Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

This game is gorgeous to look at. They’ve really put a lot of hard work into the background and the effort is paying off. Now if only the camera would hold still, then I wouldn’t have anything major to complain about.

Getting to the Guardian requires solving some rune matching minigame. There are 5 runes and once you have them you can open the portal to the inner temple. I only found 4 but the puzzle was really easy. I matched the 4 and started flipping through the 5^th slot when suddenly the puzzle declared itself solved. That was nice and simple.

Once inside we meet Pan, the Guardian of the Lake. At this point I also recommend that you go out and watch Pan’s Labyrinth. The movie is well worth watching.  Gabriel explains that he has come looking for Pan so he can talk to his dead wife. Gabriel believes that God has abandoned the people and that is why evil is taking over. The leaders of his holy order of knights believe that an evil spell has been cast and that this spell has cut off God from the Earth. Either way, Gabriel has made the trip to the Lake to try to communicate with his dead wife. By doing so it is believed that Gabriel will be given the answer to the world’s plight and hopefully a solution as well.

Pan, who is this awesome goat looking thing, tells Gabriel that only the most worthy can talk to the dead.  This begins a little minigame about spinning wheels. There’s a ramp and it has to be moved in front of Gabriel before a guillotine cuts a vision of his wife in half. This is not a hard puzzle, but I failed it numerous times and I can’t quite explain why. It was really easy when I solved it, but I can’t tell you exactly what I did to solve the puzzle. There’s this great cutscene where Gabriel’s wife wakes up, hugs him in a moment of joy, and then Gabriel stabs her, much to her surprise. Gabriel is shown to be wearing a stone mask. Odd scene, but apparently this proves that Gabriel is worthy of talking to the dead.

This takes Gabriel out to a frozen lake where a giant Ice Titan appears. I had to admit that I shocked at this point that the game copies Shadow of the Colossus.  Gabriel has to climb the Titan and smash its weak spots to kill it. The game mechanics are very similar to Shadow of the Colossus. You have to press a button to grip, occasionally the Titan will try to shake Gabriel off and occasionally the Titan would try to grab Gabriel. It’s just such a familiar fight it’s almost eerie. It’s also a simple fight. The Titan’s defenses are few and easy to avoid.

Once the fight is over we meet Patrick Stewart’s character, Zobek. He’s apparently an older member of Gabriel’s Order; I suspect there’s more to his character however. Just call it a hunch. Maybe he’s actually Dracula! Where is Dracula in this game?

Gabriel is able to talk to his wife and learn about the prophecy of the Lords of Shadow. He’s also able to tell her he loves her and that’s a pretty sweet moment. Thankfully Zobek is hanging around to fill in the blanks. Whoever holds the power of the Lords of Shadow becomes Gods vassal on Earth. That person shall have the power to do whatever he wants. Zobek encourages Gabriel to go on this quest so he can bring his wife back to life.

Ha! I knew it! I knew at some point this would be about bringing Gabriel’s wife back and here we have, lain out bare in front of us. Go get the power of God and resurrect your wife you twat. But when she tries to eat you, don’t blame me. This sort of thing never ends well.

So Patrick Stewart goes to deal with the vampires while Gabriel heads for the lands of the Lycans.