• Summary: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow takes place at the end of days. The Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a dark and malevolent force - the mysterious Lords of Shadow - darkness reins the world. Across this shattered land, the souls of the dead wander unable to find peace, whilst creatures of evil roam free wreaking chaos and death upon the living. Gabriel is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural. His beloved wife was brutally murdered by the evil forces of darkness and her soul trapped for eternity. Neither living nor dead she realizes the horrific truth of what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny - and hopefully salvation for the world... but at what cost? Thus, Gabriel must travel the destroyed world, defeating the evil tyrants in order to use their powers to bring balance back to the world. Armed with the versatile Combat Cross - the world's last hope must encounter the three factions of the Lords of Shadow and end their unholy rule. Mercury Steam has created a rich, open game world that traverses snowy mountain ranges, Gothic castles, and undead-strewn wastelands in a devastated Southern Europe during the Middle Ages. [Konami] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 60 out of 62
  2. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a profoundly generous action-adventure game. Filled with content, gifts for fans of the series, but for video game lovers as well. It's full of nods to other games and movies, rich with a large variety of gameplays and lush environments... blessed with an overall Castlevania feel, which is a consistent mark of respect for its forebears. Kudos to Mercury Steam. Despite some rare issues with some gameplay tunings, we can only hope for them to meet the success they deserve as we'd welcome a follow-up!
  2. It's a great game separate from the franchise, and definitely does a favor for the third person action genre, but with the CV characters and license attached, it becomes even more enjoyable for me.
  3. Oct 25, 2010
    60
    Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a great amalgamation of the genres and games it combines. It makes sure they all come together effortlessly, but it never really owns the gameplay it borrows. It's a fun game, but not a revolution.

See all 62 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 65
  2. Negative: 4 out of 65
  1. 10
    First and foremost this is Castlevania. Are you a fan of Castlevania games? If you are, you will really like this game. If you have not played a castlevania game before then consider this a beautiful gothic-dark fantasy 3rd person action adventure game with vampires and werewolves that you will probably like a lot. This is very far from a generic god of war clone as some will say. From a castlevania fan's point of view this is an amazing game. The visuals are amazing. The characters models and the environment are full of detail, the scenery is always something to stare at and the special effects are colorful and vibrant as they should. There is a huge variety of environments so nothing seems as if you've seen it before. The sound is crystal with an awesome orchestrical soundtrack (typical castlevania quality) and the voice-overs featuring Patrick Stewart and Robert Carlyle speak for themselves. The gameplay is excellent. It combines fighting, platforming, puzzle-solving together and it's varied enough that never bores. The fighting itself is deep and rewarding. No more mindless button mashing. The game is very immersive and features a beautiful story. Another big plus for this game is its length. I don't remember the last time I played a 3rd person action game that lasted up to 20 hours for a single playthrough. Quite honestly I don't understand what people want in a game any more. This is a beautiful game apparently made with love and care (cheesy but true) and every attention to detail as possible from people who really like the original castlevania games. Yet you will see reviews talking about how it doesn't feel like a castlevania game (not true IMHO) or how it borrows elements from other games. This is value for money and a lot of fun, highly recommended. Expand
    • 5 of 5 users said yes
  2. 6
    First off, I will say I like a lot if this game--but there are portions of this castlevania where the frustration of knowing what you need to do and the actions of the character not doing them that will make you want to throw your remote straight through your TV. The visuals are incredible, the puzzles are interesting though sometimes you are left with little to no direction on how to even get started, the platforming and camera work are well done..but its the gameplay that I am really mixed feeling about--some of the actions in the game are almost impossible to pull off when you want to---particular example--you need to kill this robot scorpion and the only way to kill is it to wait until it gets under this electrical charge station---then use "landslide punch" which means you jump and use a power punch to come down and hit a particular switch---but the thing that is most frustrating about this is that Gabriel auto targets the scorpion so even it if you are aimed at the switch on the floor while standing then in mid air--as soon as you start your punch...he changes directions to aim at the scorpion---so it makes this not so difficult action into a big old headache---but there are various things like this that just make the game so frustrating to make you not even want to continue playing---at least for a time---overall its a good game---but it has to be one of the most frustrating games I've played in the last few years because of this disconnect between what you want your character to do and what actually occurs on screen--- Expand
    • 6 of 23 users said yes
  3. Anyone who says this is Castlevania has clearly never played any other Castlevania games. Yes, it's a "reboot" (which is a huge cop-out in itself) but that aside: 1. Soundtrack - Castlevania songs are famously upbeat and orginal, blending rock/pop with gothic feel. This game goes for bland symphony which is indistinguishable from any other average medieval themed game. 2. Atmosphere - Aside from the Vampire level which was quite well done (duh) the feel was more like Darksiders than CV. A great example of lack of atmosphere is how they reference God and Satan, ok so they are embracing the christian mythos like previous CV games, but there is a total lack of crosses and christian imagery - instead is "Agharta" a weird city with a blend of Mayan/Egyptian/European feel that supposedly existed before Europe. Another example is "the Brotherhood of Light"? C'mon what a generic vague and lame concept. Also the guy helping you is "Pan" - why not an angel? Also where is this all happening? It supposed to be "southern europe" if you believe the reviews but the map is a big island - definetly not Romania/Transylvania. Again all these countless little things add up to a generic fantasy game - maybe even you like it - but it's not CV. 3. The Gameplay - Everyone already pointed out the rip from other games but how about the fact it's too easy? Platforms are obvious one ways, dying restarts you where you fell, the advanced moves are varied but completely unnecessary to win in combat, the puzzles are simple and obvious (in fact you can cheat at the expense of exp. points used to buy the worthless advanced moves.) 4. The Ending - I won't spoil it but it makes zero sense. A total letdown. Conclusion: I have to assume this is all happening because Konami and their Metal Gear crew are full of ego - more obsessed with creating superfically epic games than tightly wound stories with deep gameplay that fits into the pre-existing universe that fans have come to love and want to revisit. Expand
    • 2 of 8 users said yes

See all 65 User Reviews

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