Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a game developed by Konami and MercurySteam for the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate. . It will be released on February 25, 2014.

The games focuses on what happened to Gabriel Belmont, now known as Dracula, after the events of the first two games. It is the last game developed by MercurySteam, and the conclusion to the Lords of Shadow Saga.

DLC entitled Revelations is stated for a March 25, 2014 release.

Prologue: Castle Siege


Taking place after the events of Mirror of Fate, the game begins with Dracula sitting in his throne room, drinking blood from a chalice that he is holding. After a few moments of sitting in silence, a sudden noise echoes through the corridor. Upon hearing said noise, Dracula looks up and witnesses the large door to the chamber being breached from the other side. After taking a brief sip of the remaining blood in the chalice, he stands up and slowly walks down from his throne (throwing away his chalice since it's now empty), to face the oncoming threat: the Brotherhood of Light.

Dracula soon discovers that the Brotherhood is storming his castle with legions of soldiers as well as a colossal mechanical titan. After defeating several soldiers inside the throne room, Dracula confronts Roland de Ronceval,‎ a Golden Paladin, outside on a balcony. He slowly makes his way up the Titan while simultaneously battling various Brotherhood soldiers as well as the Golden Paladin along the way. After tricking the Paladin into blasting off various locks that hold different parts of the Titan in place, he finally reaches the Titans power source: a large blue crystal. Dracula then proceeds to vomit a large amount of acidic blood onto the crystal, turning it red and finally destroying the titan. With the destruction of the titan, it slowly begins to break apart, which causes major destruction in the area as well as killing many of the Brotherhood soldiers in the process.

In the aftermath of the battle, and when the dust finally dies down, the vampire lord climbs out of the debris made from the remains of the Titan and proceeds to battle the Golden Paladin once more. Defeated, the Paladin brandishes a large cross and begins praying. Dracula explains that God's power cannot destroy him, as he is God's chosen one. Dracula then touches the cross, much to the Paladin's shock, and begins to pray alongside the Paladin, causing a massive eruption of light that smites the Paladin and all of the remaining Brotherhood soldiers, leaving Dracula alone and unharmed. After all of this, Alucard is seen standing behind Dracula.

Dracula's Return
After centuries of sleep and nothingness, Dracula wakes, weakened. The Prince of Darkness burns to reclaim his ancient powers, and desires to get rid of his immortality. Zobek, worried by Satan's imminent return, asks his old friend to help him stop the Devil, with the offer of ending Gabriel's immortality through the use of his reforged Vampire Killer in exchange.



Dracula decides to exit the church, and walks in the streets of Castlevania City. A young Trevor appears nearby and Dracula decides to follow him. He encounters a monster a few streets after following the young boy. As he is still weakened, Dracula is easily defeated by his opponent. However, before the monster can finish Dracula, a mysterious figure appears and kills the creature before Dracula passes out.

He wakes in a dark room, and finds a human family watching him. Dying for a drop of blood, Dracula brutally murders the family, regaining his young appearance in the process. Zobek approaches him, and explains to Dracula what he must do to stop Satan and his Acolytes. Dracula must regain his powers, as he is the only one that can defeat Satan. The Prince of Darkness then uses a portal to teleport to the Science District, in order to find Satan's first acolyte.

The First Acolyte
Upon arrival, Dracula uses his blood power to get back his outfit. He then infiltrates the Bioquimek Corporation. Upon entry and making his way into the building, the young Trevor appears to him and tells him to follow if he wishes to retrieve his sword. Following the boy, the environment changes around Dracula into that of his Castle. Exploring the castle, Dracula finds the Void Sword. However, the living blood of the castle speaks to Dracula and tells him that they do not want him to leave and begins to crumble the floors beneath him to prevent him reaching the Sword.



Dracula manages to evade them and reaches the Sword. The blood creates the Stone Golem and attacks Dracula. Defeating the Golem, Dracula acquires the Primordial Void Gem and uses its ice powers to proceed. He finds a Vampire Knight assaulting Trevor, whom he quickly stops. The blood takes possession of the Knight and challenges Dracula. Upon defeating the creatures, Trevor gives Dracula the White Wolf Medallion, allowing him to teleport back to the real world by summoning a white wolf to guide him.

