Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Ultimate Edition

Honestly fuck this game. Really tried to lovr it but its filled with bullshit enemies and terrible hitboxes.

DONT SLEEP ON CASTLEVANIA BOYS

Everyone already probably knows this -> But the camera in the game always sways continuously. Even in the menu. What idiot thought it was a great idea to not be able to turn off "camera shake"?

Thanks to the problem with nausea/motion sickness, I can only play the game for perhaps 5-10 min. At best.

If you have similar problems and you just have to play this game? Play it in the bathroom.

Can't say you'll have a great time... But at least you wont have to clean up as much.

So according to the maths that I didn't bother to calculate... In about 300 years, I'll be able to get to the final Boss. Hopefully it wont take over 10 minutes to fight it! YAY!

A história e a trilha sonora até que são legais porém o combate repetitivo e a pouquíssima variedade de inimigos pesou bastante para mim. Fora as mecânicas datadas de girar analógico que são extremamente nociva para qualquer controle que não tenha Hall effect, alem de Quick time event pra qualquer coisa. Pros dias de hoje tem coisas bem melhores no mesmo gênero.

Absolutely outstanding. If you liked the Netflix show and wanted the next thing to give you a solid Castlevania fix then you are in luck. I was decades late getting around to this series but it is worthy every minute and every dollar. Do yourself a favor, play it.

a weak bargain bin copy of other far superior hack and slash games wrapped up in a pretty little bow

Kinda unnecessarily hard at times, but W game

This is a reboot of the Castlevania series with more mature, dark tone different from the "anime" style that castlevania got in the playstation 1 and nintendo DS series.
it's a solid 7/10 the most negative points this game has is the abuse of puzzles, literally there's not a single level in the game that doesn't have at least one puzzle and some can be quite annoying, you would expect a hack & slash experience with lots of non-stop action and the game does have plenty of action but also so many time consuming puzzles and you reach a point near late game where you get a bit tired of more and more puzzle solving.

You also gonna need a decent compatible controller, i have old official xbox 360 controllers with the wireless receiver, those are good enough for this title, i tried playing with keyboard and mouse and it's terrible, seriously, this game is better played with a controller.

Then another negative point is that it's way too linear, there's little room to exploration, the path is well defined, it has some backtracking situations where you have to return to zones you already explored to finish a puzzle or get a new item but that's all, this kinda affects the replay value because the only reason to replay old levels is for achievements, challenges and getting upgrades that were locked due not having the proper skills when you first explored such level.

Character design is great, the bosses, the enemies, the regions look great even for this game which is quite old already, beautiful scenery and the "vampire" zones are the best, truly totally gothic and what would you expect from a vampire castle. That being said this game is worth playing, sadly the series were cancelled after Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2 which arguably is a worse game compared to part 1 but it has some interesting things and obviously a must play if you want to finish this short Castlevania series by MercurySteam.

When you just want to hack and slash at bad guys, with some decent puzzles and a bit of platforming, this is the game for you! There's something just so relaxing about this game. :) The voice acting also can't be beat! Robert Carlyle as Gabriel, Natasha McElhone as Marie, and Patrick Stewart as Zobek. Plus another familiar secret character! Every cut scene is a joy just to hear them talk.

The story isn't anything groundbreaking, but Gabriel is a compelling protagonist. The graphics are beautiful, the fighting is seamless, and the PC controls are nice and simple. This version includes the DLC which helps fill in some of the plot between this game and its sequels. All in all, one of my favourite games to play. ^-^

7/10
-1 for dizzy camera view;
-1 for confused hitboxes;
-1 for causing my OS crash several times while in full-screen mode.

If you like old school god of war and castlevania this is up your alley. Despite it being an older game it still holds up. Well worth your money and time

Story is epic, it feels like you're Gabriel in a grand adventure/quest.

Soundtrack is simply outstanding. One of the best i've ever seen, right there with Souls games.

Map design is kinda ''meh'', confusing at times, constant camera changes.

Gameplay is good. There are multiple flaws, such as combos being interrupted by enemies easily, making them kinda pointless if you're not really good. Not all enemies, even the low tier ones, can be staggered or interrupted, making crowded fights a constant dodgeroll fest. Jumping won't interrupt your combos if you need to avoid shock waves and such. But it overall ''feels'' very badass and is very fluid.

