Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

File:Gabriel_older.png

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 Castlevania: Mirror of Fate. . It will be released on February 27, 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.

Prologue: Castle Siege
Taking place after the events of Mirror of Fate, the game starts with Dracula facing the Brotherhood of Light, storming his castle with soldiers and a mechanical titan. Dracula confronts a Golden Paladin, and finally destroys the Titan, crashing most of the soldiers in the process. When the dust goes down, the Vampire battles the Paladin once more.

Modern Times
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, at the price of Gabriel's immortality. Soon, it will be over.

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
 * Alex Childs: Raisa Volkova
 * Jason Isaacs: Satan
 * Alec Newman: Unknown role

Development & Promotion
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 very positive about the game's quality. New footage from both eras (Castle and City) was shown.

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 "Blood 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 and 4 miniature figurines (Characters: Dracula, Zobek, Victor Belmont, The Lieutenant).

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 his reincarnated form, another hero, or an alternate version of him.
 * Also, unlike the classic Castlevania series, the Lords of Shadow timeline has a very intentional end, which will take place in this game.
 * 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 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