Several video game publications have praised Soma's character. Although Soma himself was viewed as a stereotypical echo of previous "Castlevania" protagonists, the new context that the storyline "Aria of Sorrow" and "Dawn of Sorrow" provided for him rectified this. The storyline in particular that Soma was situated in was compared to the storyline of the widely acclaimed "". The switch to an anime character design in "Dawn of Sorrow" was notably criticized, as many reviewers preferred the designs made by Ayami Kojima.