Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate had both the honor of leading of Nintendo’s 3DS press conference and as being one of the longest titles of any game at E3. Konami had promised originally that Mirror of Fate would be a “true Castlevania”, and with what was revealed today this certainly looks to be the case.
We learned today that you’ll be privy to playing as 4 different characters through the 2.5D side scroller as you set out to discover the secret of Dracula’s Curse and why it must be the Belemont’s that need to break it. The story’s cut scenes are drawn out in a gorgeous oil painting-esque style while a full team of voice actors set the tone. It may not seem like much, but there’s something very Castlevania about how it’s being presented.
Everything we love about Castlevania seems to be in place here. The game’s camera will rotate to add a bit of perspective, but it will mostly be a side scroller in the purest sense. What stood out to me initially is that the ability to swing from lamps using the Combat Cross looked just as fluid as I remembered it from Castlevania IV back on the Super Nintendo. Switching to a sidescroller allows for platforming to take center stage again and I can’t express how excited I am to get some old fashioned Castlevania chandelier jumping back in my hands
The combat itself promises to play fluidly as players will have one button mapped to a heavy direct attack and another for a wide ranging area attack that does a bit less damage to help out with crowd control. Dark magic makes its return from Lords of Shado, and you’ll be able to grab players with the R button to finish off your foes with a devastating attack.
Only one item has been featured so far, but the new take on the boomerang seems interesting. Players can charge up for a more powerful shot or use it to stick to enemies to deal damage over time. Over all, the combat looks like it will be extremely fluid and harken back to everything that has made the series fantastic.
We can look forward to getting our grubby little mitts on this come Fall 2012.
