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60 per cent of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is set in the game’s new modern-day city setting, producer Dave Cox has revealed, with the remaining 40 per cent taking place in Dracula’s castle.
Discussing the new “gothic fantasy” city setting with VideoGamer.com last week, Cox said that he believes Mercury Steam had “nailed the gothic styling but with the modern sensibility. It still feels like a Castlevania game. Although we’re not really showing the city at this stage, I think when you guys see it hopefully it will feel like a Castlevania game.”
The game’s modern-day structure marks a dramatic departure from the original Lords of Shadow, which was set during the Middle Ages.
“The Castlevania games have been set in modern times before, on the 3DS obviously, but this is a whole different set of structure in terms of 3D visuals rather than 2D visuals,” said Cox.
“The game takes place about 60 per cent in the city and about 40 per cent in the castle, and you can go between the city and the castle at will [once you reach] a certain stage of the game. As the world opens you have the freedom to go back forth to both.
“The whole game takes place in one night, the night that Satan is coming back. So playing in this gothic fantasy city, you can imagine, we’ve got rain, we’ve got different weather effects, it still has that [Castlevania] feeling. We didn’t want to make it Gotham City and we didn’t want to put Dracula in the middle of Times Square. We thought that would be ridiculous.”
Cox also confirmed that the game’s length is “going to be about the same” as the original Lords of Shadow but, because of the game’s structure, filled with “more reasons to explore”.
“I think it’s a really interesting take on the Castlevania universe,” Cox adds. “If you keep an open-mind and you expect the unexpected I think you can enjoy the game. I think if you [approach with a] closed mind and you say, ‘Oh, it’s not 2D, it’s not Metroidvania’, you’re not going to enjoy the game. If you go into it with an open mind I think we could surprise you. I think it’s the surprise that players will really enjoy.”
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 launches on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on February 27, 2014.
