Week of 16 Feb 2025
“How far have you gotten with Mina?”
Achievements Earned In:
- Castlevania Dominus Collection
- PAW Patrol World
This week it was time to finish Castlevania Dominus Collection first by finishing up Portrait of Ruin, which I was surprisingly enjoying! I’m still not really sure why I stopped playing this on the Nintendo DS back in the day, but I suppose I didn’t finish games often back in the day. Really, up until I got my Xbox 360 in Oct 2009 I just… played games for a little then stopped. It was an expensive habit considering I at one time owned every DS game in every market, but didn’t finish almost any of them. But here we are many years later and I knocked this out, too! It was a fun time, and it made me think of Dawn of Sorrow, the game I actually did finish in this collection previously. And it’s one of my favorite games of all time! Sadly, as is usually the case when you return to a beloved game many years later, it has lost a fair bit of it’s shine. After playing the XBLA amalgamation Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, the incredible spiritual successor to the franchise Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and even Portrait of Ruin, this just doesn’t feel as fun and cool as it did in 2005. I enjoyed it, still, but those other games do these mechanics better. It was easy as the other games to complete, and I have had to use the Rewind feature less and less with each entry. I also didn’t grind as much this time, opting to stick with an upgraded Claymore early on and whatever souls I happened to snag. The “Demon Clown” Bullet Soul turned out to be a winner, as it seemed to do so much damage! Once I’d cleared the main game, it was time for the alternate mode like every game in this Collection had. Actually, speaking of, Portrait of Ruin’s was pretty fun, as you get to play as series staples Richter Belmont and Maria Renard, both proving to be very powerful in their own right, though I preferred the whip-wielder. For Dawn of Sorrow, you get to play as Richter’s progeny, Julius, alongside a member of the Belnades Clan and good ole Alucard. I liked the Blemont for his subweapons, and using Yoko to heal was her use, but once I unlocked Alucard I was transported right back to my days playing Symphony of Night and mostly stuck with him throughout the playthrough. And before I knew it the final final boss had been defeated and my gallop down memory lane had completed. That’s all three retro Castlevania collections completed! Think they’ll port the N64 or Wii entries?
Achievements unlocked: 52 (+31) | Completed
Whoa, Celia, this feels inappropriate.
With that out of the way, it was time to look to the Game Pass library as the end of February approaches. Two games leaving the library seem to be very possible to get done: GRIS and PAW Patrol World. I started with the latter so I could kinda chill and watch TV as I played (off face-camera). Y’know, I’m surprised how good this is! Not, like, fun; it’s incredibly brainless and condescending… probably because it’s a literal baby game. But the quality of the game, its animations and graphics and such, are at a level I’m not used to seeing from a game with this kind of audience. It’s very easy, though, and I can’t imagine there being much to say once this is all said and done.
Achievements unlocked: 11 (+11) | Completion: 52%
Are… you hiding literal gold coins in a hole in the ground? In 2024?
Highest ratio: 2.71
Vampire Hunters (Castlevania Dominus Collection)
Lowest ratio: 1.14
Adventure Bay calls (PAW Patrol World)
