Castlevania dev's next game will be better

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 August, 2011

Is it a Lords of Shadow sequel?

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow developer MercurySteam has recounted the lessons learnt from making the Konami-published action game, and promised: "the following game will be better."

Speaking during a keynote talk at GDC Europe 2011, MercurySteam co-owner Enric Alvarez discussed the challenges the Spanish studio faced rebooting the much-loved franchise.

"Of course, there were a lot of things with Castlevania we would have loved to have done better. But I'm convinced the following game will be better," he said.

And then, later in his talk, Alvarez said: "Hopefully in our next project we'll be able to improve on all the aspects. We've taken note of things that have gone well and others that didn't. Now, we'll see what happens."

Is Alvarez talking about a Castlevania sequel?

In October last year Oscar Araujo, composer of the game's soundtrack, said on Spanish radio that there would be a sequel to Lords of Shadow, and that MercurySteam had already begun working on it.

He said: "If you liked the first [game], hope that the second is even more spectacular."

Producer Dave Cox wrote on Twitter last week that he was working on two unannounced projects. Is the Castlevania sequel one of them?

Lords of Shadow launched late last year to critical and commercial acclaim. Eurogamer's Castlevania review whipped an 8/10. "So even though the wait continues for a 3D Castlevania that truly matches the elegance, complexity and spatial intelligence of the 2D games," wrote Christian Donlan, "this is a polished and enjoyable blast of musty Gothic action in its own right."

Konami has singled out Castlevania's sales for praise, describing them as "solid". A month after launch Konami had shipped a million copies of the game.

"Looking back, in spite of all the errors, honestly, I don't think we went wrong," Alvarez explained. "Of course, the framerate could have been better in some places, but I'm sure this game is completely playable and you can enjoy it as it is.

"There were some puzzles that were a bit obtuse because they didn't have sufficient clues, but that's only in a minority of cases.

"These are problems of implementation, not problems based on philosophy or because of having taken wrong decisions. Mentally, I go back and I think, if I were to start anew, I would take the same decisions and develop the same game."

Alvarez pointed to Castlevania's titans – huge bosses that rekindle memories of classic PlayStation 2 game Shadow of the Colossus – as one of the game's achievements.

"When we finally finished up we were tremendously proud of the result, and we even felt more admiration for the work of Team Ico with Shadow of the Colossus," he said.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (55) Latest comment 9 months ago

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  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 9 months ago

    I just picked up Castlevania and am loving it, dont speak so ill of your own work guys its good!

  • kinky_mong #2 9 months ago

    Well the game was great in my opinion, so if you can make it even better then that's fantastic!

  • Shotofen #3 9 months ago

    LoS is effing great (Hell, even Clive Barker's Jericho was a bit underrated considering it seemed to have been made with no budget to speak of). Will buy Mercury Steam's next game in a heartbeat. Man, the enemies in LoS were cool and truly evil looking, and the sense of an adventurous journey into the unknown that you got from that game was unparalleled!

  • Lord_Gremlin #4 9 months ago

    Well, it's my opinion only, but I've tried the demo and hated every moment of it. Combat was horrible, no AA almost made my eyes hurt. And I normally like such games (big GoW fun). I get that some people loved it, but those guys definitely have a lot of things on their must-improve list.

    And I really wonder why thumbs down. Just because people have different opinions?
    Edited by Lord_Gremlin at 16/08/11 @ 00:17

  • apoc_reg #5 9 months ago

    I loved LoS so that + better = Awesome

  • spiritsnake #6 9 months ago

    i started out not liking the game at all,i kept nit picking at every tiny flaw i saw. at the end when the credits were rolling, i said to myself 'amazing game'!! those playing it, watch the credits to the end, theres a video.

  • evild_edd #7 9 months ago

    About 60% of the way through this - must finish it.

    This is a case of a game thoroughly deserving an 8/10. Really, really solid title, worth a purchase for anyone who enjoys meaty SP adventures. At the same time, it's not perfect and there is room for improvement. If they can build on the right elements there's no reason the sequel couldn't deliver more success, in terms of quality and sales....

  • schnide #8 9 months ago

    Well if it is Castlevania (which I hope it is, because LOS is an awesome game and I think the team would be aware of the improvements they could make to its flaws) then this tweet must be wrong:

    http://twitter.com/#!/CastlevaniaLOS/sta...