World building is pretty good too, not extremely in-depth but it's decently fleshed out and relies on reading journals you find along the way or the bestiary.

Overall 7/10 game, very good.

I played the game as an early teen when it released. I decided to play it again as an adult, and to my surprise, this game does not age well at all for me.

While the game succeeds in terms of aesthetics, music, and combat, there is definitely a lack of something intangible in the game. I have been enjoying like-titles before and after playing this game's story, and for some reason I found myself falling asleep on this game. Literally, I fell asleep numerous times with the games open.

I think that this game has too many elements that halt the action without giving much in return as far as entertainment goes. The uncompelling story, the lack of memorable characters, the abuse of cutscenes and unskippable cinematics that force you to stare at the obvious for far longer than you'd like. Don't get me wrong, I was not playing with the intention of skipping everything and just fighting, however when it is used in such excess, it ruins the flow of the gameplay experience. Then there is the overload of puzzles and climbing. There are definitely other games with more puzzles and climbing, however, something about the way this game executed it was just a bore. I think that the slow and clunky nature of the climbing makes it more of a slow chore than a fun and smooth experience. I also think that having puzzles that have to be solved multiple times in varying ways makes them into a chore. The first few layers of each puzzle can feel somewhat rewarding, but over and over with no end goal in sight just makes for a miserable experience. Obviously you have the option to skip the puzzles, but I think that is a sad solution for those who don't wish for the absence of puzzles altogether. I would just like for it to interrupt the flow of the story less than it does.

Of course I realize that this is an old game, and it may be unfair to judge it by modern standards. I played the story all the way through on a medium difficulty and felt bored. I still pushed for the 110% completion of both the main story and DLC, and tried my best to keep an open mind. However, there is no shaking that I felt this way throughout my entire playthrough. I am simply choosing not to recommend this game on the grounds that many modern gamers might be looking for something they won't find here. It's still awesome to see these old games and experience them if that is your goal.

If you enjoy the game, all power to you! I wish that I shared your feelings. Maybe over time as mt tastes shift, I'll be more willing to come back and try again. (Probably won't do a 110% run again though)

A classic in the style of god of war.

Didn't like it, wouldn't play again.

Decent hack-and-slash game with frustrating platforming

I never thought I would give 'Not Recommended' to C:LoS. I finished the campaign, and now I would give it a neutral rating, but alas, I am still more inclined to 'Not Recommended'.
Two years ago, I played C:LoS2. I don't recall how the gameplay felt then, but I enjoyed the story a lot. Recently, I decided to complete the LoS series, starting with this game, and I have a lot on my mind.

Story. Can't say much about it, it's intriguing and I ain't a picky audience. The story is likely one of things that drove me to not drop the game in a moment of frustration.

Fights. I liked the battle system and played on a Knight difficulty. The element of decision-making is present but could be better. Since it's hack-and-slash, it's not a primary focused on developing a certain playstyle, so for the genre I think game handles battle aspect good, attacks feel impactful and umm... stylish? With all the effects, they look epic.

I question relic powers a bit bc Holy Cross and Ultimate Light were op. And that strange bc game hints you that shadow magic is more efficient during fights. Can't count it as a problem, but this aspect could be redesigned to make relic powers used according to their introduction.

Enemies behave not so significantly different from each other as you start to understand at some point, but they have interesting execution so I liked how many species were given through game.

Also, I would like to refer to the final battle with the Forgotten One (spoiler is hidden!). He's a fair challenge... Could be, if through the game we were motivated enough to learn all movesets. This battle requires you to stump to dodge his attacks and it's awesome, except, I've never used it before, so now it feels like the game finally decided to be difficult right in the end. If LoS required you to change your tactics through the game and you were prepared to learn your enemy, it would be a fair battle, but now it's about learning how to fight again since before you could just spam your favorite attacks before and now game wants you to be thoughtful.

I wish you could fill the bestiary on your own, that would give the player more exploration rather than providing information at once.

Puzzles. Decent. Some of them were really good (I think a puzzle in Zobek's room was a peak of good puzzle design), but there were unclear ones in a way you would spent a lot of time figuring how they work or even have to act on random (a chess puzzle in DLC is probably the worst puzzle. I suppose the solution is drawn on banners, but they are too small to see anything).I think, redesigning some of them might help DnD masters to come up with something, idk.