Once in the real world Dracula encounters a group of scientists led by Raisa Volkova who are making a demonic virus that mutates people into monsters, who also turns out to be the Acolyte and the two do battle. Using the Void Sword Dracula defeats her and brings her unconscious body back to Zobek to be interrogated.

City of the Damned


Once back at Zobek's base Dracula is confronted by Trevor again, he informs him that the Gorgon sisters Euryale, Stheno, and Medusa have his Chaos Claws. Once in the past again, Dracula makes his way through the castle's dungeons, and on the advice of Euryale and Stheno, frees a Chupacabra that has been imprisoned to help him locate Medusa who holds the claws.

Once free, the Chupacabra opens the way to Medusa's cell and reopens his store to provide his lord with whatever he needs for his journey. Once in the heart of Medusa's cell, Dracula retrieves the claws and encounters Medusa alongside her sisters. Sadly, Medusa has been corrupted by the castle and corrupts her sisters as well. The three merge into the Gorgon forcing their former master to fight them.

Once Dracula kills the three sisters, he returns to the present with a gift from the Chupacabra, the Talisman of the Dragon. Zobek has had no luck interrogating Raisa, nor can he read her mind with nothing but chaos inside it. Instead, Dracula proposes that they go back to the Corporation to retrieve a antidote to the disease that affects her so that they may return her to her human form.

Downtown
While Zobek agrees to the plan transporting Gabriel directly back to the facility is too much of a risk for him, instead Gabriel must cross the city on foot. Sadly, Raisa has already released the plague upon the city transforming many of it's inhabitants into cannibalistic monsters forcing Dracula to deal not only with them but with the riot police sent to deal with them as well.

Once inside Bioquimek, Dracula makes his way through it's underground complex and arrives at a private train station, stowing away on the train he faces off against a powerful demon that attempts to kill Dracula by derailing the train only succeeds in killing himself and everyone else on the train but Dracula. With the train destroyed, Dracula runs into Zobek's "Bodyguard" who explains that he's been sent to help.



Although the Bodyguard's help proves invaluable after a short time, he returns to Zobek. Gabriel meets up with Trevor again who begs for Dracula's help in saving his mother Marie. Taking Trevor's hand Gabriel finds himself in the past again, worst yet he soon encounters Carmilla and therefore concludes he's in a dream. Accepting her offer of Blood, Dracula soon realizes that it was trap.

Carmilla explains that as his health weakens she will grow in strength until she has taken control of Dracula's body. Dracula soon runs into Marie who confirms that she is real and not a dream. However, the Vampire lord's joy is soon turned to anger against Marie's defending of God. None the less, she promises her husband that his suffering will soon be over, as the Castle and it's inhabitants need Dracula and his power to stay alive: if he is allowed to die, it will cease to exist.

To this end, she has been sent to help, all that she need do is allow Dracula to drink her blood and her will stand a fighting chance against Carmilla. After a game of cat and mouse against the former vampire lord, Dracula enters into a brutal fight against her and regains his mist form midway through and uses it to defeat and stake Carmilla. With the "Dream" over, Dracula returns to the present.



Dracula returns to Raisa and injects her with the antidote, instead of her transforming back into human form however she turns into her true Demon form as the daughter of Satan. While Zobek does his best to hide their presence Gabriel fights and kills Raisa and "falls" into the past again. There he encounters Trevor playing with figurines of various people he knows and asks his father to retrieve the pieces of the Mirror of Fate for him.

Finding the Mirror


Exploring the castle, Dracula discovers that it has been taken over by the Brotherhood of Light. Trevor awaits his father, playing with wooden toys. He asks Dracula to find the three missing pieces of the Mirror of Fate, as it may help him.

Dracula eventually discovers that Agreus, Pan's brother seeking revenge for his death, has the mirror fragment that he's looking for. Dracula is able sneak past the Old God and get the fragment from Agreus's bird. Agreus finally confronts him, and the two are forced to fight, ending with a fall that kills the old god.



