Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
DeveloperMercurySteam
PublisherKonami
DirectorJose Luis Márquez
ProducerDave Cox
WritersJose Luis Márquez
Dave Cox
ComposerÓscar Araujo
SeriesCastlevania
EngineMercury Engine
PlatformsNintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows
ReleaseNintendo 3DS
  • NA: March 5, 2013
  • EU: March 8, 2013
  • JP: March 20, 2013
Xbox 360
  • WW: October 25, 2013
PlayStation 3
  • NA: October 29, 2013
  • EU: October 30, 2013
  • JP: December 4, 2013
Windows
  • WW: March 27, 2014
GenresAction-adventure, hack and slash
ModeSingle-player

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam and published by Konami for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which served as a reboot of the Castlevania franchise. Players control multiple characters as they explore a labyrinthine castle and piece together the mystery of Dracula's return.

The game received mixed-to-positive reviews, with praise for its visuals and combat, while some criticized its story and level design. An upgraded version of the game, titled Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD, was released digitally for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows.

Gameplay

The player assumes the role of Gabriel Belmont, his son Trevor Belmont, grandson Simon Belmont (Trevor's son), and Alucard. Mirror of Fate is a side-scrolling action-adventure game. It returns to the classic Castlevania gameplay viewed in the main series.

Plot

One year prior to becoming Dracula, Gabriel Belmont (voiced by Robert Carlyle) spend a night with his wife Marie before accompanying four Order knights on a mission to slay a Lycan. While he is gone, Marie gives birth while surrounded by Pan and the heads of the Order. She names the baby Trevor before the Order takes him away due to fear of an omimous prophecy, and he is raised in their custody.

Twenty-seven years later, Trevor (voiced by Richard Madden) learns that he is Dracula's son, and plans to journey to Dracula's castle and avenge the death of his mother Marie. He bids his wife Sypha and young son Simon farewell, giving Simon a medallion he received from The Order. Upon reaching the castle, he meets a Shade (voiced by Michael Maloney) who tells him that he will die before he kills Dracula; in a rage, Trevor breaks the Shade's face, rendering it mute. As he ventures through the castle, Trevor obtains the medallions of fallen Order knights and learns light and dark magic. He is repeatedly attacked by Dracula's forces, including a chimera known as the Daemon Lord (voiced by Richard Ridings), pursuing and slaying each of them.

Confronting Dracula in the throne room, Trevor swears to kill him and avenge his mother. Dracula declares that he does not care about his victims, and the two fight. The fight moves high above the castle, and Trevor cuts off Dracula's hands before the two plummet to the ground. Trevor attempts to plunge his Combat Cross into Dracula as they fall, but ends up impaled himself. Though Dracula gloats, Trevor reveals that he is his son, which Dracula confirms in his Mirror of Fate. Driven mad with grief, Dracula attempts to turn Trevor into a vampire to save him, but he is already dead. Dracula builds Trevor a coffin, engraving it with the name "Alucard" to protect Trevor's identity. Elsewhere, Simon witnesses Sypha's murder at the hands of Dracula's forces, and he swears vengeance before fleeing to the mountains. The mountain people spend thirty years raising him as a fighter, and he becomes a master at the whip.

Upon reaching adulthood, Simon (voiced by Alec Newman) leaves the mountains to go to Dracula's castle. Upon arriving, the Shade requests his medallion, but he refuses. The Shade directs him to obtain a copy of Gabriel's original Combat Cross. In the castle, Alucard awakens from his tomb, and the Shade shows him that he is now a vampire, turned by Dracula. Alucard, suffering from amnesia, believes that his fate is to slay Dracula. While exploring the castle, he is attacked by the Daemon Lord, now resurrected as a cyborg. The Daemon Lord easily defeats Alucard and burns him in the sunlight before dropping him off the tower, and Alucard barely survives. During his journey back up the tower, Alucard saves Simon twice from danger, but leaves before revealing his identity.

