Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Impressions

As an avid aficionado of video games, few franchises are as close to my heart as Castlevania. It is in fact one of the reasons that I am involved in the course of study that I've chosen, and I don't exaggerate by saying that it may be one of the only reasons I got into RIT in the first place. Since high school, when I played my first game of the series Harmony of Dissonance, I was captivated by the epic tale of Castlevania; of the the Belmont Clan's near millennium long struggle against the children of the night, most notably, the dark lord Dracula. My admission portfolio was loaded with sketches and character designs inspired by the series, and I believe that, without them, I wouldn't have been given the time of day by the review board. To say the least, I love this series.

The most recent entry in the series, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, has been met with mixed reactions and interpretations by many fans of the series, some arguing that it is undeserving of the Casltevania brand. Let's step backward and explain where this comes from. In the franchise's infancy, on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, it was a classic action side-scroller that pitted the character against legions of monsters in the eerie land of Transylvania, on a quest to defeat the Prince of Darkness. As time progressed, and the series evolved, the design took on an exploration dynamic, with the bulk of the game taking place exclusively in Dracula's Castle, while the player gained experience points, found new weapons, and combed the estate in a non-linear fashion.

Now, after years of the above formula being rehashed and redone to the point of being comical to some, the time has come for Castlevania to take the next step into the current generation. This step, in the form of Lords of Shadow, was helmed by developer Mercury Steam in conjunction with Kojima Productions, famous for its Metal Gear Solid series. To most, this seemed a match made in heaven, but the end product made many shrug their shoulders. Many, honestly most, saw how heavily it borrowed from other franchises like God of War and Shadow of the Colossus, and felt that it was a simple clone. This I believe is very unfair, as where this game may fall somewhat short of innovating tried-and-true formulas, it, in my eyes, surpasses its peers to deliver a truly monstrous performance.

When it comes to visual quality, Lords of Shadow is an absolute juggernaut. The developers spared no expense in replicating the visual tone and Gothic atmosphere that the series, and moreover the Dracula legend, is famous for. Ranging from murky and deadly swamps, to the haunting and desolate mountain ruins, to the frigid halls of the vampire lord's castle, the environments and set pieces of this game can be likened back to the glory days of the franchise, and there was no time more glorious than, most specifically, Super Castlevania IV. To those who doubt its roots and tribute to previous installments, LoS captures the varied and organic style of the 1991 Super Nintendo classic, a style mostly lost when the series began the transition to a design that centered around the Count's massive castle. Mercury Steam certainly did its homework, and above all conveyed the respect and love for the franchise's past that all die-hard fans of Castlevania share.

This level of care and reverence carried into the sound design. The voice-acting for characters was handled by many A-list talents, such as Sir Patrick Stewart, Jason Isaacs, and Robert Carlyle leading the pack in the game's lead role. The degree of expertise and seriousness toward their roles lent LoS's dialog a weight and grandeur that hasn't been seen before in Castlevania, and which few others can hope to match. Couple this with the game's evocative musical score, itself earning its composer, Óscar Araujo, the award of "Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" by the International Film Music Critics Association, and the player is awarded an unrivaled listening experience.

Whether it be its dramatic visual qualities or the prestige of its audio resources, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a triumph that few honest critics can argue with. It stands as a shining example of how an affectionate attention to detail and admiration for a series' past can lift an aging legend from stagnant mediocrity, and how a product can be made greater than the sum of its parts.

Belmont forever.