Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

About This Game

Gameplay

The player controls the onscreen character from a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies. Like previous games in the series, and most role-playing video games, characters level up each time they earn a set number of experience points from defeating enemies; each level gained increases the character's statistics, thus improving their performance in battle. Statistic examples include hit points, the amount of damage a character can receive; magic points, which determine the number of times a character can use magical attacks; strength, the power of a character's physical attacks; and intelligence, the power of a character's magical spells. Upon encountering an enemy, the player can use a variety of weapons to attack and defeat the enemy. The weapon choices are largely medieval, including swords, axes, and spears, although handguns and a rocket-propelled grenade are available. These weapons differ in their damage output, their range, and the speed of the attack. Dawn of Sorrow, like most games in the Castlevania series, is set in a castle, which is divided into various areas.

History

The production of Dawn of Sorrow was announced on January 6, 2005, as the first Castlevania game to be released for the Nintendo DS. Longtime Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi was in charge of the production. The original design team from Aria of Sorrow, as well as personnel from Konami Tokyo, were involved in the production of Dawn of Sorrow. The choice to develop the game for the Nintendo DS instead of the Sony PlayStation Portable was due to Aria of Sorrow's success on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, and Igarashi's observations of both consoles during the 2005 E3 Media and Business Summit. He felt it was a waste to use the storyline with Soma Cruz and the Tactical Soul system in only one game, contributing to his desire to make a sequel.