allright so i just finished the main game in 14 hours.
what i think about it?

let me first tell you that i have played and finished both Lords of Shadow 1 and Mirror of Fate, so this would be a great and useful review as i can compare this installment to the others.

first the negative part:

1 - the game is a tad shorter than Lords of Shadow 1 but it is longer that Mirror of Fate.
2 - this game is easier than LoS 1 and MoF, but the last boss is such a pain..
3 - not many puzzles, if any it will be a kid's puzzle.
4 - story is weaker than LoS 1 but somewhat alot better than MoF.
5 - the modern city is not very interesting.

now the positive part:

1 - graphics are very very good.
2 - combat system is simplified and it is more useful than LoS 1, no longer you have combos that are useless in combat.
3 - great story, still not as good as LoS 1. meaningful and relevant to the previous installments (LoS1 and MoF)
4 - no crashings, no freezings and no technical issues what so ever.
5 - amazing design of the Dracula's castle.
6 - Great soundtrack and voice acting, still i think LoS 1 was a bit better.
7 - rotateable camera angle in-game, which was somewhat painful in LoS 1.
8 - so many secrets and playablitiy, just like LoS 1 and even better than that.
9 - great boss fights and boss designs.
10 - state of the art character design, level design, theme, atmosphere and off course bosses.

frankly i dont get why on earth metacritic gave this game a 58 out of 100.
if i would to give LoS 1 98/100, then i would give this game at least 85/100.

i strongly recommend this game to you, defo worth the price and time.
do not look at the metacritic score, it is an amazing game.

i hope my review was useful to you guys, all the best and enjoy this astonshing game.

I'm three years late with this review.

Pros:

• First off, thank God, the sequel's more keyboard-friendly than LoS1. Remember the forced Stone Idol Titan “twirl-left-stick” QTE in the first game that had dumbfounded pretty much everyone who could not afford a controller? Well, now you can turn that sucker off, granting Gabriel the power to auto-succeed all QTEs at the expense of some experience points.
  
• The LoS1 skill page has become a skill tree; it's easier to browse and see what skills lead to which. Still, the game funnily “reimburses” you should you go for a NG+. Mildly annoying, but it does show you just how much experience you've accumulated.
  
• The combat flows more freely if compared to LoS1 and the Somersault move no longer makes you feel like you've cement blocks around your ankles. (Yes, I like Somersault.) Unlike other games I've played (namely Alice: Madness Returns), you get a clear visual/audio indication that your attack did not hit/did no damage. The new Weapon Mastery system gives you an incentive to vary your combos.
  
• The character design, the bosses, the voice acting, and the OST. Holy hell, A+. Play the game just for these. The Toy Maker and Inner Dracula deserve special mention.
  
• Unbound camera! Finally some use for your mouse/right stick.
  
• The atmosphere is amazing, especially if you stop to sightsee.
  
• The story is engrossing, and it ramps up the stakes in the last ten minutes, too.
  
• Purely IMO here, but I do think Gabriel's one of the finest examples of good video game writing. His depiction of Dracula is nuanced and endearing. Same goes for Alucard, really.

Cons:

• Forced stealth is meh. It's not that particularly hard, mind; the enemies you're expected to slip past are brain-dead. They don't look up, don't ring the alarm at the sight of bats in a pharmaceutical corporation, and blame mosquitoes when you fling a dagger at them. The only exception to this is Agreus, but his AI is just as exploitable. Psst, ignore the bells, wait till he rushes you and Mist Form away.
  
• The Xbox prompts stay even if you do not have a controller plugged in. Again, a mild annoyance that very nearly got me killed when the game had asked me to "press B" or "down on the D-Pad".
  
• The cheap hitscan potshots enemies like to take at you when you're out of range (or just performing an aerial combo for too long). Soldiers chuck daggers, heavies chuck axes, demons spit, vampires, uhhh, scream (?)... you get the picture. It becomes infuriating if you're backtracking for collectibles and do not wish to engage them. Of course, you can reciprocate with a Void Projectile/Bat Swarm and be on your merry way, but still. Typical padding.

Ultimately, in spite of its flaws and troubled development, it's a good game and is worthy its purchase price. I've already beaten it twice. Too bad it was unjustly panned by critics at its release.

It usually happens I find myself torn between a diamond in the rough and problematic technical or some other aspect of the game, but with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 it's somewhat different. Time to see if I can put into somewhat coherent paragraph or two as to why that's the case.

Let's start off by saying I was one of the people who enjoyed the original Lords of Shadow for what it was – not necessarily a creatively original masterpiece, but a game of astounding production values, competent writing and tight narrative punctuated by stellar voice work and lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it was a very meaty game which lead to some even saying it was too long for its own good. Fast forward to sequel and you can see it basically falters in each of these categories.