Dracula then looks for the Toy Maker who holds a second piece of the mirror. After watching a play recounting the sad tale of the Toy Maker, Dracula takes the Toy Maker's heart from one of his puppets and reunites it with its host, awakening him in the process. Although he has one of the Mirror Fragments, the Toy Maker is soon turned against the Dark Lord by the castle and fights him with his Toy Knight, Toy Dragon and Toy Puppet, all of which Dracula defeats. The defeated Toy Maker pukes up the blood and regains his memories, now recognizing Dracula he hands over the Mirror and is left to weep by the dark lord.

The Protector of Mankind and the Inner Demon
Returning to Trevor, Dracula learns that there is only one more piece of the Mirror, though the one who holds it isn't in the castle: Dracula is thusly sent back to the present to get it. Arriving in Zobek's compound, Dracula is informed that the Acolytes already suspect him in the death of Raisa. Zobek knows that someone is searching for him in the Church and Dracula goes to confront him, hoping for a lead back to the acolytes. On his way back to the Church, Dracula encounters a unknown man whom he observes that the most powerful of the demons are all out to kill. After a chase, the mysterious man flees, and Dracula has to defeat a huge demon in the museum's courtyard.



Fighting him at the church, Dracula soon realizes that he wields much of the same equipment (including a Combat Cross, the Seraph Shoulders, a Dark Crystal, some Silver Daggers, and the Cyclone Boots) as he himself did before he was Dracula. After a brutal fight, the two fall into a underground city. When Dracula prepares to end the man's life, he realizes people are present in the underground. The man claims to be Victor Belmont, current head of the Brotherhood of Light, a protector of Humanity, and the last of the Belmont line.

The underground city is acting as a refugee camp from the virus and chaos above, but Victor knows they won't be able to hide for much longer. To this end, Dracula gives Victor the antidote to the virus and in exchange Victor offers to help flush out the Acolytes. On their way out of the church, they run into Zobek's Bodyguard again and the three of them battle a group of demons. With that out of the way, Victor uses a spell to set a trap for the Acolytes with himself as bait. The Acolyte possesses a nearby statue and uses it to kill Victor. Dracula takes the last piece of the Mirror of Fate from Victor's body.



He is returned to Trevor and together they complete the Mirror. The Castle, enraged by the completed Mirror, possesses Trevor and uses him to summon the dark manifestation of Dracula's soul.

During the fight, Dracula regains his Demonic Wings and they prove vital in defeating his doppelganger. With the twisted copy dead, Trevor is freed from the creature and reunited with his mother. Trevor's last words to his father before he returns to the present is a request that he doesn't let the Acolyte escape.

The Second Acolyte


Zobek traces the Acolyte to the nearby building where Victor was killed, according to Zobek the company that owns it is the largest manufacturer of weapons in the world and holds great influence over politics and economics. Once inside the building Dracula faces off against the second acolyte, Nergal Meslamstea. Realizing he is too strong in a head-to-head fight Dracula instead lures the Acolyte into the past.

Realizing he is now to weak to fight Dracula directly, the Acolyte possesses a trio of nearby statues to do his bidding. The statues prove to be no match for Dracula whom after defeating each of them, crushes the second Acolyte's head under his foot. With the Acolyte dead, Trevor gives his father the repaired Mirror and recommends he takes a second look at it.

Discouraged from the last time, Trevor instead asks that when the time comes Dracula chooses his family. Dracula answers he already made his choice. Back in the present, Zobek congratulates Dracula on his defeat of the second Acolyte, but there is still one left, one of several religious leaders who have locked themselves inside a monastery for weeks he is the most powerful of them all.

Revelations


Together with the bodyguard, Dracula the two make their way to the monastery and find the acolyte, but at the last moment the Bodyguard disables Dracula and sends him back to the past. There, Dracula is met by his family again who informs him that the way out of the castle, the Throne room just beyond the next gate, is before him.

Dracula finds his diary and regains his lost memories of the Brotherhood's final assault on his palace. After the death of the Paladin, Dracula was confronted by his son, Alucard. The younger vampire acknowledges that neither of them can kill the other. To this end, Alucard believes that only his father, Gabriel Belmont, can destroy the Vampire Dracula, and by extension all evil on Earth.

