Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror or Fate Review for the Nintendo 3DS

       So, Mirror of Fate is the next entry in the Lords of Shadow trilogy for Castlevania, and a faithful sequel at that. From what I've experienced, the purpose of Mirror of Fate is to set up the ensuing drama for Lords of Shadow 2 coming out later this year. Dracula's traditionally been the main villain in the Castlevania franchise and now we're being shown how the Belmonts enter the fray as the vanquishers of the night in the new Lords of Shadow lore. But how well does the game transition onto a portable console? Astonishingly well actually!

      Right off the bat, I was wowed by the audio and visual presentation. I think it's safe to say this is one of the most gorgeous games I've played on the 3DS to date, from the Scottish voice talent to the detail on display throughout the environments. It's a magical feeling to stand in a cave, on a bridge, with water pouring down behind you and being able to see other paths and rock formations throughout the cave behind that, and then there's a soft melody laying emotions of loneliess, desperation, and hope over the sound of that falling water as it goes from the right speaker to the left when you pass it by. Truly, it's like I'm fucking there! There are so many layers to the environments in its stereoscopic presentation. I'd say there's about a 3 layer max I've witnessed within most 3D games; there's what's in front of you, the textured middle ground, and the flat, untextured background. Mirror of Fate has, at times, five layers. Five amazing layers. There's so much texture and detail, I feel like it was all made to be explored and studied despite being destined to be utilized as nothing more than a static background.
     And the music, the battle music can sound perfunctory at times but the strongest aspect about the score in my opinion are the pieces that play while you're outside of conflict. They're soft, delicate, haunting, despressing melodies but they all have this moment of light within them, like a glimmer of hope evoking nostalgia and comfort. With themes of vengeance, despair, and duty, it can feel motivating to hear these themes and empathize with the character you're in control of. It's the difference between slogging through an adventure to see how the story plays out and wanting to help that character reach their destination to give them a chance for resolution within their own lives. What a sublime feeling to have in a game. The score, while it can get repetitive and borrows some tracks from the previous Lords of Shadow game (albeit appropriately), is really beautiful and faithful to the themes of each character they're associated with.
     The writing's not to be looked over either. A large part of the game's writing actually has to do with the corpses of knights who previously explored the castle. These knights hold scrolls detailing their last their final thoughts before they draw their last breath. You can find them strewn about the castle and their notes range from clues about how to get around, to details about the castle's inhabitants, and regrets about their short lives and untimely ends. My favorite tales stemmed from the interactions with the demonic puppets inside their playrooms. I believe one knight wandered into an empty theater to find that a show was being performed by puppets. He was lured into seating himself by a mysterious voice to watch the play and found that at the end of the performance, more viewers had seated themselves around him, applauding and staring at their new victim.

       There is a very strong presentational strength present in Mirror of Fate and it's been true for the previous entry in the Lords of Shadow series as well. There's a distinct mood set by the music, the voice work, the environment, the knights scrolls fleshing out the nature of the world around you, it sinks its hooks into you and you strive to fight for resolve in this universe. There's too much hope in such heavy despair and loneliness and when you gain so much intimacy with the world you're presented, it feels terrible to leave it behind and let that light of hope dim without having helped these characters reach the end of their journey. I'm sorry if I'm coming across a bit dramatic and overreaching with my description of the setting but it really speaks to me and I feel like it's worth experiencing and letting it pull you in.
     Now, as for the gameplay, whatever was in Lords of Shadow on home consoles has transitioned to the 3DS on a 2D plane of action surprisingly well. All of the platforming mechanics such as grapple points, ledge grabbing, and double jumps return as they were. For the combat, it's a bit more simplified for the 2D space it takes place in but is very faithful to the combos and concepts introduced in the previous title.You have wide attacks that cover as much vertical and horizontal screen space as they can and direct attacks which hit in front of you and deal a bit more damage. Blocking and countering are present; if you block at the right time as an enemy strikes you, you can stun them and retort with a strong wide or direct counter combo. There are dazed finishes which, as far as I can tell, happen a bit randomly. If you deal enough damage to an enemy, there's a chance they'll become dazed and start glowing white. When this happens, you can grab the enemy and watch a small cutscene where they're destroyed.
     Through the three protagonists you'll have control over, each one is given two unique subweapons and magic spells to utilize in combat and exploration. While the subweapons are primarily used for their overpowering damage, they all have different effects and can be charged for more damage and even more effects. For example, Simon can use axes that stick in the enemy's body which starts an animation where they try to dislodge the axe and enables you to take advantage of the situation and attack while they're preoccupied. If the axe is charged though, not only will it stick to the target but the axe will be aflame and cause periodic fire damage. Where magic is concerned, it's primarily used as a means of healing/extra protection or enhanced damage with a little something to be utilized for platforming or solving puzzles. Alucard can use his mist form to traverse through gated entries as well as phase through enemies to harvest a little extra health for himself.
      Now, the game does have a linear progression of things in place. You will always know what you're supposed to be doing or, at the very least, where you're supposed to go. There are some branching paths and secret areas to be explored but they don't stray too far off from the main thoroughfare all that often. Now, I personally don't see a problem with this. It would seem that the goal with their take on the series is to head back to the roots of the old-school Castlevania games. This isn't Mercurysteam's impression of a Symphony-of-the-Night-esque Castlevania, it's a portable version of what they've started on the consoles. If you've played Lords of Shadow, there's a lot here to make you feel right at home which, I have to say, is a bit impressive being that their vision has gone from a fully-interactive 3D environment to a 2D one.