Interestingly enough game seems to swing between two polar opposites with its visuals because on one hand you have this classic Castlevania look comprised of foreboding yet mystical gothic castle to romp through, as well as its assorted menagerie of beasties to but heads with and solve painfully few puzzles compared to the first game, but on the other you have to contend with extremely bland modern-day warehouses and science laboratories ad nauseam alongside some fairly uninspired enemies ranging from more classical demons and Satanists to, what really should've been more interesting that ended up, futuristic soldiers and cybernetic abominations roaming the streets. But honestly, it's this weird disjointed narrative that undoes the game the most in my mind because you can clearly tell there was meant to be more there instead of just going from A to B and meandering in-between retreading locations with nothing but brief radio contacts from time to time. And lastly – game is simply short compared to the first one and that probably ties into my previous point. Rumors abound regarding game's troubled development were apparently well founded.

That's not to say game is bad because, as you will have most likely noticed despite my continued rambling on regarding its negatives, this is marked as a positive review overall. It's still Lords of Shadow and if you liked the original you'll probably like this considering you can overlook its weak story. Gameplay feels familiar and skippable QTEs are god-sent, both of which are points in game's favor for me, not to mention combat and item system was expanded and enemy variety despite their designs actually means you'll end up facing quite a bit of different behaviors. Story establishes the mood very early on as one of Dracula's somber and more resigned journey, one profoundly personal despite all other events that unfold over the course of the game. Had it been properly fleshed out and Robert Carlyle's more subdued performance given time to develop, occasional hamfisted melodrama notwithstanding, it would've been a much, much better final product. I also heard some nay saying about mandatory stealth sections in the game to which I say it's about time to drop hand-holding. Barring for one section involving leaves and crazed Satyr these were a welcome diversion for me and fitting considering MC's condition story-wise.

One last caveat I feel should be posted is that playing the original game and Mirror of Fate is recommended before tackling the sequel.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 continues the story of Gabriel Belmont and his transformation into the dark lord; Dracula.

Upon starting the game you'll immediately be plunged into an epic battle as Dracula's castle is besieged by the Brotherhood of Light. During this time you'll be trained in the art of combat, mastering Dracula's three weapons as well as evasive maneuvers. The weapons vary and each of them fill a specialized role.

After the initial opening, you'll be unleashed into an open world with two dimensions to travel between, Dracula's Castle and a modern Gothic city built upon its ruins. The art direction and audio is phenomenal, featuring an amazing cast of voice actors; Robert Carlyle, Sir Patrick Stewart, and Jason Isaacs to name a few. The soundtrack is also really well done, fitting the mood of the game flawlessly. The environments are absolutely beautiful, allowing plenty of room for exploration while searching for the various upgrades, lore and abilities.

The story, when combined with the previous two entries is engaging and helps propel you through the 15 hour game, although the ending is a bit abrupt as well as disappointing. Veterans of the Hack n' Slash genre will want to begin on the harder difficulty as it's a bit simple when compared to games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. Between, fighting, exploring, puzzle solving, and platforming there's a lot of fun to be had.

While the stealth segments seem to be a major complaint for a lot of reviewers, they don’t detract from the overall game. I’ll admit that I was skeptical at first since stealth really has no business being in a Castlevania title, but they play out similarly to puzzles opposed to traditional stealth missions. They’re also few and far between.

The menu system is highly polished and will document every type of creature you fight against. It also acts to manage your upgrades and abilities as you level. Plenty of Lore and backstory is provided along the way from diaries as well.

While it'd be nice to have a triple A classic Symphony of the Night experience, LoS2 is great in its own way and playing as “The Dragon” with this new take on the legend is a blast. Don’t believe some of the critics, Lords of Shadow 2 is a must-play.

For a longer and more detailed review, here’s a video my friend and I put together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUW5McQYaCE

Pros:
+ Excellent Art Direction
+ Great Soundtrack
+ All-star Voice Acting
+ Balanced Gameplay
+ Large open world to explore

Cons:
- Dracula doesn’t feel evil enough
- Disappointing Finale


If you enjoyed this review, feel free to follow me as a Steam Curator: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/4886473/

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a third-person action-adventure game and the final entry in the Lords of Shadow series. You control Gabriel Belmont, who is now known as Dracula, and your main weapon is the Shadow Whip, which is very similar to the Combat Cross from past games. To fully understand Gabriel’s story and how he turned into Dracula, I highly recommend playing the first game before this one, and that you will be seeing familiar characters.

✔️ Very good story with interesting side characters and well-made cutscenes.
✔️ Gabriel, the main protagonist, is interesting and likable.
✔️ Improved combat with more weapons and abilities to choose from.
✔♥♥♥♥♥♥♥moving camera.
✔️ Challenging enemies and excellent boss fights.
✔️ The graphics look absolutely stunning.
✔️ Character models and facial expressions are improved and look great.
✔️ The game is well optimized.
✔️ Great soundtrack.