Simon finds the Combat Cross, but a necromancer tries to claim it for Dracula's former foe Zobek, whom he believes still alive. Simon slays the Necromancer and continues to ascend the tower, as does Alucard. Simon encounters and kills Dracula's lover, the Succubus (voiced by Elanor Howell), while Alucard slays the Daemon Lord. Both men reach the throne room and battle Dracula, who infects Simon with darkness and causes him to turn on Alucard. Alucard cures Simon, who deals the killing blow and causes Dracula to dissolve, though Alucard believes he is not fully dead.

Alucard tells Simon to give the Shade his medallion, revealed to be a shard of the Mirror of Fate, which has been manipulating the Belmonts. Simon once more asks Alucard's true identity, but Alucard leaves without a word. After finding the stake that broke off Gabriel's Combat Cross, Alucard flees the collapsing castle, and Simon bids him farewell.

Development

Mirror of Fate was announced in May 2012, for the Nintendo 3DS as a side-scrolling action-adventure game. It was released on March 5, 2013, in North America and March 8, 2013, in Europe. Mirror of Fate was delayed because MercurySteam was not pleased with certain elements of it.

According to the producer David Cox, the development team had originally developed Mirror of Fate in HD, and adapted it later for the 3DS. The HD version of the game was released as a digital download on October 25, 2013, for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade, on October 29, 2013, for PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network, and on March 27, 2014, for Windows through Steam.

Reception

The game has received mixed reviews, with a 72/100 on aggregate score site Metacritic for the Nintendo 3DS. Peter Brown of GameSpot gave the game a 7 out of 10, praising the visuals and the combat system, while criticizing the game's easy difficulty and predictable story. IGN's Colin Moriarty panned the game with a score of 4.7 out of 10, concluding that it had "emphasis on fragmented exploration and shallow leveling".

Notes

  1. ↑ known in Japan as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Sadame no Makyō (キャッスルヴァニア ロード オブ シャドウ 宿命の魔鏡, Rōdo obu Shadō Sadame no Makyō; lit. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Magic Mirror of Destiny)
  2. 1 2 3 As depicted in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010)

References

  1. ↑ Stephany Nunnely (October 25, 2013). "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD screenshots accompany release on Xbox Live". VG247. Archived from the original on October 28, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Castlevania Mirror of Fate". May 24, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ↑ "Konami Castlevania timeline 2007" (in Japanese). Konami. Archived from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  4. ↑ Castlevania The Timeline. 20th Anniversary Pre-Order Bundle. Konami Digital Entertainment Co. Ltd. December 2006.
  5. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 9, 2009). "Lords of Shadow Interview for PS3". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  6. ↑ Kalata, Kurt (July 26, 2006). "Tales from the Crypt: Castlevania's 20th Anniversary Blow-out". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
  7. ↑ Bozon, Mark (January 18, 2007). "Castlevania: The Retrospective". IGN. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Castlevania Order of Ecclesia". Castlevania Portal Site. Konami. 2026. Retrieved May 1, 2026.
  9. ↑ Clayman, David (May 7, 2012). "Castlevania: The First Eight Hours of Lords of Shadow". IGN. Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  10. ↑ Ruiz, Franz (March 5, 2026). "Castlevania: Belmont's Curse won't be a roguelite despite Dead Cells developer's involvement, packs "elaborately crafted" maps instead". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 12, 2026. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  11. ↑ Luke, Cole (March 1, 2024). "Castlevania games in order | Story and release orders explained". Radio Times. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Announced For Nintendo 3DS". May 29, 2012. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Castlevania – Mirror of Fate helped avoid MercurySteam closure, why the game was delayed". Archived from the original on March 5, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  14. 1 2 "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate for 3DS Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  17. ↑ 1UP Staff (March 7, 2013). "Castlevania: Mirror of Fate Review for Nintendo 3DS from 1UP.com". 1UP. Archived from the original on March 21, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Turi, Tim (March 5, 2013). "A Fresh Take on the Portable Bloodline – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate – 3DS". GameInformer. Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  19. 1 2 Brown, Peter (March 5, 2013). "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  20. 1 2 Moriarty, Colin (March 5, 2013). "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate Review". IGN. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate review: Symphony of the Fight". AOL. March 13, 2013. Archived from the original on March 17, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2013.