Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

I've always loved Castlevania for its great storyline, awesome characters, and fun gameplay. Even though it’s an older game, the graphics still hold up and are definitely a 10/10. I wish they would either make more titles or even consider a remaster. Alucard's DLC was a lot of fun, though a bit short, but I really enjoyed the experience. The character designs are absolutely fantastic. ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 - A Tale of Two Cities

Lords of Shadow 2 arrives as the supposed grand finale of the rebooted Castlevania saga, attempting to fuse the series' classic Metroidvania exploration with the visceral combat made popular in the original Lords of Shadow. While glimpses of brilliance shine through, particularly within the gothic grandeur of Dracula's Castle, the game ultimately stumbles due to jarring tonal shifts and a narrative that struggles to coalesce.

The core gameplay loop sees you inhabiting the role of Dracula, navigating the sprawling environments of both his iconic castle and a bizarrely anachronistic modern city. The Metroidvania elements are present: you'll gradually unlock signature abilities like bat transformation, mist traversal, and the essential double jump, which in turn open up previously inaccessible areas brimming with secrets and collectibles. Exploring the interconnected corridors and hidden chambers of Dracula's Castle evokes a satisfying sense of discovery, reminiscent of the beloved Symphony of the Night in a 3D space.

Combat has evolved, leaning into a faster, more combo-centric style akin to Devil May Cry. Dracula wields a trio of distinct weapons – the Shadow Whip for familiar ranged attacks, the Void Sword for life-draining and freezing foes, and the powerful Chaos Claws for breaking through enemy defenses. Switching between these on the fly adds a welcome layer of tactical depth, and the improved hit feedback makes each strike feel impactful. A mana system tied to the Void Sword and Chaos Claws encourages strategic ability usage.

However, the introduction of new enemy types, including heavily armored brutes, relentless summoners, and perpetually reviving skeletons, often tips the scales from challenging to simply frustrating. Questionable enemy respawn placements can lead to tedious retreading of areas. While platforming is generally smoother than its predecessor, the mandatory stealth sections feel like unwelcome distractions, offering little in the way of engaging gameplay and disrupting the overall flow.

The narrative is where Lords of Shadow 2 truly falters. The sequences set within the illusory Dracula's Castle, delving into Dracula's past and connecting threads from previous games, are arguably the strongest aspect of the storytelling. Yet, the modern city storyline feels utterly disjointed. The introduction of generic, zombie-like enemies and a trio of underdeveloped Satan acolytes creates a narrative that lacks cohesion and impact. The climactic boss encounter ultimately feels anticlimactic and fails to deliver the epic scale one would expect from a series finale. Furthermore, the character development within the modern city sections is largely forgettable.

Visually, the game presents a stark contrast. Dracula's Castle is a gothic masterpiece, dripping with intricate detail and atmosphere. However, the modern city environments feel generic and clash significantly with the established aesthetic, particularly with the inclusion of sci-fi inspired mechs that feel completely out of place within the Castlevania universe. This lack of design consistency is a persistent issue throughout the latter half of the game. The user interface, while functional and maintaining a medieval book aesthetic, is hampered by the absence of a full world map, making backtracking for collectibles a frustrating exercise in memorization.

In conclusion, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a deeply flawed yet occasionally engaging experience. While the return to Metroidvania exploration within the stunning Dracula's Castle and the fluid combat system offer moments of genuine enjoyment, the jarring shift to a modern setting, a weak and disjointed narrative, and significant design inconsistencies ultimately prevent it from reaching its full potential. It serves as a disappointing conclusion to a promising rebooted series.

Pros:

Satisfying Metroidvania exploration within the beautifully realized Dracula's Castle.
Fluid and engaging combat system with strategic weapon switching.
Visually impressive dark gothic art style in the castle environments.

Cons:

The modern city setting feels tonally inconsistent and out of place.
Tedious and uninspired mandatory stealth sections.
A weak and disjointed narrative, particularly within the modern city storyline.
Significant design inconsistencies between the two main environments.
Lack of a full world map makes backtracking cumbersome.

Verdict: 7/10

It's Castlevania and has Alucard, what's not to like. Decent and fun game overall

The story contained in the LoS2 is masterfullly written, much like the gampley is fitting to the game's setting and the main stroy It is a masterpiece. This part closes the Lords of Shadow saga pretty nicely.

-very unhinged cutscenes
-unhinged characters
-insanely BANGER music
-pretty environments
-pretty decent and enjoyable combat
-alucard and satan are pretty hot

I have a lot to say about this game.

This game is hated upon Castlevania fans. The major reason for it are because of the stealth section. While i agree they mess up the pacing of the game.. Are not that bad nor that difficult to deal with. I actually think this game is very rich lore-wise and content wise considering.

This take place after Mirror Of Fate which the events are explained again at the beginning of the game. Also happen in the future year 2057. The story happen in both past and future.

The art design is out of this world for a game from 2014. Dracula's Castle is huge and impressive to look at.. same for Castlevania city. The graphics aged super well, the naration while inferior to the OG Lord Of Shadows is decent. The music follows closely the style introduced with OG LoS and MoF.

I recommand this game 100%. However beware..

- This PC port has issues that Konami never cared to fix.

- Alt+Tab can mess up your keyboard controls on your PC altogether. requiring PC restart to fix (at least i have no solution for it)
- Game crash randomly (didn't crash a lot for me) but low end pc will crash a lot probably
- game softlock itself sometimes (restart checkpoints fix most of them)
- streaming the game on discord or OBS can cause crash if you remove v-sync in the revelations DLC

Other then those issues the game is very solid. I hope Konami will revisit those games one day in a remaster. Actual keyboard controls, mouse cursor in the menu (instead of emulated console controls) would be great.

8/10 game imo.

Good game for its time.Did anyone see the detail of the reflections ?2014 no ray tracing and the artists make it look so realistic...These days ray tracing is excuse to sell video cards and some of the games look and run like sh*t. P.S.Draw back is the stupid sneak sections...Dracula sneaking...so lame. The story "i wanna die,i am tired of living"...why the hell are u sneaking then(whoever thinking that was a good gameplay is moron). Game is fun,but not without flaws.It depend if u can tolerate them enough.