Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Demo

Castlevania has a long history of greatness back on consoles, since it was one of the first and most popular beat ‘em up games with a supernatural theme. Hence, vampires, werewolves, and many other vicious creatures were part of the fun, while the unforgiving difficulty level is still talked about today. Now, a sequel to the reboot has been released, which aims to improve on the original formula and nothing else.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 comes after a very well-received first part, which managed to preserve the atmosphere of the old titles, and yet provide the players with a new experience altogether. However, the developers seem to have moved on from this idea and decided to just strip the game down to its bare minimum and not really bother putting anything back into place.

As such, the story talks about Dracula, who comes back from the dead and tries to reclaim his kingdom from the forces of evil. He can only do this by regaining his powers back, which means he needs to suck blood from everything that crosses his path. Not only that, but the supreme enemy this time around is Satan himself, which makes for a pretty awkward confrontation when you think about it.

One thing the first title got right was the variety of moves you could achieve, even if most of them were cheesy and sometimes largely ineffective. However, they made the experience feel more fun, because the combos had a purpose and you could see the fruits of your labor in the end. Here, the combat has been reduced to a simple button mashing fest, while the enemies have become even dumber, somehow.

Whether it matters anymore or not, at least the graphics engine has been improved, which is great news, considering the first issue was already quite nice. Not only that, but this version comes with an included high-definition texture pack, which pump the quality level even further, as long as you have the computer to support it adequately.

In the end, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 had the opportunity to make everyone want miss the arcade times and engage in a bit of mindless fighting, but it decided to alienate people instead. Hence, unless you are too much of a Castlevania fan to stay away from it, this sequel is not exactly something you would want to try.