Platforming. A weak spot of this game. FRUSTRATING. At first, it just slows you down bc Gabriel climbs slower than walks, of course. But when you are going for precision, the game does not help you, you start slipping from platforms, you can't say how much there is the distance between 'danger' and Gabriel no thanks to the camera angle, and you might not get inertia because your sprint stopped working before you wanted it to stop, the game feels unfair these moments, you lose patience easily and perform even more poorly. I've died on three platformer levels (the one somewhere around the Frankenstein corridor area where you go from bottom to top in 5 minutes, the other one in a Music Box, and a goddamn 'puzzle' with blades ughhh) probably more than I've died in battles. This game is not designed to be a platformer. Platforming works poorly, let's face it.

Cutscenes. There are too many useless of them. And you wouldn't know what's in it before seeing it once. I am not saying games should not use cutscenes at all, but suggesting cutscenes should be wisely used as a tool for storytelling. Cutscenes usually explain something you can't tell through gameplay, LoD is a bad example of over usage of cutscenes.

AutoSave. I hate how the Auto Save works. I understand when you want to make something challenging for a player, let's say, before the combat with the boss, you need the player to lose some health and resources while fighting a smaller prey, then you are not saving the player here since if a player is fairly damaged, next time they will try to be more careful with smaller enemies. But when saving before a useless platforming area or just "You want to spend another 10 seconds to recover your light and shadow magic before boss every time you die? There you go!" - it's a shoddy way to make walkthrough longer than it is.

Level Design. There are worse cases than Los, but there are locations where levels don't say much about where to go. I don't think LoD is a hide-and-seek-path-to-proceed game. The player must see the pivotal path (yea, you can hide some trinkets and gems in hardly accessible areas, but I'm talking about the main quest). And I am not talking about puzzles, but an open location where you hardly understand where to go next. I've come across this problem several times and I am sure that a good level design player should be able to proceed without walkthrough videos on YouTube.

No conclusion here, thanks for your time. I am interested in what others think about it so idk, feel free to provide your opinion, I would gladly expand on questionable remarks :в

The beginning of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow saga. Great music, voice acting and graphics. The game play is also very good. A game with some mysteries and plots that starts to show the fight between good and evil faced by Belmont. Ultimate Edition contains all DLCs, providing long hours to finish and conclude this game.

Lots of fun, the combat is great, and gets better with every new relic you acquire, the story is good, not brilliant, but okay, and the difficulty is, for the most part, pleasantly challenging (the DLC content is brutal, though). The only drawback are some sections that involve a bit of platforming, which can feel a little bit frutstrating at times

At first it's difficult to like it but down in the middle you find all the good stuff from similar games (PoP, GoW, etc.) with a decent new story...

It looks like a good old fantasy movie. A lot of things are very bad, but the movie is still good.

Absolute garbage game, terrible controls and keeps freezing. This game is cheap but I still feel like I got pick pocketed. Robbed me of my money for a game that barley functions.

Buena jugabilidad e interesante historia

First Castlevania I've played and it has been delightful.
Considering it's an old game the graphics still hold up.
I totally recommend!

Criminally underrated, if you're a fan of character action fighters like old school God of War you can't go wrong here. I understand that some Castlevania fans feel it doesn't fit in with the series, but I beg to differ, it's certainly a different take in its own continuity, but the team clearly had a passion for the source material.

It's an epic adventure spanning an entire continent, you get to explore lush forests, lakeside ancient ruins, frozen tundras, Gothic castles, and more supernatural hellish environments, and everything in between. Its staggering that there's so much content in the game, and just how well it all looks and sounds - MercurySteam were really on top of their game on this one.

Music is also really nice, certainly distinct from the rest of the series, but I think it fits beautifully - not always as instantly catchy as the mainline series, but there's some real stand outs (Titan music...) The game's UI is also really easy to navigate and very readable, lots of very nice colour coding and flair - something more modern games could stand to learn from.

In terms of game play there's lots to work with, plenty of combos to buy, versatile sub weapons to use - and lots of varied enemy types for you to tackle. I will say the base game is pretty easy, even on higher difficulties, maybe since I've played the Souls-borne games in between my original PS3 playthrough and my latest. It's often possible to dominate with only a few combos and magic types, and if you're really dedicated to getting all upgrades as they come, you'll have no trouble.

