"If your heart is pierced by this weapon, you will fall into a deep sleep... This is... not the true death you desire... but Satan will think you dead."
--Alucard, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Production Values
Severe motion blur (it was difficult to get adequate screenshots for this review because of this) and sometimes very obvious pixelation at the outlines of character models mar the aesthetic, which is otherwise a successful continuation of the art style from the first game. Like the original Lords of Shadow, there are again varied environments to play through, and new ones at that, such as a garden overlook, a puppet theater, and a near-future city with modern technology like cars. Frequent voice acting also makes a comeback. The voice acting for characters like Raisa Valkova is less natural than that of Robert Carlyle's Gabriel/Dracula, Patrick Stewart's Zobek, and Richard Madden's (Robb Stark in Game of Thrones) Alucard, but this sequel tries to reach for cinematic flair throughout.
Gameplay
The change from short, jokingly different levels to a set of two connected, open worlds does a lot to give Lords of Shadow 2 a smoothness lacking from before. You use a medallion at fixed locations to travel from the past castle of Dracula to the modern world of 2057, where demonic beings are wreaking devastation upon the same land where the castle once stood. Map rooms that allow faster access to certain points in whichever world one is in are eventually discoverable that make travel less of a burden upon revisits. New abilities gradually permit Dracula to reach more life of magic extension items that are scattered throughout both the past and present landscapes.
In each time period, there are new stealth sections that cannot be completed by attacking enemies. In fact, sometimes you are unable to draw weapons at all. Multiple boss characters first hunt you as you weave through pathways in an attempt to reach an objective without drawing their attention. Once you fight bosses directly, the full arsenal of Dracula is again available, from the Void Sword to a whip of shadow energy that replaces Gabriel's combat cross this time. Each of the weapons can be enhanced by buying more attacks and then using those moves enough to add a capped amount of experience to the overall weapon. Despite all of this, bosses and some normal enemies can be brutal, so consumable items can make an enormous difference against bosses like Raisa, Abaddon, or Satan.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
Dracula, formerly called Gabriel Belmont, awakens from an incredibly long sleep and lethargically walks around the modern world, encountering his old enemy Zobek. The sorcerer hopes to thwart the impending return of Satan, as the devil was so frightened by Gabriel Belmont and his descent into the Dracula persona that he held back from attacking Earth again. Together, they kidnap a demon child of Satan from her corporation, one of several organizations run by Satan's acolytes. Dracula is pulled from the present day into the physical structure of his past castle populated by mental constructs of enemies from time to time. Conversing with the likeness of his son Trevor, his antagonism against God and apathy towards humanity waver.
Intellectual Content
Once again, the combination of elements of Christianity and Greek mythology is present. The three Gordon sisters and Agreus, the brother of Pan, make appearances as beings that recognize a metaphysical hierarchy different than that of direct Greek mythology. For instance, Agreus mentions God, the same God Dracula acknowledges and has acknowledged from the first game onward. Dracula now simply thinks God has failed or is not worth following due to suffering and heartbreak. As for the Christian elements, they are often far removed from their real philosophical context, such as how hell is a place where sinners are killed in the Bible (Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 10:28, 2 Peter 2:6, and Revelation 20:15) and a place of eternal torment here. Either the church of this story totally misunderstood Yahweh's nature, as is the case in real life, or this version of God is an amoral being that allows or inflicts endless torture. There are no other possibilities since eternal torment is unjust in itself if there is such a thing as morality at all.
However, the way that even something like hell relates to the rest of the theology in Lords of Shadow 2's metaphysics is bizarre at best in a way that cannot reflect actual Christianity. Satan was told by Gabriel about the possibility for even him to receive forgiveness at the end of the first game, and yet he retreats to rule hell and launch an attack on Earth yet again (incorporating the unbiblical idea that hell is a kingdom for Satan or other demons). The devil is actually killed by Dracula at the finale of the sequel, which is in one sense closer to what the Bible says also awaits Satan in hell (see Ezekiel 28, if Satan is the demon in reference). Who or what goes to hell in this game and for how long is ultimately presented in incredibly vague or conflicting ways.
Dracula wants to die to be free from immortality, yet all the talk of souls going to heaven or hell and him being the Prince of Darkness would imply that he would go to hell, far from the eternal rest and peace of the "true death" he pursues. Alucard even rightly distinguishes between a long sleep and this true death, yet no one mentions how true death is not the same as torture in hell for eternity. Is Dracula supposed to cease to exist when he dies unlike ordinary people in this universe? Adding to the bizarreness, his wife Marie, who ascended to heaven in the first game, says to drink her blood as a remedy for a poison inside him in one section, a violation of Yahweh's laws in itself (Leviticus 17:10-14). This would be a sin that makes someone worthy of damnation, not a permissible way to escape it! The moral obligations, supposed afterlife, and more of this series are all over the place even when they are mentioned as if they reflect genuine Christianity.
Conclusion
With a story more focused than the first game's and no isolated, repayable levels, some aspects of Lords of Shadow 2 are much smoother than they were before. Thanks to the gameplay evolutions like a new magic system, the combat and platforming are strengthened. There are even bursts of thematic and dramatic depth. What really holds Lords of Shadow 2 back from thorough greatness is the sometimes unelaborated nature of the plot--which is more streamlined and in no way utterly disjointed like its predecessor's. Dracula being suddenly familiar with electricity, corporations, and antidotes after awakening with no revelation as to why he knows words or norms from hundreds of years later is one example. Another is whether Dracula and all conscious beings go to heaven or hell right when they die (very differently from true Christian doctrine) and why Dracula would seek death if he is probably hellbound, especially when this universe's distortion of hell involves eternal torture. Overall, this is a game that manages to have some very high points anyway.
Content:
1. Violence: Explosions of blood are not uncommon in this violent game, where Dracula sometimes rips enemies into a red mist in slow motion. Certain cutscenes show very graphic things like Satan pulling the skin of someone's face off of their head.
2. Profanity: "Shit," "damn," "bitch," and "bastard" are used.
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