"dawn of sorrow", like most games in the "castlevania" series, is set in a castle, which is subdivided into various areas. areas of the castle differ in their composition, including monsters and terrain features. in addition, each area has its own unique piece of theme music that plays while the player is in that area. the character moves around the environment based on the player's choices; however, the items the player has restricts the areas the character can move into, like most platform games. progression, however, is not linear, as players are free to explore the parts of the castle they have access to, and can backtrack or move forward as they see fit.