What can be said about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate HD? Yeah, the name sucks. But what about the game itself?

In a few words, it’s… okay.

Honestly, I just completed the game moments ago, and aside from a few moment to moment aggravations, a few frustrations that are eventually overcome and largely forgotten, I can’t think of one single thing to say about it other than it was, okay.

To those unfamiliar with the soft reboot / spin-off series that was Lords of Shadow, allow me to briefly explain. On the PS3/Xbox 360, Konami released Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which dealt with Gabriel Belmont hunting down and defeating the source of evil in the land. In doing so, he is cursed and <spoiler> becomes the dreaded vampire known as Dracula. It was a neat twist, and the reveal for it after the end credits was a cool moment. Gabriel Belmont is Dracula!

Then along came Mirror of Fate on the Nintendo 3DS, which was technically the sequel. As sequels have a habit of doing, the game dealt with what came next.

And what came next is basically Star Wars. Okay, maybe not, but thematically it’s not far off. The game has you play as three different characters, Simon, Alucard, and Trevor. As the game unfolds you basically play through the same areas from either a different perspective or a different point in time. It all ends up the same way though, as they all realize they’re related. The game is pretty vague on the details. On top of that I played this game off and on over the course of several months, so some of the plot points escape me, but it was never really made clear why you were there other than the “you killed my father! -No, I AM your father!” moments. Like I said, Star Wars.

It turns out Trevor was the son of Gabriel (Dracula) and was killed and turned into Alucard. But Trevor/Alucard is the father of Simon, so we basically have three generations of Belmonts essentially embarking on the same quest decades apart. I don’t know if this was all intentional or if I’m injecting a lot of this into it myself, but it’s almost a parody of the original Castlevania games in the sense that there was always a Belmont seeking to destroy Dracula. I have no friggin’ clue what the “Mirror of Fate” is, or what it even does, or what role it plays in anything, because I don’t think the game ever explains it. The floating one-armed mask guy never really mentions its purpose either.

Another wonky story-telling decision was that you essentially defeat Dracula in Act II, in what is probably the most anti-climactic way possible. Dracula disappears in a flash of light after being stabbed by Simon, after which Alucard says something like “This isn’t how Dracula dies.” We then get to play through Act III, which is a flashback to Trevor’s ill-fated quest. You take control of him and fight all the way up to Dracula, have a pretty easy time beating him, only to be killed by Dracula anyway. Upon this victory, Dracula learns that Trevor is his son, so he turns him and seals him in his tomb (the one he breaks free of at the beginning of Act II). This ends the game. Literally. No more explanations, nothing. It’s almost as if this was just a middle chapter in a trilogy, much like, well.. never mind.

Sadly, this game goes down as one of a select few Castlevania games I’ve actually beaten. While this series always tends to lean toward the tougher end of the spectrum, both Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow on 360 were on the easier side of things, and the only other game I’ve completed is Super Castlevania IV. I do own the recently released Castlevania Collection though, so maybe that list will grow.

Only time will tell.