Dracula points out that even if he were to die, the likes of Satan and Zobek would only take his place. To this end, Alucard reveals his sword: the Crissaegrim, forged from the broken fragment of the Vampire Killer that Gabriel drove into Carmilla's heart many years ago.

If Dracula's heart is pierced by the sword, he will fall into a deep sleep, and Zobek and Satan will think him dead. As a consequence, Satan's acolytes will prepare his return, and Zobek will panic, search for Dracula, use him against Satan, buying his favor with the one weapon that can grant him eternal peace: the Vampire Killer.

Only on the brink of Satan's return will Alucard remove the sword and revive his father but the long sleep will make his memory fragmented and Zobek will know nothing of their plan. Once Satan is trapped on Earth, father and son will team up to destroy Zobek, Satan, and finally Dracula himself with the reforged Vampire Killer. Dracula reluctantly agrees to the plan and stabs the sword into his heart with his son's assistance.

Back into the present, the Bodyguard reveals himself to be Alucard. The final Acolyte finishes the ritual and disappears. Zobek takes his place, now aware of their plot. He takes on his true form, Death, and battles Dracula alone at the latter's insistence. After a grueling fight with the Necromancer Lord, Zobek dies laughing at the end of Dracula's blade.

Finale


Dracula proposes he and Alucard split up, so that they can find Satan and his Acolyte faster. They reunite at the church where Dracula first awoke, where once summoned, Satan kills his acolyte for his incompetence. Aware of the fact that he can't buy the vampire's loyalty, Satan instead summons a gigantic Leviathan to help him fight the vampires and destroy the Earth. The two Vampires are able to destroy the beast.

However as its corpse falls back to Earth, Satan possesses Alucard, forcing Dracula to once again fight his son and greatest nemesis at the same time on the corpse of Satan's mount. After a climatic battle, the two crash into the street, and when Satan realizes that Dracula intends to kill him and his son together, he flees from Alucard's body. Dracula takes his chance to kill him with the Vampire Killer, and impales the Devil.



With Satan gone forever, Dracula revives his son. The sun begins to rise, Dracula states that it's almost time to go. Shattering the Mirror of Fate after looking into it one final time, Dracula decides that he will make his own fate and leaves into the cathedral, with the final part of the plot he and Alucard hatched so long ago going unfulfilled: his true death.

Characters

 * Dracula (playable) The protagonist of the game. Once known as Gabriel Belmont before becoming a powerful vampire. He is the Prince of Darkness who seeks the end of his immortality.

Allies

 * Marie Belmont Gabriel's long deceased wife.
 * Zobek The Lord of the Dead and former enemy, returned to stop Satan with Dracula's aid. Their warry alliance is only a means to an end.
 * Alucard (playable) Dracula's former enemy and son, and mastermind of the conspiracy. Playable with DLC.
 * Young Trevor The personification of the Vampire Lord's humanity.
 * Victor Belmont The last of the Belmont clan.

Enemies

 * The three Gorgon sisters, Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno they hold the power of Chaos, and become the giant Gorgon after being corrupted.
 * Carmilla Not quite back from the dead, but working on it.
 * Agreus An Old God and brother of Pan.
 * Toy Maker A kind old man and genius with mechanics, possessed by a demon and the Castle.
 * The Acolytes A group of servants of Satan, seeking to bring their father to Earth.
 * Raisa Volkova, head of Bioquimek Corporation
 * Nergal Meslamstea, head of a weapon company
 * Guido Szandor, a bishop from the Church of Satan
 * Satan The Devil and main antagonist, returned to end the world and seek revenge on Dracula.