      But not everything is as alluring as it's presentation. One step backward is the implementation of some more archaic, excessive, and brutally strict Quick-Time-Events. We're talking QTE's to open chests... Yeah... And by the time you've spotted what button you're supposed to be hitting, it's more than likely it's too late and you've failed the event. This can be a mood-killer for boss fights as you'll be watching the cutscene play out and not realize that there was a prompt on the side of the screen where the action isn't taking place resulting in your death. Luckily, the checkpoint system is really forgiving and saves often so if you die from a failed QTE during a boss fight, you'll resume back at the beginning of that QTE. I'm at a loss as to why these types of QTE's have been implemented in Mirror of Fate when they were so much more simple and elegant in Lords of Shadow with the timing-rings.
      The story's progression is painfully cut-up and without any discernible reason for doing so. You play as Simon, Alucard, and Trevor, who are all gunning for Dracula at the heart of the castle. Chronologically, Gabriel does his Lords of Darkness stuff, Trevor goes into the castle, then Simon years later, and Alucard traverses the castle during the same time period as Simon. But with the way it plays out, you start on Simon's perspective which is pretty much the middle of the story, move on to Alucard who finishes out the timeline of events, and then jump to the beginning of everything with Trevor to close the game. With the way each arc ends, it leaves the game feeling unfinished despite it having a clear end. I should say that Trevor's finale was rather emotional and provided a strong finish but ultimately felt disjointed, especially when you account for the 100% completion ending where it jumps back to present time with Alucard and Simon and does a minute's worth of wrapping up in the most haphazard and rushed way possible. In the end, it seems these events were meant to take place in some planned order before they made some crazy decision near the end that they should mix up the order of events for shits, giggles and the hope that it would provide some mind-blowing payoff at the end. Well, it didn't and it ended rather limp, which is too bad because what they have here is still really engaging and worthy of taking in.
    And lastly, some tidbits of one-ups and nitpicks:

- The level-up system had no real impact on the gameplay. For every level, you get a new attack but a lot of it felt like stuff you should've started out with in the first place but it was also used as a necessity to motivate the player to engage in the many optional and easily escapable enemy encounters.

- Combat was always fluid and responsive. I loved the feeling of a continuous combo system in place, you could start a ground attack, jumping will cause your character to ascend with a launching whip attack, continue with an air combo, slam 'em down to the earth, and finish it off by ripping the whip out from underneath them. Easy to execute, practical to use, satisfying to dish out. I love whip combat.

- The Castle felt uninhabited and empty some of the time and something I love about Castlevania in general is how alive its environments feel. It's too bad it couldn't be amazing all of the time but hey, better than not at all!

- I'm playing on the hardest difficulty right now and it makes me realize how forgiving the game really is. It checkpoints often, multiple times in boss fights even, and there are plenty of heal points on the map. Paired with subweapon abuse and your magic skills, you're pretty much unstoppable at all times and it's likely the only death you'll experience is from when you fail a QTE. I'd say that anyone claiming this game is hard isn't using everything they have at their disposal.

- Interactive Map! You can mark up the map with signs and notes for later reference and you'll see the marks you've designated on the map while you explore the castle. GREAT IDEA. I never lost track of any collectibles or special doors this way. 

- I'm surprised a game can look this good and run so well on the 3DS. It feels like they've packed as much into the aesthetics as they could and they were lucky enough to come away with a smoothly running game.

      Overall, I feel like Mirror of Fate is a successful game. It adds to the mythos of Lords of Shadow in an emotional, meaningful way. I don't think anyone will get too much out of the title's story and ambiance if they haven't played the first entry in the Lords of Shadow saga, which could be seen as a negative on that merit, but do expect drama, intimacy, amazing environments, and a continuation of solid platforming and combat. I whole-heartedly recommend picking this one up and giving it a go, it's worth the price of admission.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror or Fate was developed by Mercurysteam and published by Konami for the 3DS. Played through the campaign with 100% completion on Normal mode in and completed 3/4 acts on the hardest difficulty. Total playtime at the time of this review posting is just under 15 hours.