‘Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2’ Almost Equally Divided Between City And Castle

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will be divided almost equally between the city and Dracula’s castle, and the developers have gone out of their way to ensure the classic feel has been retained.

With most open-world video games, the hero usually spends hours just wandering the streets of the city and looking for things, while the setting for the ending usually only takes place at the very end as you’re stalking your villainous prey. In the latest Castlevania, you are the villain that the Belmont family has been hunting for centuries.

Much like the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, this time you are Dracula, or as your public identity goes, Gabriel Belmont. The majority of the Belmont clan, as well as your own son Alucard, wants you dead, and you must regain your power in order to face your ultimate enemy, Satan. In order for Dracula to regain his power, he must reach something in his castle, a setting which apparently isn’t available in the first half of the game.

After about the 60 percent mark of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Dracula will finally have access to his castle, but it’s a huge place, given that the castle is the other 40 percent of the game. The game’s length will be the same as its predecessor, so gamers who ventured worth before will know about what to expect.

Producer Dave Cox explains:

“The game takes place about 60 [percent] in the city and about 40 [percent] in the castle, and you can go between the city and the castle at will [once you reach] a certain stage of the game. As the world opens you have the freedom to go back forth to both. The whole game takes place in one night, the night that Satan is coming back. So playing in this gothic fantasy city, you can imagine, we’ve got rain, we’ve got different weather effects, it still has that [Castlevania] feeling. We didn’t want to make it Gotham City and we didn’t want to put Dracula in the middle of Times Square. We thought that would be ridiculous.”

Check out Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 when it hits the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on February 27 next year.