Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia


Returning to life time and again since the ancient middle ages, the evil lord Dracula has driven people to terror.

Each time Dracula returned from the dead, the Belmont clan fought him in shadows, wielding the holy whip.

Through their efforts, humanity avoided darkness, securing prosperity.

But early in the 19th century, having lost their ability to resist the darkness, those in positions of power at the time began to search for new ways to counter Dracula.

Our organization, Ecclesia, was born then as one of those countermeasures.

Many organizations were established with the same goal, and day after day they conducted their studies diligently, but each was dissolved when they failed to produce satisfactory results.

But that was when Barlowe, the leader of Ecclesia, finally made a surprising breakthrough that could stand up against Dracula.


Released on October 21st, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is the story of Shanoa, and her quest to retrieve the very deadly Dominus. Order of Ecclesia takes place sometime in the early 1800’s as the Belmont Clan had vanished by that time, several organizations are created in order to research countermeasures against Dracula and his army’s eventual return. Between these organizations the most promising was the Order of Ecclesia, who created a triad of magical glyphs named Dominus. Shanoa is a young lady chosen by the order’s leader, Barlowe, as the human vessel for Dominus. But just before the ritual is performed the glyphs are stolen by Shanoa’s best (and only) friend and fellow Ecclesia member Albus, disrupting the ritual and apparently costing Shanoa her emotions and memories. Upon awakening, Barlowe tells her of his version of the events and orders her to retrieve Albus and Dominus. In her pursuit Shanoa arrives in the deserted Wygol Village and finds out that Albus kidnapped it’s inhabitants and keeps each one of them imprisoned in a different location. As Shanoa rescues them throughout the game, she learns that Albus captured them to perform some kind of twisted experiment which involved draining samples of their blood. Each villager rescued provides Shanoa with tasks that once completed present new rewards. While completing the tasks is not required to finish the game, it’s final areas are only unlocked when all villagers are rescued.

In Order of Ecclesia Shanoa uses what is known as the Glyph System. She is able to absorb the powers of glyphs found throughout the castle and within enemies. These glyphs give her magical weapons and abilities, and consume her magic meter which automatically replenishes itself. Shanoa is only the second female lead character in a Castlevania game. Sonia Belmont of Legends was the first. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is a cross between Symphony of the Night and Simon’s Quest. The game was well received by fans around the world and is considered to be one of the finest of the series. Along with Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia completes a superb trilogy of Castlevania games on the DS. One that even exceeded the success of the highly popular trio of Castlevania titles from the Game Boy Advance.
Updated: July 2, 2022 — 6:36 pm