The only real drawbacks beyond this are when the game makes you interface with it in a way that feels unnatural. There are challenge trials associated with each level which are fine for the most part, but some force you to speed run some awkward platforming challenges that just don't feel right - Prince of Persia this ain't. And while aerial combat is possible, it's really ill advised as you have lose all evasive mobility in the air. It's not a problem really until you reach the insane final chapter of the game that was originally released as DLC. It's a shame since I love the design and story build up, but man did they drop the ball and it sours the otherwise excellent climax of the base game. I recommend playing on the easiest difficulty for that fight and save yourself the heartache if you decide to continue past the initial 12 chapters.

In short (LOL) - BUY THIS GAME. Give it a chance and view it as fun sub series within the wider Castlevania mythos, you'll certainly get your money's worth!

One of my all time favorites

I played this originally on the XBox 360 I believe?

This one is going to be a hard pass for me, the Castlevania games have just never been able to do an actually good 3D version of the game and this one does not fail to disappoint.

Fights are tedious, every enemy is a damage pinata that always ends with some kind of quick time action to finish them, this is true for both regular enemies and bosses, and it gets old fast.

They have these combos you need to pull off to make this cinematic experience, but the issue is, almost every enemy has the ability to knock you down or interrupt your combo where you will never really actually be able to use them, most of the time you will most likely be spamming the direct attack using the "dark magic" buff to increase the damage.

Terrible camera angles, the best example of this is in the later chapters, there are the pedestals you have to turn and your character will just continually let go because your movement of the controls doesnt match the character position, this results in the puzzle resetting, very infuriating. They could have done a rotatable camera but nah, they decided to go with that 90's fixed position cameras, and it worked back then, it doesn't now.

Boring gameplay, aside from pinatas you will have to solve some puzzles, which usually involves moving this from here to there then fighting some pinatas to get the stone to open the door to the next room of pinatas.

Did I mention quick time actions? Who doesn't want that finishing move on every single enemy to be concealed behind the prompt to mash some button. Who doesn't want those cut scenes interrupted by SMASH THIS BUTTON! You know why quick time actions died almost 20 years ago, because they sucked and took away from points of the game that just would have been better without them.

So we have terrible camera angles
lack luster combat against pinatas
simplistic puzzles that are more annoying than fun.
Quick time actions, because everyone loves those.

I'm just going to get to the point, will you please just release Symphony of The Night on Steam so that we can actually play a Castlevania game that people ACTUALLY enjoyed?

DLC:

The DLC is short, it is a continuous barrage of instant death mechanics meant to give you the illusion of challenge, it's not it's tedious trial and error of repeatedly doing the short segments over and over again because of bad camera angles and poorly thought out mechanics.

Amazing graphics for its time, great music and voice acting.

Story is overall fine but could've been better.

Regardless, completely worth playing for those who enjoy old God of War like games.

Masterful game - touching story, great visuals and gameplay, and one of the best narrative experiences (ft. Sir Patrick Stewart)!

The true spirit of Castlevania isn't in getting Dracula right or wrong. There are Castlevanias that get Dracula right and there are Castlevanias that get Dracula wrong, and that's not what's important. The true spirit of Castlevania is demonstrated by getting FRANKENSTEIN wrong ENOUGH, and by that measure Lords of Shadow absolutely deserves to be counted a Castlevania.

you cant start a new game so no i dont reccomend it its a great game awesome but there is no option to start a new game at all

this is a product of its time regarding qtes & static cameras and hack and slash, but kojima involvement, 10/10 artwork and atmosphere, very good music, if you havent played so far this timeless masterpiece you have to yesterday, this is my second playthrough 14 years later after the release and it stands good in the test of time. Also if you have issues with changing the resolution you have to replace a config file on the folder and it works great after that.

Alberto approves

A bargain-bin God of War clone mixed with, inexplicably, a very silly Shadow of the Colossus clone of all things. It's a random, derivative, and featureless 5/10 PS3 game that was not even developed by Konami but was marketed as a Castlevania reboot to sell some copies. It's a "reboot" because it's entirely unrelated to Castlevania: a guy goes to an elf forest to ask the god Pan for magic to fight demons and battles climbable "titans" on the way.

Awesome game

yes

This game is more like God of War than Castlevania. It isn't even a Metroidvania game. But its fine. I bought it on sale and I'd recommend other do the same.

a re-imagining of the classic Castlevania series as a 3rd person adventure. this game features environmental puzzles that arent terribly hard, harrowing terrain traversal and-- where the game truly shines-- the swift and agile combat! harness light and shadow magic as well as a number of ancient relics and experience this treasure of a game! what an absolute masterpiece!