Casting

 * Robert Carlyle: Dracula
 * Patrick Stewart: Zobek
 * Richard Madden: Alucard
 * Stuart Campbell: Young Trevor
 * Natascha McElhone: Marie Belmont
 * Anthony Howell: Victor Belmont
 * Mark Lewis Healy: Toy Maker
 * Sally Knyvette: Carmilla
 * Aleksandar Mikic: Agreus
 * Alex Childs: Raisa Volkova
 * Alastair Parker: Nergal Meslamstea
 * Mimi Keene: Euryale / Medusa / Stheno
 * Mark Lewis Jones: Various characters (Guido / Cleric / Scientist / Soldier)
 * Matthew Clancy: Various characters (Chupacabras / Scientist / Soldier)
 * Gunnar Atli Cauthery: Various characters (TV Presenter / Scientist)
 * Jason Isaacs: Satan

Timeline
In May 2012, a website opened with a timer countdown, showing the door leading to Dracula's throne room. The website was called "The Dragon Returns", and the countdown ended on May 31.

On May 31, 2012 during Konami's Pre E3 2012 Press Conference, the first trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 premiered, featuring an older Gabriel who displays full ownership of his vampiric powers. This trailer focused on the Castle Siege, and used full CG.

On December 7, 2012, during the Video Games Award, another short trailer was broadcasted, giving more information about the story and gameplay. This was the first trailer using the new in-game MercurySteam engine.

On June 6, 2013, during Konami's Pre E3 2013 Conference, the demo of the game was playable. A new long trailer was shown, showing gameplay and story, mostly focusing on the Castle Siege (which was the demo chapter). Zobek, Carmilla, and Marie were confirmed to be part of the game.

On August 21, 2013, at Cologne's GamesCon, Victor Belmont was revealed to be the new Belmont character. A trailer focusing on the Void Sword and gameplay was also shown.

On Halloween 2013, a new short trailer ("Dracula's Vengeance") was shown, giving new details about the plot.

In January 2014, new screenshots, concept arts, and renders were released. Demo versions were sent to various gaming professionals, and previews started to appear. In general, most previews were positive about the game's quality. New footage from both eras (Castle and City) was shown.

The game was released on February 25 in the US, and on February 27 in Europe. No release date was announced for Japan.

Controversy
Following the release of the game in February 2014, an anonymous MercurySteam employee/developer sent to several gaming websites the story behind the development of the game.

In his letter, he explains the development was very chaotic for different reasons. The employee directly blames Enric Alvarez's behaviour towards his team, as he had total control on everything that developers and artists did.

Moreover, the art director of the studio left for another project. Little to no communication existed between the different parts of the studio, leading to some differences in the game's constency, and a 6-month delay in production (changing the release of the game from November 2013 to February 2014).

Finally, after the end of the develoment, more than 35 employees were fired from MercurySteam.

Here is the full letter from the employee:

''Well, I would like to shed some light over the development of this game... Working with Mercury Steam and I would like to tell this anonymously- is about an everyday frustration. Here's to every guy that has experienced hell during the development of this game, but especially to those who have led this to the mess that Lords of Shadows 2 is:''

''- Kojima had little to nothing to do with the development of the first game, he came by, set a seal, visited the studio, signed some things and that was it. He had even less to do with Mirror of Fate and LoS2.''

''The vast majority of this team is aware that the game we've done is a real piece of s*** that has nothing to do with the first one's quality and production values... Nobody is surprised by the low reviews we've got.''

''- If there's someone to blame here, that's Enric Álvarez. He is the person who has led a broken development based on his personal criteria, completely overlooking programmers, designers and artists. Despite his nice look to the press, often considered as some sort of creative "visionary" in the looks of David Cage and Molyneux, this guy has serious problems. He is a mean and naughty guy, and since the "success Lords of Shadows 1" his ego has grown to the point of not even daring to say 'hello' when you meet him in the hallway.''

''His distrust to his own workers is enormous. Most of the development team often found out features of the game through press news, rather than from the studio's head - unbelievable. And there is no corporate culture here at all... this is just a handful of people working blindly and at the disposal of an alleged visionary.''

''- Many of the studio founders are people with zero abilities for running a studio. Often here newbie developers know more than their own bosses. This structure only leads to a slow, messy and absurd development process, with the end result of Lords of Shadows 2 being a perfect example of what happens due to that.''

''- Absolutely every design idea has to be monitored, taken away and mutilated by Enric Álvarez. Several game designers have grown tired of this and have abandoned the studio.''

