WARNING: This review will contain SPOILERS of the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow game. If you wish to read our review on the original game, check it out here.
“God has given you one face and you make yourself another.” – William Shakespeare.
Humans have always wanted to fly. We wish we could leap from our rooftops, flap our little arms and soar through the air, experiencing life as the birds see it. Should you choose to experiment with this fantasy, you’ll be about as successful as Reverie – but you’ll at least be more interesting.
Trying to be something it’s not, and clinging to gameplay elements that it is simply not equipped for, Reverie feels like a sloppy and unrefined DLC that never needed to exist. Much like the human who wants to fly but is incapable of doing so, Reverie wants to be a puzzle/platformer, choosing to abandon most of what made the original game so great. Combat takes a backseat in this expansion, and when it does show up, it is an ugly reflection of what Lords of Shadow had to offer. The DLC does expand on the story a little more—with an interesting revelation at the end—but for those eager to continue on from Lords of Shadow’s incredible conclusion, you may be disappointed.
Following the events of Gabriel’s showdown with Satan, Gabriel is contacted by Laura—the not-so evil vampire girl from before. She informs Gabriel that he has unknowingly threatened the world by indirectly loosening the cage to a being known only as the “Forgotten One”—and forget him you shall. A significant portion of the power keeping this monster in check was the magic held by the Dark Lords, whom Gabriel slaughtered in Lords of Shadow. With these security guards now dead, it is up to you and Laura to save the world and eliminate the Forgotten One.
This justification to extend the Lords of Shadow plot is poor, but it at least gives us just cause to dive back into the gripping, violent combat that sucked us in the last time, right? Wrong. Reverie decides to emphasize its core gameplay on puzzles and platforming. Sure, this mini-expansion has Gabriel ripping ghouls apart, but these moments are few and far between. And unfortunately, what’s few and far is boring, and what’s in between is frustrating.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Reverie still maintains the high quality graphics and impressive environments from Lords of Shadow. The three levels included within this DLC all take place in an underground section of the castle, originally owned by the founders of Gabriel’s order. You’ll find dead Brothers strewn throughout the level, offering a little more backstory about the area and Gabriel’s brotherhood. This hidden section of the castle isn’t the only thing that’s new though, as Gabriel is actively accompanied by Laura throughout the experience. Laura will aid you in combat and at some points, you’ll even get to take control of her!
However, feeling like a cruel, practical joke, you take control of Laura during some of those rare combat sequences, as well. It’s initially quite interesting and succeeds in being something new, but Laura just isn’t as exciting in combat as Gabriel. I spent the best part of thirty hours upgrading and mastering combat with Gabriel, but he has been demoted to senior block pusher and wall-climber, whilst Laura gets to have all the fun. Nevertheless, it is quite interesting playing as Laura. Her abilities include sucking blood from enemies to replenish health, and turning into a cloud of mist to pass through both objects and attacks.
Laura seems like she would be much more suited to puzzle solving and platforming, but that job has largely been left to Gabriel. Platforming is the same as it was in the original game – poor. Gabriel is twitchy and sensitive, making him hard to control amidst the deadly traps within the castle. There is a new feature that is introduced and then quickly forgotten; the ability to run on water. When you dash along water, Gabriel will immediately run on the surface, trying his best to avoid the underwater creatures below. However, the same problem persists. This feature is reliant on Gabriel’s movement, and his movement is as inconsistent as it always was.
The puzzles aren’t nearly as frustrating, though, and these can be quite fun to solve. There is an interesting mix throughout the experience, such as controlling one of Laura’s dolls along a maze, and guiding a block through a number of colored portals. These sections are okay, but they don’t really add anything of value to the experience. Sure, the trial and error it takes to solve these puzzles make the experience last longer, but at what cost? Puzzles were a small piece in Lords of Shadow, part of a much larger context, but here they take up a good chunk of the experience. This makes Reverie feel like a collection of mini-games at points, and it’s unfortunate that the heart and soul imbued in the original game is all but lost because of it.
On the contrary, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was a fine experience. We gave it high praise here at BagoGames, patting it on the back for its powerful and engaging combat systems, as well as its beautiful art direction and awesome scale. The disjointed puzzles and clumsy platforming segments dragged it down slightly, but not enough to spoil the great journey that Mercury Steam had crafted. It boggles the mind that Reverie focused the majority of its efforts on these segments, and that is why I cannot recommend it. The revelation at the end might be interesting to some, but is it a necessary buy? Not Reverie really.
To check out something slightly more optimistic, give our Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Review a try!