Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

The year is 2035 and Soma Cruz is about to witness the first solar eclipse of the 21st century when he suddenly blacks out -- only to awaken inside a mysterious castle. As Soma, you must navigate the castle's…

86 6 May 2003

Adventure Platform Role-playing (RPG) Action Horror

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is an adventure developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, released 6 May 2003 on Wii U and Game Boy Advance. The main story takes about 7.9 hrs to finish.

Verified 14 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is an adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and released in 2003. It was published by Konami. It is available on Wii U and Game Boy Advance.

The premise, in the publisher's words

The game takes place in the year 2035 and stars Soma Cruz, a high school exchange student in Japan. While visiting the Hakuba Shrine with his friend Mina Hakuba, they are accidentally transported into Dracula's Castle. There, Soma meets Genya Arikado, who defeats a group of attacking enemies and explains Soma's ability to absorb monsters' souls. Genya also tells Soma to go to the Master's Chamber quickly, so Mina doesn't die an excruciatingly painful death.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a side view perspective. Its themes are action and horror. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Castlevania series

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the 41st of 108 entries we hold in the Castlevania series. The next entry was Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in 2003. Its critic score of 86 is 7 points above the series average of 79. The highest-rated entry is Super Castlevania IV at 100.

See all 108 Castlevania games in release order →

How it was received

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow holds a critic score of 86 out of 100. That places it above 86% of the 7,527 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2003 averaged 69, so it scored 17 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 87, across 234 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 7.9 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 20 hrs, roughly 2.5 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow launched on 6 May 2003, within three weeks of Silent Hill 3, Rise of Nations, Fire Emblem and NBA Street Vol. 2. It reviewed better than 1 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Silent Hill 3, Rise of Nations, Fire Emblem, NBA Street Vol. 2.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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