I can still remember parts of the internet going nuclear when Spanish developer Mercury Steam was chosen to do a new 3D Castlevania game with Hideo Kojima doing a it of supervision. Konami, the developer and even Kojima himself got raked over a few coal beds, the game was deemed to be doomed before anything was playable and the usual crowd of “if it isn’t 2D, it sucks!” folk were there to condemn the building as the foundation was being laid . Of course, 2010’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow definitely wasn’t the train wreck many predicted and in fact, it was one of the nicer surprises in terms of aged franchises getting a chance to shine on current generation consoles.

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From visual quality and gameplay to audio, Mercury Steam’s first Castlevania experience was the best 3D game in the series by a few thousand miles and this sequel looks to be even better. If you haven’t played the original Lords of Shadow yet, go grab it and see for yourself that the combination of 3D and Konami’s storied vampire franchise can and does work well under the right hands. Of course, a little help from Hideo Kojima doesn’t hurt at all, but the game is definitely a nice surprise. The sequel adds some new elements and characters, but I’m betting the dev team isn’t mucking much with what worked in their last game. As always, we shall see.. but I predict this one will be as good as or even better than the first one.