Played the Definitive Edition+ hack

Because I can't stand the decision to include those magic seal QTE games when beating bosses. That feature alone makes this game almost on par with Harmony of Dissonance. But the Definitive Edition+ also adds a number of smaller fixes and changes the character portraits into the ones from Aria of Sorrow, bringing the overall artstyle closer to the series' trademark one by Ayami Kojima. Truthfully, the magic seals and the anime artstyle are the two biggest problems with this game compared to its predecessor.

However, even ignoring them, I must say I enjoyed this considerably less than Aria of Sorrow. It's definitely a solid Castlevania overall, but throughout my entire playthrough I kept feeling like something is lacking. Dawn of Sorrow is ultimately just Aria of Sorrow with a few minor QoL features. There isn't a fundamental change in either the artstyle or the gameplay the way it was between SotN and the previous two GBA entries. Which makes me question: what is the point of DoS?

There is yet another feature that I think changes the gameplay for the worse. At the base, you can improve weapons by feeding them souls. I think this shifts the focus from progression to grind quite a bit. There is virtually no reason not to diverge from your quest in search of souls because you can easily multiply your damage output through this. In turns this kinda almost kills the loot-hunting because practically every weapon you discover will be less powerful than the one you've upgraded. As a result, you don't have the motivation to clear out the whole castle anymore. Once you upgrade your weapon to the max, you're powerful enough to beat the game.

Overall I definitely felt less like I was exploring a castle and more like I was trying to level up and simply beat the game for the sake of beating it. It loses a lot of the magic of the previous entries. Honestly, even Harmony of Dissonance might be preferable overall. The only reason I beat DoS and not HoD is because of the Definitive Edition+ removing the stupid magic seals. But I am taking them into consideration when rating this.

Not a bad game overall, but as far as Castlevania titles go, a mixed bag.