It's no secret here that I love the Castlevania series, but I'm not without my doubts for the latest entry, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. While all the press release videos made me pound my computer desk with overjoyed rage, behind the scenes gameplay videos didn't really stir me the same way. They looked bland and without personality.
The seven-plus minute trailer from Tokyo Game Show rested my concerns regarding the characters and the storyline. What at one point I thought may have been too influenced by western fantasy such as The Lord of The Rings, I was starting to see was truly Castlevania at its core, regardless of whether or not it was borrowing from Tolkien or Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Today, Konami brings us a new trailer, that is more epic in both scope and length than the nearly-short-film that premiered at TGS. Yes, eleven minutes of details, narrative, and most importantly gameplay. One month, two trailers, nearly twenty minutes of footage. That's a lot of Castlevania to tease as pre-release hype. Yet we have no reason to fear, as there is supposedly twenty hours of gameplay in Lords of Shadow, so a measly twenty minutes ain't no type of spoiler for us, nope.
This eleven minute behemoth preps the potential player for what to expect on October 5th, or as I've come to call it All Shadows Day, because I will be sitting at home, shades drawn, candles lit, smoke in the room, playing Lords of Shadow all day. What was once considered skepticism and cautious optimism has grown into full fledged excitement. Watch the trailer, and if you don't feel the same way, then you ain't no friend of mine, friend.
All Shadows Day looms, stay tuned for the review.