  • King_Edward #9 9 months ago

    Pretty but dull

  • Sikosh #10 9 months ago

    If they improve the sudden ending of levels and also get rid of the long-winded narration... they're onto a winner. That said I thought LoS was awesome, it had the most epic game soundtrack of recent memory. Still need to finish it, though..

    Hey, if I just go up these stairs I'll get to that awesome viewp-...... END OF LEVEL

  • schnide #11 9 months ago

    I would personally make some of the puzzles less obscure, improve the dialogue (especially the written loading screens), STOP MAKING ME PRESS THREE BUTTONS TO SKIP A CUTSCENE (Start alone works fine in every other game, people!), remove all the invisible walls by putting real obstacles there or don't have the wall at all, make it a *tiny* bit shorter and thus tighter.. and it sounds like a lot of criticism, but if I'm still enjoying, what does that tell you about how much there is to enjoy?

    Edit #1: That's another one! Nice one Sikosh. Don't end a level out of the blue when I'm walking through a scene, it breaks the flow and immersion!

    Edit #2: Oh and also more exploration, make it more like Metroidvania (but not completely you understand, you've already got a pretty good formula on your hands which is why we all love it so much) and you have a potential game of the year.

    Cheers Mercury Steam - send my cheque in the post.

    Edit #3: Would love to know what people are disagreeing with here..!
    Edited by schnide at 15/08/11 @ 20:35

  • Monkeyspoon #12 9 months ago

    Hopefully they will lead on PS3 for the sake of platform parity.

  • spiritsnake #13 9 months ago

    @monkeyspoon
    LOS was lead on the ps3 and in the face off here the ps3 version was the better.

  • MattEdWithCheese #14 9 months ago

    Still haven't finished it yet, stuck in some swamp with some annoying coffins. I hope that for the sequel they create a single, large area for a more of a post-Symphony exploration based game, maybe just as a hub level but I doubt they will. I was just glad that the levels weren't god of war linear and that they used a trigger for dodging rather than a stick

  • Anciegher #15 9 months ago

    Great game, but too difficult so I never finished it.

  • TRUTH #16 9 months ago

    Really enjoyed the 1st game - I hope on the sequel it feels more open world and less liner; at times it felt as you were lead by the hand. More openness to explore and discovery would be nice. Also more freedom Rpg character build would be good, and less hints which spoiled some puzzles - what's the point of puzzles if the answer is always given!.
    Edited by TRUTH at 15/08/11 @ 17:28

  • Kami #17 9 months ago

    A sequel I would want. I still couldn't escape the feeling in Lords of Shadow that it was all a setup for the sequel anyway - the game they wanted to make, not the game they did make.

    It was okay, but it hardly rocked my world.

  • evild_edd #18 9 months ago

    I'm slightly at odds with most people's Castlevania preferences. I enjoyed the action focus. It's the same reason I enjoyed the SNES Castlevania (4, I think) which was Mode-7-effect-tastic, and great fun. For some reason the Castlevania SoN-style exploratory ones never clicked for me.

    Wouldn't be averse to some half-way house, but if they ditch the template and just go for a 3D Metroid style adventure with loads of backtracking and uninspired, respawning enemies then you can count me out.

  • Hindle #19 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • Spong #20 9 months ago

    Stoked at the news MS might already be tinkering away on a sequel.

    The only downside to LoS, for me, was the second DLC. It was really disappointing in the wake of everything else with the game (including the first DLC) being so spot on.

  • Pasco #21 9 months ago

    "Of course, the framerate could have been better in some places, but I'm sure this game is completely playable and you can enjoy it as it is."

    The framerate could have been better for the duration of the entire game and no, I can't.

  • darleysam #22 9 months ago

    If that statue was closer to the hole..

  • alcides #23 9 months ago

    the first was alright :/

  • menage #24 9 months ago

    I recenty ran through it again to find all the goodies and complete it on a harder difficulty. Must say it was even better this time. The combat def. does not suck. It´s awesome, and for atmosphere alone I would play this over GoW every day. Truly an epic adventure which has room for improvement, so bring on that better game. I just hope the next one isn´t in skryscraper city but holds true to the medieval setting.

