different in terms of sheer visuals and gameplay. The upgraded pixel art, the reworked sub-weapon arsenal, and the redesigned levels in Haunted Castle Revisited provide a distinct enough experience from the original game to make its remake worth trying, even for those who have already played the 1986 platformer on modern consoles in the Arcade Archives Anniversary Collection.

Castlevania Dominus Collection’s Latest Update May Encourage Some Gamers to Check it Out

Boss Rush Modes are already present in the other three games in the Castlevania Dominus Collection, so their inclusion in Haunted Castle Revisited gives the titles a level of feature parity that was sorely missing in the original version of the game. This alone may be enough to encourage some diehard Castlevania fans to give the Castlevania Dominus Collection a shot, especially if they want to challenge themselves by fighting all the bosses across each game in the compilation.


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