Have at You!: Dracula Begins

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its DLC. You’ve been warned. So now, have at you!

It’s been more than two years since Konami released Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to the masses. The months leading up to its launch were filled with constant debate amongst ‘vaniacs about whether or not they were ready for a “reboot” of their adored franchise, especially one in the hands of another studio altogether, the Spain-based MercurySteam.

“Where’s IGA?” That was a common question, with his most recent games in the series being the Wii-exclusive fighter Judgement, the cooperative-focused Harmony of Despair, and the Wiiware-exclusive Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth. Why wasn’t he involved with Lords of Shadow? Fans were left wondering. And then we got confirmation that none other than Hideo Kojima himself would be aiding MercurySteam throughout the game’s development. Fans were sure that Kojima wouldn’t want his name, and his studio’s, to be attached to something that he didn’t see as a potential hit. So there was hope.

Months passed and we got trailers for the game that definitely excited fans, and actually cleverly misled them. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. We all figured, being a Castlevania game and all, that we would be facing Dracula before the credits rolled. But boy oh boy were we wrong. What we ended up with was an amazing game and definitely a worthy entry in the series,despite not starring Dracula in the villain role. Instead, we actually got to play as Dracula, or rather, the man who would end up becoming the Prince of Darkness, The Dragon. What we ended up with was “Dracula Begins.”

MercurySteam’s Lords of Shadow universe will consist of just a trilogy of games. I’ll admit, I was pretty sad when this news came out, confirming that the 3DS exclusive Mirror of Fate (originally slated for Fall 2012, but now a 2013 release) and Lords of Shadow 2 (also hitting in 2013) would be the studio’s final entries in the historic series. I would love for them to stay on for more than three games, but I’m happy they’ll get to complete the story they set out to tell as they envisioned it, without thinking about ways to elongate their series with more sequels to sell. In a world where entertainment is fueled by sequels and yearly entries in money-making series, it’s refreshing to see creators set out to tell a complete story as they see fit. And Lords of Shadow was definitely an amazing first act to MecurySteam’s Castlevania opus, one that I can’t help but compare to the first part of another trilogy, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. Now do you see where I got the name for this article?

Batman Begins beautifully depicted Bruce Wayne throughout his life, painting his motivations that would drive him to become Gotham City’s protector and watchful guardian. His parent’s death was the major reason for him donning the cape and cowl, thus making him the hero we all know and love. The film’s story was grounded in realism, for the most part anyway (scarecrow!), and it changed the way we saw superhero films. Lords of Shadow didn’t change the way stories are told in games, though, but it served as a very similar story for our hero, Gabriel Belmont. We basically played Dracula’s origin story, going through all the events that would mold him and eventually lead him on a path to darkness, ultimately resulting in that jaw-dropping epilogue scene with him declaring to Zobek that he is Dracul, and not Gabriel anymore. So what exactly were the factors that led to this man’s descent to complete darkness?

Someone had cast a spell on the world. The souls of the dead weren’t allowed to enter heaven, instead stuck in a state of limbo. Gabriel’s wife, Marie, is amongst those souls. Gabriel, being part of the Brotherhood of Light, set out to stop this, to allow the deceased souls entry to heaven to finally rest. This journey wouldn’t be an easy one, and he would face betrayal and many shocking revelations along the way. The death of his wife is basically the seed that ended up making him unfortunately blossom to the Prince of Darkness we see at the end. He wanted to bring her back, by way of a God Mask which was said to have the power to resurrect the dead. The pieces of said mask were scattered and in the possession of the titular Lords of Shadow: The Lord of the Lycans, Lord of the Vampires, and the Lord of the Necromancers. Gabriel wasn’t alone, though, aided by fellow Brotherhood member Zobek and the elder Pan. But, of course, their alliance wasn’t what it initially seemed…

Gabriel eventually found out that he was being controlled by Zobek, who was the Lord of the Necromancers the entire time, making him MercurySteam’s version of Death. His wife had died by his own hand (and axe!), thanks to the Devil Mask which was in Zobek’s possession. Zobek even used it to make Gabriel kill an innocent girl named Claudia, who had the ability to read one’s mind and who aided Gabriel in his journey early on. Her protector, The Black Knight, ended up fighting Gabriel. This was all part of Zobek’s plan, the Lord of the Necromancers wanted Gabriel to defeat The Black Knight so he can obtain his gauntlet, which would then give Zobek even more control over Gabriel. Gabriel ends up collecting all the pieces of the God Mask after killing the titular Lords of Shadow, who had been the dark siblings left behind when the original Lords ascended to Heaven. His most significant encounter would be with the Lord of the Vampires, Carmilla, whose castle would end up becoming his own in the future. Her “daughter” Laura, who Gabriel also fought, was currently residing in it, even after her “mother’s” death. Ultimately, Gabriel would end up facing Pan, whose death and blood was necessary to send him on the final part of his journey. Then he would learn the shocking truth behind everything, from the man he thought was his ally, Zobek.