    Oh and lose the titan fights, they were fun the first time but sure as hell a drag to do again.

    Edited by menage at 15/08/11 @ 18:01

  • bratmandu #25 9 months ago

    No metroidvania format - no deal. If I wanted a God Of War clone I'd play God of War.

  • evnewell #26 9 months ago

    LOVE LORDS OF SHADOW!! and BTW, this game put Mercury Steam on my radar. I will almost definitely buy whatever Mercury Steam does next because of what a triumph Castlevania was.

    Great visuals, amazing level progression, excellent fighting mechanics and upgrades, superb production value. Everyone who likes God of War seems to hate this game. That's because it's not God of War. It's a shame how every combo based hack n slash gets the God of War comparison. first of all, Devil May Cry is what inspired GoW. Second of all, although GoW has great production value, it isn't a great fighting game. It's a masher, there' not a lot of finesse.

    Enter Castlevania LoS. Brilliant fighting depth, brilliant render engine, and many other points of strength to consider. But if you're looking for a brain-dead button masher, you may not enjoy Lords of Shadow.

  • reeferchief #27 9 months ago

    You still need 3 more crystal shards.

    Really enjoying the game, I'm up to the vampire fight before the 2nd lord of shadow, must have died at least 500 times so far and still have another 4 chapters to go.:/

  • RandomTerrain #28 9 months ago

    I really enjoyed it, excellent fun.
    Looking forward to the next game, and as good as this was I am expecting lots of improvements, so this is good to hear. Bring it on. :o)

  • lavalant #29 9 months ago

    Game was good, awesome atmosphere and presentation, just needs a massive overhaul of the combat system, I started out liking it but it just started to Grind half way through and the combat was very flawed, those SOTC sections were shite. It Needs to be less like God of War and find it's own identity.

  • thiagots85 #30 9 months ago

    I'm a fan of castlevania, even if they changed a bit ( a large bit), changes are all that the castlevania series have present in this decades of franchise, some good, some bad, but there are always space in my heart to love a new castlevania game, and LoS really got a big large piece of my heart... I really hope for a sequel, and some new metroid-vania

  • spekkeh #31 9 months ago

    gee the castlevania fans sure are an intolerant lot judging by the negs. I liked the game but don't want to be associated with these comments.

  • spiderignacio #32 9 months ago

    Castlevania LoS was the best Castlevania for me. The only mistake for me was the Framerate... but apart from that, the variety, the adventure feeling and the epic story were amazing.

    It is with Demon's souls and Gears of War Saga, my favourite games of this generation. I cannot wait to see the next game from Mercury!! And I hope a new Castlevania LoS.

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #33 9 months ago

    i just earned my platinum trophy and enjoyed the hell out of getting it..

  • Cjail #34 9 months ago

    Just don't take too long to make you next game MercurySteam because a lot of people, me included, can't wait to play your next creation ;)

    Edited by Cjail at 15/08/11 @ 20:30

  • MrE26 #35 9 months ago

    Bit more depth to the fighting system & a smooth framerate & the first would have been fantastic. The fact that enemies can still attack you while you're hitting them meant some of the unlockable specials were a bit useless.

    Still, i really enjoyed the game once the fairly slow opening section was over. Loved the visuals & atmosphere & the game was clearly a labour of love, so good luck to these guys. I hope the sequel rumours are true.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #36 9 months ago

    I'm glad LoS went down well for Konami and Mercury, and intend to buy a copy. Konami have been struggling for a while to bring this series up to the high quality we previously had enjyoed in 2D. Besides that, I think Konami should invest more in Mercury, because they badly require some new home console IP. And god knows, they could do with a dose of western devs in their catalogue.

  • agent55 #37 9 months ago

    Fantastic game that had a lot to live up to. Best combat this side of Ninja Gaiden, not to mention great level design, enemies, music, lengthy campaign...

    Can't wait for more, just match of the voice actor to the 'grunt' actor a little better next time guys :)

  • carlosdfn #38 9 months ago

    The game had some flaws but overall it was great, one of the best of 2010. The final dlc was the biggest rip-off ever though, I really regret buying it.

