Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Reverie DLC Review

From the Vault — originally published March 24, 2011. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was one of the surprise hits of last year. Mercury Steam, a pretty much unknown studio was able to produce and enjoyable an graphically stunning game. It did have slight issues and pacing problems but overall Lords of Shadow was a great game that I rated fairly well many months ago.

This week the first of two DLC packs was released. This pack called ” Reverie” which by definition is a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts. In this DLC the narrator is not Zobeck but Gabriel and takes us through his return to the castle after the end of game events of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow proper. Gabriel returns to assist the vampire Laura.

Lords of Shadow was a 12-14 hour game. And certainly a good value. Unfortunately this Reverie DLC pack feels like quite the opposite. The DLC is a 2-3 hour romp over 2 stages in the castle which was arguably the best part of the main game. Sounds good? Well it would have been great had it been comprised of the best parts and mechanics of the full game.

There is just too much platforming. The platforming was the most iffy part of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and all this DLC does is throw more of it at you. Most of the platforming is not improved or refined from the disc campaign. For example there is a large section where you have to avoid the water beasts and the not knowing where to jump next problem is rampant there. To compound this when you fall into the water and die in that section they replay this death video and then you have to wait for the level to load again before you can reattempt. It gets really annoying. Its like they don’t realize that these pieces of the game are were not so great even though many reviewers pointed this out as weak point in the games formula.

They give you more platforming than combat in the DLC which is a sad state of affairs. You do though get to play as Laura though her combat mechanics are lackluster and initially frustrating. The lack of memorable combat pieces in lieu of more unrefined platforming is a huge misstep. There are no boss battles.

The graphics are detailed and superb. The setting is well represented with intricate details. There are also a few puzzles that were challenging and fun. Though I found the platforming tedious I did find the saw blade platforming puzzle enjoyable.

The verdict is that its hard to recommend the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Reverie DLC at its current price of $9.99. Its just too expensive when considering that for a few bucks more you can buy a full priced budget title you may have missed like Darksiders, Bayonetta, Sabatueur, and of course the list goes on. There are also full DLC games for that price.

Looking at the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Reverie DLC on its own merits I would still have to say I found it disappointing. The lack of combat and boss battles, and the not so great platforming with cheap deaths sticks more firmly close to mind than the good puzzles and great graphics. The ending was also a dick tease considering there was no end boss battle really solidifying the feeling that this was a cash in attempt at the expense of fans. Buy it when its $4.99 or cheaper unless you are huge fan in which case its already too late.