➤ Blood debt 🎮

After completing the spectacular introductory phase of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, the same view in the demo, which pits Dracula against the troops of the Brotherhood of Light, storming his castle carrying a huge robot of wood and iron, is witnesses a summary of the events narrated in Mirror of Fate and one wonders, honestly, if the management of this particular trilogy was not lacking; specifically, if it were not the case to tell the story of Trevor and Simon within a more important setting than that of a very respectable action platform. At the same time, we must acknowledge the Spanish team for having fielded an uncommon courage, accepting to make a difficult bet and therefore encounter many difficulties in meeting the enormous expectations that the ending of the first Lords of Shadow had generated. It is difficult to tell you about this final episode without anticipating anything of its plot, after all, the incipit already represents a not just spoiler for those who have not yet had the opportunity to try their hand at the series; however in the unusual mix between present and past, which alternates urban settings with a gothic flavor and gloomy dungeons full of monstrous creatures, the desire to preserve those elements that made the debut of the franchise memorable stands out.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 stands as a value action game, which gives its best on PC

Cross and delight

The experience of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 therefore starts from a multifaceted and upgradeable combat system on various fronts, in which our default weapon, the terrible Whip of the Shadow, is assisted by the Sword of the Void and the Claws of Chaos , objects capable of stealing vital energy from opponents and destroying their shields and armor, respectively. Unlike the first episode, now the view can be controlled freely and this forced the developers to make some changes to a system that still works very well, can be highly spectacular and guarantees, thanks to the skilful use of "slow motion", a satisfying feeling of impact. The balance of difficulty appears perfectly in line with what has been seen in the past, therefore at the normal challenge level the most savvy users will hardly come across the game over; but they will still have bread for their teeth, since the many enemies will not be begged to sink their shots and it will be necessary to calculate the times well to be able to use the parry effectively, opening the defenses of the monster on duty to ring devastating combos and close the file by sucking his blood. The bosses are also very beautiful, harbingers of inspired visual solutions and an emphasis on the inevitable alternative phases, in which, for example, we are asked to climb on the back of a huge opponent to hurt him.

The narrative component, thanks to the contribution of Kojima Productions, represented one of the strengths of the first Lords of Shadow and in this sequel it inevitably loses a pinch of bite, resulting in themes that are anything but original but in any case enriched by some undeniable touch classy (see one of the first scenes, when Gabriel has to recover his appearance and therefore eat). Fans of the original chapter may turn up their noses in front of some representations of the modern scenario, but it is a feeling that lasts just long enough to return, with the memories and sensations of the protagonist, to the old and fascinating castle. What basically "does not work" in the game are the stealth phases, for example those in which we take the form of a mouse, since they appear distant from the other elements of the gameplay and not particularly inspired. To mix the cards a bit this type of operation is suitable, just as it seemed appropriate to use more complex platform sections than those of the beginning, in which it is sometimes nice to understand where we need to go and where maybe we can return later to discover some secrets, thanks to the sandbox-style setting of some locations. It is funny that international critics have rejected without appeal this kind of experimentation, perhaps ready to punish in the same way the repetition of the original model as it is.

The PC version

Apart from the sound accompaniment, which boasts an extraordinary quality on all platforms as regards the music of Oscar Araujo, supported by effects and dialogues (in English) up to the situation, the graphics of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 give absolutely the best of itself on PC. The console version of the game, while managing to remedy the frame rate problems that characterized the first episode, runs at a sub HD resolution, 1024 x 720 pixels, and at the same time uses low resolution effects and textures.

In a Windows environment, things are different e it is very pleased that the developers of MercurySteam have committed themselves to this, first of all delivering us a product that runs at 1080p and 60 fps fixed even on mid-range configurations (in our case 80-120 frames per second with vsync disabled), and in secondly, by inserting a high definition texture package into the operation and advanced effects that contribute to substantially increase the definition of textures and the quality of the surfaces. Of course, the implementation of additional features such as tessellation, to give additional thickness to certain scenarios and improve the contours of the sometimes "rough" polygonal models would have been welcome; but it is not really the case to complain about the quality of the PC version, which among other things offers us kinematics calculated in real time rather than simple films, as often happens in multi-platform productions. The options available to adjust the quality of the graphics are many, even if they never go into detail: in addition to activating or not the HD textures and choosing the resolution, it is possible to set the quality of the anti-aliasing (even if it is not clarified the technology used), motion blur, shadows, depth of field, particles and lighting. The game supports both mouse and keyboard commands and the Xbox 360 controller, with the latter being recognized automatically, has the same layout seen on the Microsoft console and is the best choice to enjoy the experience, literally designed around to that device.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Processor: AMD FX 8320
Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Jetstream
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 8

Minimum requirements

Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core 2,4 Duo or AMD equivalent
Video card: DirectX 9 compatible with 512 MB of RAM
Memory: 2 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows XP SP3

Recommended Requirements

Processor: quad core
Video card: DirectX 9 compatible with 1024 MB of RAM
Memory: 2 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 7

Comment

Version tested: PC Resources4Gaming.com

7.8

Readers (51)

8.0

Your vote

A great sequel or an action game below expectations? Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has divided the critics, in part due to the enormous expectations generated by the quality of the first episode, whose sensational ending left open countless possibilities; partly due to the introduction of not particularly inspired stealth sections. The strengths of the franchise, however, have remained firmly in place, with a solid and spectacular combat system, excellent boss fights and a good balance of difficulty. The PC version stands as the best of the lot and boasts a particular care in the definition, given the presence of a high resolution texture package, 1080p and a frame rate more than double compared to what is seen on consoles. If you loved the first episode, the purchase is a must.