Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Dracula is dead, but his legacy lives on, and this time the lead role goes to a young man named Soma Cruz. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow from the Game Boy Advance and the first entry in the series on the Nintendo DS. The ingenious soul system returns, in which you gain the abilities of defeated enemies and assemble your own arsenal of attacks, spells and passive effects.

The game is a pure-blooded metroidvania: you explore a sprawling, interconnected castle, gradually unlock new areas thanks to acquired abilities and battle a bestiary of demons. Dawn of Sorrow cleverly involves the touchscreen, at the end of boss battles you draw magic seals with the stylus to seal them away for good, and you also handle small puzzles.

Behind the game stand Konami and director Koji Igarashi, the architect of the series' modern era. It came out not long after the DS launch and brought one controversy, a markedly anime-styled look for the characters that replaced the gothic style of artist Ayami Kojima from previous installments. The music was composed by Michiru Yamane, whose melodies are among the finest ever heard in the series.

Culturally, Dawn of Sorrow confirmed that Castlevania's metroidvania format feels right at home on the pair of screens. Many critics and players to this day rank it among the best entries of the so-called Igavania era, that is, the games created under Igarashi's direction, and praise the depth of the soul system and the fluidity of the combat.

For the DS it became one of the defining titles of the genre and opened the way for two further installments of the series on the same console. Anyone wondering what set this generation of metroidvanias apart starts right here.

Why play: An excellent metroidvania with an addictive soul-collecting system and a soundtrack by Michiru Yamane, one of the peaks of the Igavania era.