Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 Review

Updated: March 6, 2014

Hello again techfans! Today we’re bringing you guys a review of Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2, which we’ve picked up for the PC. This is a direct sequel to the first Lords of Shadow game which served as an offshoot reboot of the Castlevania franchise, shifting the experience from a 2d platforming adventure, to a full 3d action game drawing inspiration from titles like God of War and Prince of Persia.

This is technically the third entry in the series, and serves as the closing game in a trilogy including the 3ds game Mirror of Fate, so it’s responsible for wrapping up the whole story line, and hopefully giving the series and enjoyable strong finish. Did it accomplish this task? Well this particular case is a bit of a yes and no situation, so let’s take a look at what the game did well, and where it runs into some roadblocks.

First off, let’s talk about the game’s strengths and what it’s inherited from the first game. Combat is very much the same animal this time around, albeit with a few major changes to help capture the fact that you’re now playing Dracula, as opposed to the more traditional vampire hunter.

Alongside familiar combo attacks using a blood whip, players are able to now use a finishing move on enemies to regain a bit of health thanks to Dracula’s penchant for bloodsucking, and the magic system has received an excellent revamp in the form of different weapons. In the first game using light or dark magic just made your weapon glow a certain color, and rewarded you a benefit like increased damage or life gain, as well as opening up some special unique attacks. This time around though, magic not only does these things but also gives you a different weapon in the form of a sword or pair of gauntlets, and completely changes Dracula’s fighting style. This adds a bit more depth to the combo system, and makes activating magic a much more interesting and dynamic option, rather than just giving yourself a health or damage boost when you need it.

Boss fights are for the most part really fun and each have their own little quirks, though something missing compared to the first one that I personally miss is the inclusion of giant bosses. This time around they’re all more traditional designs, and feature little to no platforming mid fight, a change that some might love, and others (myself included) will miss. This exclusion aside, boss fights are varied, decently challenging, and overall good fun.

Another area the game continues to excel at is it’s art design, featuring some beautifully designed areas and stages. The actual texture quality is somewhat hit and miss, but this is more than made up for with the games beautiful backdrops and set pieces, giving the game a memorable world to fight through. The modern day city settings can get a bit drab at times, especially in doors, but city streets and the entirety of Dracula’s castle make for a beautiful game.

The platforming aspects have been toned down a little bit in this one, there’s still plenty of running and climbing, but it’s all very linear. New exploration abilities open up at a healthy pace, not only giving the game a smooth progression, but also making it worth backtracking every now and then to reach previously closed off side paths with collectables and character upgrades to find, and thankfully the game includes a fast travel system that doesn’t make every journey super short, but cuts time down from having to run on foot to every single location.

Now where the game begins to falter is in two main areas: Its plot and stealth segments. The game’s writing is a noticeable step down from the previous entry, both in it’s dialogue and overarching plot. Characters come across a lot more two dimensional, and there are several events that occur in the game with little to no explanation, and make zero sense in relation to the overall plot line. To top this off the ending, without going into details and spoilers, is entirely too short and sudden, with little in the form of a conclusion and a tone that just betrays where the rest of the game was heading. It’s not a terrible plot line overall, it just doesn’t have the same impact as the first game, and may leave fans of the first installment with a feeling of disappointment and where it ends up going.

Now the change in plot is something that may or may not bother some people, even with it being weaker it does nothing to detract from the games solid and enjoyable combat system. There is however one major new mechanic that does, and that’s the new stealth segments. For some reason becoming an undead being of incredible power has lead to the main character needing to hide and sneak more, whereas the first game was purely combat focused. These stealth segments feel entirely forced, and feature somewhat annoying mechanics like needing to possess slow moving enemies or rats, turning into mist to avoid detection, or just staying crouched in the shadows. None of these moments were remotely enjoyable, and thankfully their relatively few and far between compared to the rest of the game, but still negatively affect the overall experience by constantly interrupting the game’s momentum.

Terrible stealth and weaker plot aside, Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 is still a solid action game worth playing if you just want to wreck enemies. If you loved the plot of the first one and really want to grab the sequel to end the story, you might find it worth waiting a bit for a price drop, but if all you’re interested in is a fun action game with decent replay value thanks to collectables, upgrades, and higher difficulty modes, then it’ll make a good addition to your collection.