I really really wanted to like this. Castlevania with God of War vibes? Sounds great, but the lack of camera control, dodgy jump mechanics, and bullet sponge enemies just made this a slog.

Played it briefly on ps3 when it came out, to this date (2025) its still a gem of a game, has nice gameplay and a very compelling story. The voice acting is superb and the different challenges you unlock make the game very enjoyable while increasing the difficulty in a subtle manner. Despite being basically a reboot and having so much of the lore as a direct reference to other games it manages to bring freshness and novelty to a very loved series. If you haven't played it then youre missing a lot, 100% recommended!!!

Played it many years ago on release and the the game is still great. There are some bad moments, but they are far and few. Graphics are still beautiful in most cases. The main game still holds to this day, however the 2 chapter DLC is not so consistent. Puzzles are good, but there is a lack of good battles, only annoying ghouls against Laura and horrible skeleton enemies. And the Forgotten One is an absolute BS and trash. Nevertheless, still a great game experience with a great story.

One of the worst game I've ever played. Nothing in it works. I won't elaborate.

The best thing I can say is this game is mediocre. From enemies, linear level design, combat, and the story leaves much to be desired. Bosses feel like cheap knockoffs of Shadow of Colossus giants. I'd like to have been able to say I beat this but I'm just not having fun.

Having a lot of fun with Gabriel on his journey

This is a fun game, you should buy!

As a longtime Castlevania fan, especially of the Igavania games, it pains me to leave a negative review on anything with the Castlevania name. I'm doing a full series marathon since the Dominus Collection came out, revisiting classics and trying out the ones I never played before like the PS2 games, which I ended up really enjoying. I went into Lords of Shadow with an open mind, determined to form my own opinion… but for the life of me, I just can't finish this game.

Objectively, it's a well made game, but it just doesn't feel like Castlevania at all. Everything was changed for the sake of being more cinematic and mainstream. The combat is decent, especially once you unlock more moves, but the overall gameplay loop feels like a chore. There are way too many tedious and uninteresting puzzles that serve more as padding than engaging challenges. Even the art direction leans into generic dark fantasy rather than the signature gothic horror aesthetic that made the series stand out.

Maybe I'll give it another shot in the future, but right now, it's just not clicking with me. If you're looking for a Castlevania experience, this ain't it.

Combat fun when skills are unlocked, too long. dont go for the achievements

Bought it on a sale and goddamn i think it is one of the best Castlevania games i ever played.

game's design and art are truly impressive, showing clear love and attention to detail

I really wanted to like this game as I'm a huge Castlevania fan. These are the things I disliked about the game:
1. Camera - Cannot see enemies sneaking up behind you and often get hit.
2. No Stagger - Your hits feel like they make no impact. It makes no sense to use combos because some larger enemies are immune to staggering and will attack you in the middle of your combo.
3. Pointless mechanic - You have to play perfectly to gain focus, gain enough focus and enemies will start to drop energy spheres. These energy spheres is what heals you. But if you're playing perfectly then you don't need healing, and if you are struggling and need healing well too bad because the energy spheres only drop if you play perfectly.
4. So much climbing - This game is riddled with more climbing than a Tomb Raider game, it feels slow and boring and that it was purposely put there to pad out the game length to stop you from finishing the levels too quickly.
5. Bad Story - The cut scenes and level text are pointless. Castlevania games never really had great stories but at least it wasn't the focus of the game. This game however wants you to be interested in it's awful story. Watch the Netflix cartoon instead if you want better Castlevania storytelling.
6. No vampires - After a few hours of playing, I saw no vampires or heard of no vampires. It just doesn't feel like a Castlevania game. It feels more like a really bad version of The Witcher 1 if I'm being honest.

The only good thing this game has going for it is that the main character Gabriel is a cutie patootie and I wanna have lots of segs with him.

This was my first Castlevania game back when it released on consoles back in the late 2000s and I loved playing it then. I am glad we got a PC release and playing it brought back nostalgic memories nearly 15 years later.
The gameplay is similar to the original God of War games and I am enjoying the combat design. The art design is something special and I love the atmosphere and story.
Maybe sometime in the future we get a remaster or even a sequel but this is a cult classic though many people might not agree.