Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
| Castlevania: Lords of Shadow | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Studio |
MercurySteam Kojima Productions |
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| Publisher | Konami | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
October 5, 2010 | ||
| platform | Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 | ||
| genre | Action-Adventure , Hack and Slay | ||
| Subject | Fantasy | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad | ||
| language | English (multilingual subtitles) | ||
| Age rating |
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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a video game in the Castlevania series and a remake of this franchise . The game is an action adventure game set in a medieval fantasy world . It was developed by the Spanish company MercurySteam and Kojima Productions , the publisher is Konami . Among other things, Hideo Kojima , producer of the Metal Gear series , worked on the title.
action
Location and characters
The place of the action is a medieval fantasy world, which is supposed to represent Europe in 1047 during the end of all days . Earth's alliance with heaven is threatened by an evil force known as the Lords of Shadow. A powerful spell prevents the souls of the deceased from going to heaven while evil creatures take over the dying land and attack the living.
The main character, Gabriel Belmont, is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent citizens against the supernatural monsters. Gabriel's wife, Marie was brutally murdered by one of these creatures, and now can not like the other souls ascend to heaven, where in limbo, the limbus is trapped. Since she is neither dead nor alive in this state, she realizes what is at stake and leads Gabriel to his destiny: saving the earth and exploring the magic that holds her under his spell. So he travels through the ruined country, where he also meets other characters, such as his mentor Zobek.
Two masks, one referred to as the mask of God and the other as that of the devil, take center stage. The former is said to have the power to raise the dead again. Gabriel intends to defeat the three parties of the Shadow Lords and take possession of the mask in order to free his dead wife from limbo and bring her back to the world of the living.
history
Gabriel goes on a journey to the woods to find the one known as the guardian of the lake. At the lake of oblivion, he meets Pan, the guardian, who explains to him that this is where the living can contact the dead. Gabriel tells that the Brotherhood of Light sent him because they found out through a dream that Gabriel's wife was waiting for him with a message that contained a reference to the salvation of the earth. With Pan's permission, Gabriel crosses the lake and speaks to Marie. She tells him that the spirits who founded the Brotherhood of Light are trying to tell Marie that the princes of shadow are the way to redeem the world.
After Marie disappears, a member of the brotherhood, Zobek, introduces himself to Gabriel as an old friend of Pan. He explains that a prophecy known only to a select few contains a secret about a pure-hearted warrior who uses the power of the Shadowlords to defeat evil. Together they now have to travel to the land of the Dark Princes in order to reunite heaven with earth and thus also to save Gabriel's wife. Gabriel decides to travel to the land of the Lycans and asks Zobek to visit the land of the vampires and then prepare for the joint journey to the land of the necromancers .
Gabriel sets out for the land of the Lycans, where he meets Claudia; a girl who has telepathic skills and can read minds. She is protected by a golem known as the Black Knight, in return for bringing evil souls for him. Claudia reads Gabriel's mind and discovers why he is here, and then offers him her help. They decide to take a break, but during the night Gabriel stabs the girl, whereupon he suddenly wakes up and this was apparently just a bad dream. Pan appears in front of Gabriel and warns him that evil must not take possession of him and that he needs the Black Knight's gauntlet for his own benefit.
Gabriel replies that he does not want to harm his two companions, but at that moment he notices that his dagger is in Claudia's body and that he murdered her. At that moment, the Black Knight also notices this, who then attacks Gabriel and a fight ensues between the two. Gabriel can defeat the knight and takes the glove and then continues his journey to finally find the dark prince of the Lycans, Cornell. He stands up to Gabriel and tells him that three founding members of the order fought the offspring of Satan in God's favor, and they discovered three places where God's power was very strong. They used these regions to become mighty spirits whose power was only inferior to the power of God. However, when they ascended to heaven, their dark sides would be left on earth.
Cornell reveals that these dark pages are the lords of the shadow to which he himself belongs. Gabriel can defeat Cornell and thereby gains part of the mask of God. Pan appears and explains that there are two more fragments that Gabriel needs to find and sends him to the land of the vampires.
In a village Gabriel meets Zobek and with his help he enters the castle of the dark princess of the vampires, Camilla. A fight ensues in which Gabriel can defeat Camilla and thus get to the second part of the mask. Gabriel sets off to the land of the necromancers, which he can enter through a portal that Pan created. However, to his astonishment, Gabriel challenges Gabriel to a fight in which Pan is fatally injured. He explains that he had to sacrifice himself in order to clear the path for Gabriel's journey.