❌ Tedious stealth sections.
❌ Some pointless puzzles.
❌ Kill animations take too long and get repetitive.
❌ Some areas feel linear and claustrophobic.

Like in the first game, you control Gabriel - now known as Dracula, the Prince of Darkness - and you wake up from a deep sleep, centuries later in your cathedral, which is located in present day Metropolis. You found out that Satan is returning to Earth and it is up to you, with the help of your former enemy Zobek (voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart), to stop and destroy him once and for all.

It starts off with an excellent tutorial sequence and a very well-made intro that explains the events of the previous two games. The cutscenes are well directed and just fun to watch (with few awkward scenes here and there), and I enjoyed the banter between Gabriel and other characters.

In the previous game, all the characters are interesting, mysterious and intriguing, and you will meet familiar ones from past games. Gabriel is more fleshed out and is very likable, as the story focuses more on him and his family. Overall, the story is far better in the previous games, with well-made cutscenes and very good plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and it kept me invested until the end.

Combat
Being Dracula now, your main weapon is the Shadow Whip, and it is pretty much the same as the Combat Cross so I felt right at home. The combat is more fast-paced and feels a lot smoother, you can now dash and leap during fights with more ease and greater accuracy, and you can drain the blood of your enemies to heal. Kill animations are back and they are varied from one enemy to another, but some take too long to finish and can get repetitive after a while.

Instead of the medallions from the first game, two new weapons are added to your arsenal; the Void Sword that replenishes your health when attacking enemies and can freeze them for a short period of time, and Chaos Claws that inflict more damage and can break certain armors and shields. Both weapons have their own combos and abilities that you can unlock using points that you earn from killing enemies.

Stealth
Probably the worst feature in the game. You will be doing some tedious stealth missions throughout the story, and hiding from certain security guards. Those stealth sections feel so out of place, since you, the almighty "Prince of Darkness", aren't able to kill those security guards even in the late game, but they can easily kill you with one or two hits.

Enemies & Bosses
The enemies are diverse and challenging, even on normal difficulty, and you can sometimes see them fight each other in some parts of the world. Bosses aren't as frequent as in the first game, but they are epic and feel more cinematic, a huge step up from the previous games.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2129747647

Puzzles
The puzzles are easy and less frequent, since the main focus is on combat and exploration. However, most of them, especially the stealth puzzles, feel unnecessary and a chore to go through; It is baffling to see Dracula defeating monsters twice his size, but struggling with locked doors or not able to go to the next floor of a building without doing certain puzzles.

Difficulty
I played on the Lords of Shadow (Hard) difficulty; the enemies and bosses are tougher and deal more damage but remain fair and balanced, as you will be using your abilities, weapons and combos that you learn to slay them and progress through the game.

Other Changes
🌟 Free-moving camera is used instead of the fixed camera like in the previous games, and it is a great change, since it enhances the exploration and combat.
🌟 Platforming is better and faster-paced, as Gabriel moves much faster now.
🌟 QTEs are back, but you can disable them in the game's settings and continue playing the game without them.
🌟 Soldier’s scrolls are back but are called diaries and memorials instead. They only offer more lore of the world and the Belmonts instead of hints to solve certain puzzles.
🌟 The game constantly gives you hints (sometimes not even related to the gameplay, such as how to view artwork), so I recommend turning it off in the menu immediately.
🌟 There’s New Game+, and you can still keep playing the game even after defeating the final boss to improve and fully upgrade your abilities, if you want.

The game looks beautiful; the character models and their facial expressions look more alive and detailed. The lighting is great, and some of the areas nailed it with the game's gothic atmosphere. However, the world is less vibrant and some areas feel narrow and claustrophobic, as you are almost always surrounded by buildings and walls.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2146572129

Contrary to the previous game, this one has no chapters or levels anymore; it is just one big non-linear open world with no loading screens during gameplay. There are a lot of secrets and upgrades to your abilities for you to find in this world, so keep your eyes peeled.

Laptop: Omen HP 17t
GTX 1070
Intel Core I7-7700HQ 2.80 Ghz
16 GB RAM
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

The game worked well and ran beautifully. No issues to report.

The game has an orchestral and more cinematic style of music, compared to the previous ones; from a dark tone that represents the tragic Dracula’s origin story, to epic music during boss fights that make those battles more memorable and cinematic. The composer, Oscar Araujo, did a fantastic job with the game’s soundtrack, while sticking with the style and tone of the previous two games.


I enjoyed playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and had a lot of fun slaying enemies, but the new stealth sections, pointless puzzles and some dull locations held the game back for me. Regardless, I still recommend this game and it is still worth playing for its engaging story, fun combat and excellent soundtrack.

