When developer Mercury Steam began crafting its Lords of Shadow series, hardcore Castlevania fans were largely brought along kicking and screaming. After all, the studio was intent on doing its own thing, on weaving its own unique tale in the larger Castlevania universe.

Fun combat; Beautiful graphics; score; Lots to see and do

Poor story; characters; setting; Terrible stealth sections

I almost loved Castlevania: Lords of Shadow . It was a gorgeous game, full of atmosphere and natural beauty, and the sound design was nigh impeccable. But it severely bungled its story by not only leaving an incredible gap between the end credits of the core game and the astonishing epilogue, but by...

The original " Castlevania: Lords of Shadow ", released back in 2010, surprised everyone by proving not all 3D Castlevania games have to suck as much as their perennial vamps. By abandoning a heritage founded on castle-exploration and levelling up developer MercurySteam delivered an experience that...

– with an epic journey to complete backed up by a stellar combat system, I had no problems recommending it when it was released back in 2010, so of course I was looking forward to the planned sequel after the cliff-hanger ending.

'Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2' will likely end up a polarizing title in the series canon. It's doesn't bring the series' most engaging narrative to the table and in some aspects, the developers really felt like they were phoning it in.

The Castlevania series is one with a loyal fan base and has been since the inception of the franchise back on the NES. The Belmont/Dracula battles have spanned over nearly four decades, and with Lords of Shadow 2, we get too see one of the bloodiest fights yet, with Mercury Steam bringing their...

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has been announced as the final release in the Lords of Shadow series from developer MercurySteam and publisher Konami. Fans won't know when the next console release for the Castlevania franchise will arrive or who the development team behind the release will be next,...

Games Xtreme awakens after hundreds of years as Dracula and explores the lands in and around his castle in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Read on to see if the game has teeth, or fails to bite.

For the fans of the series, many familiar faces return. For those of us less versed in the canon, we have to make do with some written text in the encyclopedic menus for context.

Concept: Take Gabriel Belmont – now in full-on Dracula mode – on a modern-day mission to defeat Satan, and ultimately end his own immortality Graphics: The main cast and some bosses look great, but lesser enemies and environments are often uninspired or poorly realized Sound: Robert Carlyle and...