Gabriel can defeat the necromancer and comes into possession of the last fragment. Thereupon Zobek appears with the mask of the devil, puts it on and reveals that in reality he is the prince of the necromancers and that it was he who interrupted the connection between heaven and earth through the magic. He explains that he only used Gabriel to reunite the power of the three spirits, to develop their full potential and to claim it for himself. It was also he who put the devil's mask on Gabriel so that he could kill Claudia in order to get to the glove of the black knight. He also got Gabriel to kill his wife Marie in order to steer the events of the plot in the desired direction.
Then Satan appears , takes the mask of God and explains that he is behind all this, and that Zobek was just a pawn on the devil's chessboard. With this power he now wants to take revenge on God in order to ascend to heaven himself. Gabriel is able to defeat Satan in a final battle and thus free the souls from limbo, but is mortally wounded himself. Before his wife Marie also ascends to heaven, she tells him that his deeds will grant him a new life and that he will not die. Gabriel wants to know if he can bring it back to life with the mask of God, but he learns that it only enables the wearer to see with God's eyes. Marie says it's too late for her. She takes the mask and finally leaves life. Gabriel remains crying.
After the credits , you can see a figure in a habit walking through a medieval cathedral. By smashing a wall, the person opens a passage to an apparently long-forgotten part of the church. Arriving in the hall in the top of the tower, it is revealed that the person is the apparently defeated Zobek. He is looking for his old friend Gabriel, who lives here as an undead vampire. Zobek asks Gabriel why he has been hiding here all this time, but Gabriel replies with hatred that this is no longer his name and that his name is now Dracula . Zobek mentions that Satan's aides were preparing for his return and that they must stop Satan before he takes vengeance on them for all eternity. Gabriel attacks Zobek, but Zobek effortlessly hurls him through the rose window out of the cathedral, revealing that almost 1000 years have now passed - the church is in the middle of a modern, nocturnal city, Zobek is wearing a suit. At the entrance the two face each other again, and Zobek says that he can free Gabriel from the curse of immortality if the latter helps him. Gabriel says bitterly that he cannot live, but he cannot die either. Then it dissolves in a cloud of dust and disappears. "Soon, my friend," says Zobek as if to himself, "soon it will be over." With these words he finally walks away.
Game principle and technology
Combat system
Lords of Shadow is a third-person action adventure game in which the player takes control of the main character, Gabriel Belmont. The levels are linear and only allow a very limited exploration radius. In combat, a cross with an extendable chain is used as a weapon, for which you can unlock around 40 different attack combinations (combos) in the course of the game. The basic attacks are a direct attack that deals damage in a preferred direction and a weaker area attack that deals damage to all enemies within a certain radius. In addition, over time you gain control of secondary weapons such as daggers and holy water.
Gabriel can also perform melee attacks at close range, and by blocking enemy attacks, counterattacks can be carried out. In addition, you acquire the ability to use light and shadow magic, through which alternative attacks are made possible. While the shadow magic increases the damage caused, the energy bar is refilled a little with each hit by using light magic .
mystery
Similar to the original Castlevania titles are platformers Run - and puzzles deposits an essential part in the 50 levels of the game. The player has to overcome numerous obstacles by jumping, climbing, balancing or sprinting. With the battle cross, Gabriel can pull himself up on walls or swing over abysses. At some points in the game you need to solve physical puzzles or brain teasers in order to progress; if a puzzle is solved, Gabriel receives experience points through which he can acquire talents in order to unlock new attacks or to expand existing ones. However, it is always possible to see a solution to the puzzle in order not to prevent progress in the game (you will not receive experience points then).
opponent
In addition to werewolves and vampires, which are already known from earlier Castlevania parts, there are other types of enemies such as spiders, trolls and undead. Some monsters can also be controlled by Gabriel by climbing on them and riding them. This allows other enemies to be attacked, but also otherwise insurmountable obstacles (stone blockades, abysses) to be mastered.
In the game you also meet numerous stronger intermediate opponents , who usually require special tactics. For example, Gabriel has to climb huge titans with the chain of his battle cross in order to reach their weak points on their arms or their heads.
Just like by completing puzzles, Gabriel gains experience points by defeating the opponent. The intermediate opponents sometimes also leave behind new weapons.
Production notes
The game was originally announced as Lords of Shadow , with no connection to the Castlevania universe. Konami says this shouldn't distract attention from other games in development.