  • gjgjg #39 9 months ago

    Really enjoying los, just add some aa next time and im in:)

  • captainCandy #40 9 months ago

    Anyone who thinks LoS is a great Castlevania game, or a great game, should perhaps pay a visit to a doctor. I completed it and totally hated it in so many ways, because of so many flaws. It's the worst castlevania game so far, and one that forgets all what's good in the Castlevania concept. It's not really a Castlevania game...

  • captainCandy #41 9 months ago

    LoS was a wall climbing game stuffed into a tunnel. Perhaps they make Ice Climber 2011 next?

  • DjFlex52 #42 9 months ago

    It's the worst castlevania game so far, and one that forgets all what's good in the Castlevania concept. It's not really a Castlevania game...

    @Captaincandy

    I guess you forgot about Lament of Innocence & Curse Of Darkness on PS2 when you wrote this comment ;-)

  • MrE26 #43 9 months ago

    @captainCandy

    Elaborate? What were these numerous flaws that made the game so awful?

  • SuperFLI #44 9 months ago

    i really enjoyed the game and the journey. i kind of wish we could have enjoyed the castle more, but the journey to each of the domains of the lords of shadow was fantastic, and really reminded me of old old school vania (before metroidvania style became the default version), and reminded me of how the belmont's were on a quest to overcome the territory and minions of dracula. this evoked that same sense of journey. it had a few issues, especially with some of the puzzles (especially the dlc ones), but all in all i loved it.
    if they need to improve anything, i think it would be to make jumping tighter. it was good enough and worked well enough, but had a few issues with that. the combat was fun and interesting, but there wasn't much call to experiment a lot with new moves, and some moves i found myself not bothering with as they just didn't seem exciting or practical in a heated battle, which meant a large roster of moves were left unexplored and untapped. eventually did find them fun to use, but that was by my 4th or fifth play through of the game. that could use some work.
    but ultimately, i liked it and spent a huge chunk of time playing it. thinking of when would be a good time to do it all again for kicks.

  • zerozakiishiki #45 9 months ago

    And yet it was the first of those titans that made me give up on the tedious thing.

  • Beanhead1 #46 9 months ago

    Oi casltevania one of the best most undermarketed under rated games ever truly awesome

  • Phishfood #47 9 months ago

    This game has some of the best architechture and background design I have ever seen. Really gave it a sense of immersion.

  • dragonlion #48 9 months ago

    please send the last DLC first then if theres a sequel then its good news

    loved the game so much

    and dude, the demo wasnt that respectful to the full game (no AA isnt an issue)

  • stryker1121 #49 9 months ago

    Liked LOS quite a bit--a very solid 8 of 10. One of the most gorgeous looking games I've seen on console in terms of art design. More importantly the combat is fun and makes you feel badass; light and shadow magic mixes things up nicely. I even enjoyed the gothy story and cheesy Patrick Stewart voiceovers.

    Improvements needs to be made, of course. Hated the backtracking to get upgrades. Plus the 360 version was on two discs, meaning you'd have to swap discs to get some of the upgrades. That's just shit game design, period. The platforming was mediocre at best. The first half the game is boss-fight overload and it screwed up the pacing. The game also suffered from some padding toward the end- the whole music box chapter, collecting shit for Baba Yaga, getting items from scarecrows was so "video-gamey" it was almost endearing.

    Still, the sum of the parts is a positive one. I'd buy a sequel for sure.

  • Porcupine_I #50 9 months ago

    i only hated the chupacabra

  • BBIAJ #51 9 months ago

    @captainCandy:

    That's because it was never conceived as a Castlevania game, it was originally another game entirely, it just had the Castlevania name tacked onto it at the last minute.

  • schnide #52 9 months ago

    @BBIAJ

    Are you sure about that? Because from what I read, the team took a pitch to Konami with Simon Belmont in it, and only afterwards decided to invent Gabriel as an entirely new character.

  • Pastici #53 9 months ago

    Loved it, dragged on a bit near the end though. 3 buttons to skip a cut scene isn't bad, I like the fact you can pause them.

  • schnide #54 9 months ago

    @Pastici

    It is when you have to do it every single time you die, which can be a lot in some places.

  • DAN.E.B #55 9 months ago

    I loved the game and would buy the second in a heart beat
    although I didnt like the final level at all seemed to have been an after thought
    And they should bring back Drac!!!!