"We have been deserted by God. Creatures from the void come to claim the souls of men, to wipe mankind from the face of the Earth."
--Gabriel Belmont, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Castlevania: Lord's of Shadow succeeds at being a very on-rails, level-based version of the classic God of War style, but the often brief nature of the levels limits its storytelling focus. Here, pseudo-Christian theology and elements of ancient Greek paganism are mixed along with puzzles, magic, and combat using a whip-like weapon, most of which once again is similar to older God of War games. Due largely to usually brief levels in varied environments, the storytelling smoothness very much suffers at times (the aforementioned series Lords of Shadow partially imitates did not have this problem). The lore could have been better developed, and ideas presented as if they are Christian contradict much of actual Christian theology, especially with the afterlife and an implied idea about the morality of magic, but the game had promise to launch a sequel better than itself.
Production Values
Of all the weaknesses of Lords of Shadow, the art style and overall visual integrity are not among them. Fantasy creatures, characters like Gabriel Belmont, and the environments themselves hold up very well for a game more than 10 years old from two console generations ago. The sometimes random plot is not hindered by the visuals. Neither is its execution weakened by the voice acting up until the overly theatrical scene before the final boss, as random as the story itself can be. Patrick Stewart by far exhibits the best voice acting of the game as narrator Zobek, Robert Carlyle offering effective but not as intense or nuanced of a vocal performance. Stewart even gets to echo a famous statement from Star Trek, which he starred in, when he says that the needs of the many now outweigh the needs of the few. One thing about the audio besides the voice acting does generally limit the nature of the game: the music is extremely repetitive across many levels.
Gameplay
Other than the smaller, separated levels with their own closing screens, much of the game itself is very similar to God of War. The primary weapon is like a whip, which in its function resembles the Blades of Chaos Kratos wields. While it is divided into light and shadow categories, there is magic (there is irony in people who claim to serve the Christian deity using magic at all when sorcery is a capital sin according to Exodus 22:18 and more, much less shadow magic). Puzzles and minor platforming are scattered among many levels, just like in the older God of War games. In fact, some of the puzzles are elaborate--though there is a system that gives hints at the forfeiture of whatever experience points solving the puzzle without aid would have earned.
The balance between fighting and solving puzzles, and very diverse puzzles at that, is maintained constantly, with combat being a somewhat more common element. Unresponsive or rigid controls sometimes sabotage fluid platforming or attacks. More than just the controls, the combat itself can be very tough, though this can depend on how many upgrades a person has collected or purchased or how often they evade. A few bosses are especially brutal unless you get into the specific rhythm of dodging or blocking their strikes. A great variety thankfully marks the bosses: there is a giant golem, a crow witch, Baba Yaga, the titular Lords of Shadow, and more. Some of these confrontations merge platforming and offensive attacks very well in prolonged, multi-stage showdowns.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
After a seeming spell isolates humanity and its conscious dead from God and heaven, Gabriel Belmont is tasked by the Brotherhood of Light with visiting the Lake of Oblivion to end the curse. He briefly converses with his recently killed wife Marie, whose spirit prompts him onward. Gabriel finds aid in Zobek, a fellow associate of the Brotherhood of Light, and struggles with his own heightening aggression and desperation as he tries to kill the Lords of Shadow one by one to assemble the God Mask, an item which could reportedly allow him to resurrect his wife.
Intellectual Content
Beyond the rather varied and frequent puzzles, the game naturally leans into heavily theological issues that bizarrely deviate from actual Christian philosophy. A version of the Christian deity is supposed to be the uncaused cause of this universe--I say a version because the metaphysics of the afterlife and the ethics of magic (though this could be that the characters are simply hypocrites) are treated very differently than how the Bible handles them. One of Gabriel's driving motivations is to be reunited with the spirit of his dead wife Maria, who sometimes appears to him and communicates using audible words. Not only does the Bible not teach that human souls can manifest at will across Earth after their bodily deaths, and not only does the Bible teach that no one is in heaven or hell right now unlike what the characters say, but it also teaches that the dead are completely unconscious, if they exist at all before their resurrection (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10, for instance).
The Greek pseudo-deity Pan is shown repeatedly, or some sort of satyr-like being that resembles Pan from Greek mythology. There are also fairies that can be used in fights to slow enemies down. Pan, called an old god, is actually said to be in submission to God in the bestiary entry of his "Silver Warrior" form. Other than an uncaused cause, no being of any supernatural power is actually a god or goddess no matter what they are called, and the existence of the uncaused cause or the Christian Yahweh in particular and superhuman beings that fall short of Yahweh are not logically contradictory. They would not be truly a god, but a superhuman, supernatural entity that falls short of the uncaused cause's past-eternality, grounding of moral obligation, and potential for extreme power that goes right up to the maximum of what is logically possible (power over everything except to change logical necessities).
Conclusion
The 3DS spinoff Mirror of Fate did a much better job of reflecting conventional "Metroidvania" exploration, but the original Lords of Shadow gets plenty right. A strong art style, promising and philosophically unique lore, and generally competent gameplay elevate the game. It is an artistic travesty that the lore is revealed in a plot that is so random that it provides a negative context for the environmental diversity in the levels. Exploration is minimized, though puzzles are plentiful and sometimes constructed well. Lords of Shadow could have been much, much worse, and not even its very laughable approach to "Christianity" (which is unbiblical not for the reasons that many evangelicals might think, such as the presence of Pan, which is consistent with Yahweh as long as only the latter is the uncaused cause) hinders the game's strengths as a pseudo-Christian type of God of War.
Content:
1. Violence: The often whip-style combat attacks and finishing moves lead to plenty of blood with slashes and impalings.
2. Profanity: "Bitch," "bastard," and "damn" are used.
3. Nudity: A naked female pixie/fairy is seen in one level. It is only partial nudity in the same way exposing one's hand or shoulder is partial nudity, but the breasts of a female, humanoid, demonic creature Claire summons are visible.
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