Dark Times need a Dark Hero!
STORY:
You play as a member of the Brotherhood of Light named Gabriel Belmont. He is on a journey to stop a mysterious force called the Lords of Shadow. Along the way he encounters many mystical creatures that are just legends to us such as Pan, lycans, goblins, and many other creatures. The story is pretty basic however, what really draws the players in is the atmosphere and the characters themselves. In past Castlevania games such as Lament of Innocence the player doesn't really feel for Leon Belmont. In this game however you can see the pain Gabriel is going through with the death of his wife. It seems that the Belmonts can never keep their wives alive!
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay is similar to Dante's Inferno and God of War. Hack and slash genre with a little more strategy to it. Some of the moves Gabriel receives cannot be used on all the enemies. Also countering and blocking are essential in this game since the enemies tend to gang up on you on higher difficulties. You also need to be wary of the magic you have and also the sub weapons. The enemies can dodge your sub weapons such as the daggers which adds more tactics into the combat. The skill system is straightforward. You gain EXP from killing enemies and you can spend them during the levels or after each level. The controls and camera are fluid and you won't have any issue with the controls what so ever. The game has a simple learning curve to really have you focused on what's going on around to keep you intrigued with the story. There are 12 chapters with multiple levels in each and a lots of collectibles for your weapon and to increase your stats. This game will keep you busy for a LONG time.
LENGTH:
As I mentioned before this is a very lengthy title. much longer than the God of War series. You can easily spend about 20+ hours in this game and not find every collectible. Hideo Kojima has helped with the production of this game so that means be prepared for heavy story segments. This isn't all bad as it will make this game stand out from other action adventure titles that are already on the market.
REPLAYABILITY:
You can easily clock in 10-15 hours just going through the story. But if you attempt to collect everything and do all the trials in each stage then you can spend 20-40 hours depending on the difficulty. There is a lot of exploration in the clever lever designs that will make you think about the paths you choose. There are DLC content out as well which I will need to pick up as well once you complete the game.
All in all this game has been overlooked and should really be checked out. I am a HUGE God of War fan and I honestly love this a lot more due to the quality they put into the story and the gameplay and also the protagonist. If you are looking for a hack and slash adventure game then I would highly recommend Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.