''- The art direction for this project has been erratic and beheaded. After Enric dismissed every idea and core decission from our main art director for the previous projects, he decided to just leave. It was a battle of egos unleashed by Enric (something that he has carried over with since his times in Rebel Act). Our now former art director is still working in Madrid, now with the Tequila guys making RIME.''

''- Many others have just turned to other studios offers, sick of the situation here. Almost every month we see fellow devs packing up and getting out of here looking for a new job abroad that's sad. It's amazing how the biggest AAA game developer in Spain is not even willing to make its workers a counteroffer. This company does not think highly of its talented workers and their good work. There has never been any kind of salary bonus or anything that remotely resembles it. Not even a single "Good job team!" acknowledgement.''

''- The production management for this project has been terrible, way often the heads of each department dismissed every production deadline and imposed their own criteria. As a result, the development was delayed for six months, and that investment only came out of MercurySteam's pockets. The QA department is treated like cattle, with shameful wages and almost everyday bullying.''

''- After completing Lords of Shadows 2 MercurySteam has fired 35 workers, and it's embarrasing that no website or journalist is talking about that. More firings are expected to come in the following days.''

Gameplay
Players will take control of Lords of Shadow's protagonist Gabriel Belmont, who now has taken on the moniker of "Dracul", as the game's main protagonist. He will traverse both his own castle and a modern day city, while battling both the Brotherhood of Light and the forces of Satan.

The combat system is based on the previous game. Gabriel's Combat Cross has been replaced with a new weapon called the "Shadow Whip". However, combos are still strung together with strong direct attacks, and lighter attacks with more range. Dracula can collect blood from the enemies he fights. He can channel it into "Void" and "Chaos". When the former is activated, Dracula's weapon will switch to the Void Sword. This weapon allows him to regain health when enemies are struck with it. Chaos switches Dracula's weapon to a pair of claws that will help him break through enemy defenses. This system is highly reminiscent of how Light Magic and Shadow Magic were put to use in the previous Lords of Shadow. Each weapon also has its own skills, such as void sword having 35 exclusive combos available, instead of being limited to the whip and switching between weapons mid-combo is possible. Additionally using a combo repeatedly will allow Dracula to master that combo, and once mastered its power can be siphoned into the weapon itself, making it more powerful, granting extra abilities and increased damage.

Other powers Dracula at his disposal are controlling enemies and turn into mist in order to get past unseen or enter certain areas. Secondary weapons also return in the form of Relics, such as the Seal of Alastor-which unlocks all of Dracula's skills for a short period of time; the Stolas' Clock, which functions similar to the Stopwatch of classic Castlevania, and the Dragon Form, which is akin to the Dark Crystal of the first Lords of Shadow.

Dracula's Tomb Premium Edition


The premium edition for European version Lords of Shadow 2. It contains the game, Tomb box, Steelbook, A4 100 page hardback artbook, 3 miniature figurines (Characters: Zobek, Victor Belmont, The Lieutenant) and DLC's. planned before was removed.

Reception
The game received mixed to positive reception from critics.

GameZone's Matt Liebl gave the PS3 version a 7.5/10, stating "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 doesn't do everything right, but the solid combat, breathtaking environment, and wonderfully orchestrated soundtrack more than make up for its annoyances. If this truly is Mercury Steam's last go with the series, it's a good exit."

Positive critics praised the gameplay, the combat system, the graphics, and the music. Most negative or mixed reviews stated that the stealth sections were uninteresting and too hard or badly-designed, and the plot was poor. The game also suffered from the comparison to the first game, and to other similar games (mostly the God of War series and Devil May Cry).

Trivia

 * This game is the first to allow the player to control Dracula as the primary character (as Dracula was playable in Castlevania: Judgment), rather than as his human pre-vampire self (Gabriel), his reincarnated form, another hero, or an alternate version of him.
 * Even though the level based structure is no longer being used, the Travel Book from the first two games still makes an appearance.
 * The book appears when the game is first started, being read by Dracula. Once the game begins, it appears again, in a secret chamber located behind Dracula's throne.

Related Products

 * Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The previous game
 * Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - the game that links the 2 games together
 * Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Original Game Soundtrack - the soundtrack to the game