Review: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 “Revelations” DLC

I was not a fan of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. In my review, I called it “an example of the staleness, lack of innovation and everything and the kitchen sink approach to game design” we seem to be seeing more often these days.

When “Revelations” — the DLC focusing on Alucard — came across my desk, I felt a mixture of hope and dread. I was hopeful that this add-on could in some ways atone for the main game, while simultaneously dreading having to put the disc back into my PS3. With trembling hands I did and I played the DLC from start to finish in one session. The verdict? Terrible.

“Revelations” is a pointless, hollow and criminally boring addition to an already average game. Rather than revealing some deeper backstory for Alucard or his motivations, he is instead reduced to being a glorified courier. Forces are conspiring against the still sleeping Dracula and unless Alucard recovers the Void Sword and Chaos Claws his father will be helpless to stop Satan.

Oh, but he can’t just give Dracula the weapons or leave them in his coffin. No, no. Dracula must take this quest of his own volition. So Alucard must take the weapons from one location and put them in another. Somewhere nearby. Not too far away, but not in the exact same place he found them. It can’t be too hard for Dracula to access them, but it mustn’t be too easy either.

The story is woeful. It takes an interesting character and puts him on an utterly pointless quest. The title is “Revelations”, but the only revelation to be found is that somehow this project was green-lit. I’m not opposed to the idea of DLC for CLoS2 in principal, but it should at least be vaguely interesting and actually contain information that, firstly, is worth knowing and that, secondly, deepens and broadens the universe of the main game. “Revelations” does neither.

In the two hours of the DLC’s campaign, I traipsed around Dracula’s crumbling castle getting to experiment with Alucard’s new powers and combat abilities. Combat is essentially unchanged from CLoS2 proper and is both the content’s best strength and biggest failing. Alucard is different enough from Dracula to feel new and interesting, but battles are so few and far between that actually mastering his combat style won’t happen by the time you’ve reached the end boss. And by then, you’ll really need it.

You’ll only fight four or five different enemy types for the duration of the DLC and none of them will really challenge you to learn how to use Alucard effectively. It’s a shame because if you do take the time to master his move set, he’s a formidable protagonist that’s a lot of fun to use. There’s just no incentive.

Alucard’s three new powers all revolve around his ability to traverse the world and in turn solve environmental puzzles. I say puzzles, but in reality they’re more like frustrating obstacles to progression. Most ‘puzzles’ require at least two of Alucard’s powers to ‘solve’, but occasionally require all three. When his time reversal power comes into play, puzzles become infuriating.

By focusing on some broken piece of the environment Alucard can reverse time and restore said environment to its former glory. Problems arise as this restoration is temporary meaning that if you are unable to complete all the steps in the puzzle before the timer elapses you’ll be forced to do it all over again. Having to repeat a complex series of movements five or six times because the time limit is razor thin is no fun. No fun at all.

That about sums up the overall “Revelations” experience nicely. It’s just not fun. The story is weak, the combat uneven and the puzzles simply frustrating, but its cardinal sin is that it’s just no fun. Dracula deserved better in CLoS2 and Alucard deserves better here. If you’re a massive fan then you’ll probably get something resembling a kick out of this DLC. If you didn’t really enjoy Lords of Shadow 2 then I’d advise giving this a wide berth. Finally, if you must play this DLC, temper your expectations because anything above tepid will leave you sorely disappointed.

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