If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

I feel some kind of obligation to write few words for this fine game that, somehow went under my radar... I loved first Castlevania, but this, this is much better game, in my opinion. I bought it on one winter sale, left it in my backlog and then....well completely forgot about it....2 years later, i finally install and played it.
Darker tone on story, good level design and solid performance from actors and also fantastic combat in combination with some stealth moments (yes, some would say there is no place for stealth in this genre, but i find it rather amousing) made this game a fantastic expirience for me. A lot of stuff to explore, great implementation of metroidvania style in, let's say, real world enviroment were a nice little surprise.
All in all, there was i time when Konami give a damn about their games, so please give this one a chance, it is worth it.

What the hell... Was I supposed to dislike this? Why was it so enjoyable? How can this game get a metascore of 58 and Cyberpunk 86? What is the logic of life? Is this the most injusticed game of the past decade?

This game SLAYS the first game, everything that made LoS1 boring was overhauled or at least tweaked here.

Yeah the stealth sections sucks, no way to defend them, but there are 4 in the WHOLE GAME and they last 3-5 MINUTES. Everything else is MUCH BETTER. Even the DLC is amazing. Wtf is wrong with game critics lol

This game has been wronged, and we failed MercurySteam this time.

WTF is happening in this game?
In the tutorial I fought an steampunk angel from Darksiders and his giant mecha.
Then I woke up in 1990s London with anachronistic 1960s telephone boxes, and post-brexit street beggars.
Professor X told me he was my best friend and promised to kill me if I helped him defeat satan.
He gave me a Terminator 1 entrance into a cyberpunk lab that's guarded by Quake 4 strog... which I have to stealth-kill.
I haven't even finished the tutorial missions yet!

Don't bother suffering the reviews by critics and gamers alike who have written this title off because of their views of the first game.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is easily in the running for my 2014 game of the year. You've undoubtedly seen the low reviews from people who claimed poor graphics. These claims are groundless, and trampled by some of the screenshots you can uncover in the community hub for this game. The graphics are staggeringly good, and some areas have such incredible photorealism that you have to look twice just to make sure you're looking at a texture.

The free-form camera works great. No longer can whiners throw a fit that they can't see elements of the battle, as you can now rotate 360 degrees in virtually every setting. It not only grants you a breathtaking view of the scenery; it allows you to tactically view your surroundings and analyze your best moves mid-combat.

Platforming and quick-time events have been significantly altered to combat the same list of complainers who hated them in the first game. Platforming now directly shows you where to go, and no longer forces you into long-winded movements where every step is a new jump. You now streamline climb like spider-man over most surfaces, and the ones too far grant you a swift, and simple jump to the new object. Quick-time events have been cut in quarters. No more cinematic sequences where defending yourself during a movie becomes normal. They're limited to combat, and the rare gameplay-to-cinema segue.

Controls are as easy as they were in the first game, with a few minor improvements. Button rotations have made combat noticeably smoother, and grant the player less hectic moments of desperate survival. Moves now have instant-cancellations, (another complaint from the first game) which allow the player the freedom to be as quick and reflexive as they want to be. If you die in combat-- you're just not up to snuff that round. No more blaming the devs.

The music. What can I say? I've never been so excited to tear into a new game just to hear the musical composition behind it. Oscar Araujo does it again with a score so moving and epic that it pulls players back into its immersive world of magic and demons with a slew of trumpet blasts and harmony-driven pieces that are sure to win over even the most jaded action-gamers.

There's never been a better time to jump into the world of Castlevania. I loved this game's predecessor, and I can still hold firmly to my nostalgic love of a classic Castlevania devoid of all the work MercurySteam has pumped into it in recent years.

However, the "Lords of Shadow" series has brought life into a franchise that has desperately needed fresh-blood (forgive the pun).

I strongly urge anyone to pick up this title, even if you're only looking for a new action-game. The battles are challenging; you'll be forced to reconsider how you take on countless enemies that you think you know well enough from the first game.

The story is moving. Piecing together questions and answers from both the first game as well as Mirror of Fate, LoS 2 brings about a conclusion that is sure to yield an uproar from the masses for more of this tale.

You are no longer a pure-hearted man. Gabriel has become a ruthless, violence-embracing monster who is indifferent to suffering and who will stop at nothing to obtain the freedom he desires. Many of his choices in the game will makes fans of the holy-hero cringe as he shows how his transformation into the Prince of Darkness has affected his moral judgment.

This game is worth your money, and it's worth your time. If this game stretches even HALF the length of the first game, then it's going to be a ride you'll never forget.

Not that bad of a game but the stealth segments feel really out of place and are not fun to go through whatsoever. Whoever thought of adding stealth to this game and thinking it was a good idea should be fired. If you want a stealth game, play splinter cell and don't subject us to these poorly made stealth segments.