The game was released in the US on October 5, 2010 in Europe and on December 16, 2010 in Japan. The title was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 . A version for Windows was released in August 2013 . The German version contains the English voice output with localized subtitles and menus. In addition to the standard version, there were two special editions with an art book, a soundtrack CD and, optionally, a replica of the God Mask from the game.
Music and scoring
The music was written by the Spanish composer Óscar Araujo and recorded by an orchestra with 120 musicians. Themes from older Castlevania parts were also used. The CD with the official soundtrack, which comes with the Special Editions, contains the following titles:
| No. | title | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Besieged Village | 4:23 |
| 2 | The Warg | 3:26 |
| 3 | Hunting Path | 2:28 |
| 4th | The Dead Bog | 2:31 |
| 5 | The Swamp Troll | 5:03 |
| 6th | The Ice Titan | 4:12 |
| 7th | Labyrinth Entrance | 3:17 |
| 8th | Waterfalls of Agharta | 2:45 |
| 9 | Agharta | 1:27 |
| 10 | Cornell | 4:12 |
| 11 | Maze Gardens | 3:19 |
| 12 | Castle Hall | 4:09 |
| 13 | The Evil Butcher | 4:10 |
| 14th | Laura's Mercy | 1:38 |
| 15th | Carmilla | 2:03 |
| 16 | The God Mask | 1:18 |
| 17th | Belmont's theme | 2:53 |
| 18th | Final confrontation | 6:09 |
| 19th | the end | 5:47 |
| 20th | The Last Battle | 1:27 |
Professional speakers were hired for the voice output of Lords of Shadow. The recordings were made in a studio in London. Speakers included Robert Carlyle ( Trainspotting - New Heroes , All or Not ), who lends his voice to the main character Gabriel Belmont, and Patrick Stewart (known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the television series Starship Enterprise ) as Zobek.
Extensions
In December 2010, Konami announced two expansions for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow in the form of downloadable game content . In Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Reverie , you return to the castle in the form of Gabriel to help Laura - the former assistant to the vampire lady Carmilla. The new task is to destroy the irrepressible evil that was recently held in check by the now defeated Queen of Darkness. Reverie was released in April 2011 for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live and for 7.99 EUR on the Playstation Network .
Those who have successfully completed Castlevania can download the second expansion called Resurrection , which continues the plot directly and offers insights into the dramatic epilogue. Resurrection expands the adventure and illuminates Gabriel's fate. In this second expansion, Gabriel expects a decisive battle with a well-known opponent. The publication took place in June 2011.
reception
During development, Lords of Shadow was listed by many magazines as one of the most anticipated games of 2010, and GameTrailers ranked it 7th of the 10 most sought-after games. Explicit Gamer wrote, " With so many great games coming out in 2010, make sure you don't miss Castlevania: Lords of Shadow when it's on the shelves. " Games Radar listed Lords of Shadow as 26th of the 100 most anticipated games of 2010. At 1UP.com ranked the game 17th out of 50, where it won the People's Choice Award.
Lords of Shadow received consistently good ratings and was u. a. praised for its combat system. The game magazine 4Players awarded the rating "very good" with 88 out of 100 points and wrote " Castlevania [...] provides demanding action with one of the best combat systems in the genre ". In addition, the game was also convincing in terms of graphics and soundtrack.
Web links
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ "Lords of Shadow GC 09 Producer Interview," on Gametrailers.com, accessed September 11, 2009
- ↑ a b 1up.com: Lords of Shadow Was a Castlevania Game All Along. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013 ; accessed on April 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Castlevania: Lords of Shadow collector's edition spotted , accessed October 3, 2010
- ↑ Castlevania: Lords of Shadow special collector's edition announced , by Video Games Blogger, accessed October 3, 2010
- ↑ GamesIndustry.biz: Side - Fable III. Retrieved March 19, 2017 .
- ↑ New game content available for download soon . In: Gameswelt . December 22, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ↑ Reverie DLC has a new date . In: Gameswelt . April 16, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
- ↑ "GT Countdown Video Game, Top 10 Most Anticipated Games Of 2010 | Video Clip | Game Trailers & Videos" , on Gametrailers.com, accessed October 3, 2010
- ↑ http://www.explicitgamer.com/blog/2010/01/castlevania-lords-of-shadow/
- ↑ GamesRadar.com: The 100 most anticipated games of 2010 ( Memento from June 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Test (rating) for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow; 4Players.de
- ↑ Test on GamePro.de
- ↑ AreaGames.de: Castlevania - Lords of Shadow ( Memento from October 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )