When Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was released several years ago, many fans of the Castlevania series were pleased due to the fresh take on the series. Moving from its classic 2D side-scrolling action to a fully-fledged action game, the work that MercurySteam did for the game was highly praised by a lot of people. Picking up where Lords of Shadow left off, the final chapter of Gabriel Belmont’s story as Dracula is here, but many are skeptical as to what changes MercurySteam did for the game.
The story of Lords of Shadow 2 takes place centuries following the events of the first game. For those who did not play it, you will be covered with what has happened to Gabriel Belmont as there will be a cutscene detailing all of the events that took place prior. In Lords of Shadow 2, Satan is coming and it’s up to Gabriel Belmont to team up with Zobek to stop his arrival before destruction happens to the world. Since the game takes place centuries later, there will be two settings that Gabriel will be venturing to: a gothic London environment and the castle of no other than Dracula itself.
Through the course of the game, Gabriel will be traveling to both worlds as they find ways to stop Satan from coming to the world. He will meet several familiar people from his past and new ones that will further expand the lore. Those who want to see more of Gabriel’s family will be pleased to see them here as they will make several appearances that will further shape the story. Without spoiling anything, the game will also feature a story of Gabriel’s redemption as to what he did to his family in previous games. For fans of the new Castlevania reboot, the final story to the Lords of Shadow series will somewhat piece up loose ends.
The introduction of the hack and slash action gameplay on the first game was rather new to Castlevania fans. In fact, many are pleased as it was similar to other big blockbuster games like God of War. While that may be the case on the first game, it was rather unique and the game stood out on its own. In Lords of Shadow 2, I must say that MercurySteam didn’t innovate the gameplay- it was more of the same that is found on the first game and there are too many similarities to the God of War franchise this time. The combat system remains the same, except there’s a few new powers that Gabriel can wield. If you found the combat on the first game to be rather tedious, it will be more of the same in this sequel – especially with the same attack combos.
One of the complaints everyone had on the first game is the inability to move the camera around. Well, that finally has been fixed in this sequel allowing you to freely move the camera to your liking. This new addition is very impressive as it fixed one of the major problems of the first game. Now, you can wield the Shadow Whip of Gabriel with no annoyances whatsoever.
As you help Gabriel battle new enemies, one of the things that you will be fondis the two powers that he has. This time, Gabriel can wield a light power called Void and dark power called Chaos. With the power of the Void, Gabriel can suck up the HP of the enemies whenever he needs health. As for Chaos, it will give Gabriel fiery hands that can break shields and deal intense damage. These powers will be used a lot since there will be enemies that will require you to use a combination of the two. As for the skill tree, it’s rather complicated as you now have to master basic combat and stack it up to improve it. It’s not really annoying but it’s complicated this time around.
