Reviews// Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

In the big Zelda-ish dungeon sections there are bits and pieces that look scalable but aren't but then there are also seemingly-absent actual handholds in other areas. You're supposed to be shown where to head by a little swarm of bats, but sometimes they don't show up or just disappear into the background.

The upshot is that you may find yourself wandering around, aimlessly jumping at things and occasionally falling into fire pits like it's still 2003.

While strategy isn't a factor in stealth play, it's present and accounted for in combat, which still sits at the heart of the game. You have three primary weapons, each armed with an associated projectile. Your main one is Dracula's whip (made of… blood energy?) which gives you range.

You've also got the void sword, which saps health from enemies as you attack, and some claws powered by chaos, which enable you to deal heavy damage and smash through armour and shields. The latter two, however, have to be powered up with energy earned through combat.

The three play off each other well and you'll need to stick your tactical hat on to make use of all of them (as well as the block and evade mechanics) if you want to get anywhere. There's also a sometimes-cool, sometimes-disruptive mechanic that enables Drac to drink all the blood out of an enemy once he's close to defeating them. Because he's Dracula, you know?

Occasionally boss battles can feel gratuitously drawn out and the combos aren't particularly inspiring, but the use of different abilities keeps things interesting and progressing them through the skill tree enables you to tailor Dracula to how you want to play.

Visually the game is a mixed bag. As I mentioned earlier, there are some cool design choices, but they sometimes get let down by humdrum environments.

In terms of execution on those designs, Lords of Shadows 2 looks a little dated. It's tempting to let Mercury Steam off the hook because of the size of the game, but it's the year 2014 and we can all point to games like GTA V or the Batman: Arkham games that have sizeable game worlds but still look better.

The basic premise is intriguing, though there's too much going on. Between the events of LoS1, its DLC and Mirror of Fate there's a lot to tie together here and you can get a bit lost in the plot.

Early on there's a chunk of exposition that sent my brain into one of those death spirals brought on by reading too many fantasy novel blurbs at once. The upshot is that while the premise is intriguing, it can be difficult to care.

For all the above moans, however, there's fun to be had with Lords of Shadow 2. The combat is a solid blend of strategy and twitchy finger fury, and despite all the lacklustre additional content Mercury Steam has stuffed in, beating up baddies is still at the heart of the game. It's just a shame it doesn't amount to more.

Pros
+ Interesting premise
+ Solid tactical combat
+ Some cool, mad design choices

Cons
- Linear gameplay, despite Mercury Steam's ambition for it to be otherwise
- Promise of the premise isn't quite met
- Confusing environments
- Generally overreaches

SPOnG Score: 3/5