Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

.

Review:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS in 2013 and ported to PC in 2014, is a Metroidvania game that takes elements of the Lords of Shadow sub-series of Castlevania games and marries them to the genre that many still most strongly associate the series with (for good reason – “Metroidvania” does get half of its portmanteau from “Castlevania”, after all).

The presentation of this game is closer to the Lords of Shadow games, meaning the gothic-inspired anime-style characters of other modern Castlevania games isn’t to be found here, instead replaced with more gritty 3D characters and highly detailed backgrounds, often displayed in a highly cinematic fashion that’s rare for games on Nintendo 3DS. The overall visuals are too dark by default, though you can change this in the settings. However, the amount of detail here and the animation is quite good, even if it comes at the cost of a less-than-stellar framerate. One exception I’ll note is that characters remain stone-faced and inarticulate even when talking, which can look a bit odd when everything else moves so fluidly.

This game’s visuals are backed by a dour and atmospheric soundtrack, as if this game is aiming for a tone closer to horror than the mainline Castlevania franchise. This comes complete with voice acting, which works well enough, though it can seem over-serious at times and lacks the delightful cheesiness of the more traditional entries in the franchise.

The gameplay here is a bit of an odd mesh of elements that doesn’t quite gel together as much as I would like. Developer MercurySteam is probably better known these days as the team behind Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread, but this game doesn’t have the fluidity of those titles, and movement is actually quite stiff. Similarly, this game doesn’t feel like other Metroidvania games in the Castlevania series. Combat and exploration are somewhat segregated here, with exploration broken up by designated combat areas, without the same seamless flow as in other Castlevania games.

Exploration here also feels somewhat limited, without the feeling of exploring vast, open-ended areas. Instead, you’ll occasionally find your path splits and branches, and some of those branches won’t be available to you until you return with a new ability later in the game, but it’s still limited in a way that you never feel like you’re discovering anything as much as you’re just taking a new designated path.

Another issue here is the map, which separates out the world of the game into clear sections, but you unfortunately never really get a good sense of how those sections interconnect, since you can only view the maps for each section on their own. Also, compared to other Castlevania Metroidvanias, you won’t be collecting a lot of weapons or searching nooks and crannies for upgrades – progression here seems limited in that regard.

The game does make up for this somewhat with its interesting combat mechanics. Unlike other 2D Castlevania games, your protagonist’s whip in this game has an absurd amount of range, and you can use it for direct attacks or weaker area attacks that cover a wide area. It’s fun stringing together combos, though often it seems like the best strategy is to keep your distance and attack enemies just at the edge of your range, getting ready to dodge-roll backwards when they attack. This sort of strategy sadly seems necessary due to how slow your character is to recover from attacks.

I may have a fair number of complaints about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. Its Metroidvania elements are flawed, and its combat has its share of flaws too. But this is still an enjoyable experience, and it feels unique in the genre, even compared to other Castlevania games, and even compared to this developer’s other works. If you’re a Metroidvania fan, this game might not be quite what you expect, but it’s still worth playing.

tl;dr – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is a Metroidvania that doesn’t play quite like other Metroidvania games in the Castlevania series, with a more melodramatic presentation and combat inspired by the 3D Lords of Shadow games. The maps are too restrictive and the movement and combat feels too stiff, but this is still a unique and enjoyable experience that fans of the genre should try.

Grade: B-

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