Zobek was the one that separated the Earth from heaven, not allowing the deceased souls to ascend. But where exactly did he gain all this power? Well, in hell, thanks to Satan himself. Satan was revealed as being the true baddie behind everything that had happened, with his goal being to take his rightful place beside God, or to take him out of the picture altogether. He was still angry about being cast out and betrayed when he was amongst God’s presence. Satan then points out how God betrayed Gabriel as well, his faith couldn’t bring back his wife. And as we ultimately found out, after Gabriel beats Satan (for the time being), the God Mask was just a “fool’s hope,” allowing the user to see through God’s eyes, thus being able to see the dead, but not resurrect them. He got his final moment with his wife, though, and succeeded in saving the deceased souls from limbo with Satan’s temporary defeat. But after this touching moment we got an ending we don’t usually get in videogames nowadays, with the protagonist dropping to the ground and sobbing. It’s a scene that has stuck with me since I first saw it, and it was the perfect way to end this part of Gabriel’s tragic tale.

The story continued with the release of the DLC expansions, “Reverie” and “Resurrection.” Reverie picked things up directly after the game’s ending, with Gabriel contemplating death at the edge of a cliff. He then hears Laura’s cries for help from Carmilla’s castle. He goes to help her and finds out that a demon known as The Forgotten One has been freed from his prison thanks to Gabriel slaying Carmilla earlier. Another sacrifice and another loss would be needed, sadly. Laura sacrificed herself and passed on her vampiric powers to Gabriel in an epic scene where he sucks the blood out of her, freeing her from her immortality. Yes, Gabriel was now a vampire, and it was time to put an end to The Forgotten One. He ends up going to the demon’s prison, and does battle with him. It wasn’t easy, but Gabriel, now more powerful, ended up killing the demon, after he absorbed his powers and used it against him. The last shot of Gabriel shows him destroying his combat cross, signifying his loss of faith in God, and his newfound dark path that would ultimately end with him becoming Dracula, as we see him in the game’s epilogue scene after the credits.

Lords of Shadow ended up providing an amazing and true single player experience. It was lengthy and downright biblical, giving players a lot for their $60, despite not having a multiplayer mode of any sort. It didn’t need it. There’s still room for pure single player experiences in the market, and Lords of Shadow proved that. The game didn’t break any sales records, but it did become the best-selling game in the Castlevania series to date. And it was the first act of MercurySteam’s Castlavania epic, laying the groundwork for what was to come next. Don’t let all those people who say the game is just a God of War/ Devil May Cry clone negatively influence your decision in purchasing the game. You really owe it to yourself to pick it up, and you can find it pretty cheap now anyway.

Lords of Shadow actually changed the way I look at the entire series. Yea, it’s not meant to totally replace the canon we already know and love, but this alternate universe, so to speak, has actually made me go back and look at each game differently. When I play the classic games, I now feel sympathy for Dracula, and feel bad after having witnessed everything he went through that led him to this tragic ending. One where he can’t die, yet can’t really live. His immortality is a curse, and one that he wants to be freed from as we saw in Lords of Shadow’s epilogue. Yeah, I feel bad whipping Dracula at the end of the classic games now. And then when going back and playing the PS1 masterpiece Symphony of the Night after beating Lords of Shadow, I started getting all these ideas and theories for how Alucard could actually exist in MercurySteam’s Castlevania universe. So yes, I was jumping and screaming all over the place when he was revealed as being a playable character in Mirror of Fate. And the shot of him at the end of Lords of Shadow 2’s trailer was just jaw-dropping.

No game in this current, ongoing console generation has managed to top Lords of Shadow for me. It continues to be my favorite game this generation, and that won’t likely change until Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2 come out next year. We can’t really say if those games will be better or not at this point, but you can bet your soon-to-be-Belmont-whipped ass that MercurySteam is putting in their all to make sure they give us ‘vaniacs games worth playing and remembering long after we’ve beaten them. If I were to review Lords of Shadow now, it would still get the same score I gave it back in October of 2010: a whiptastic 10 out of 10.

Make sure you follow me on Twitter, fellow ‘vaniacs! 

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