New Castlevania: Lords of Shadow screens are bloody, awesome

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 19th 2009 at 11:03AM }

Holy crap! We've been connoisseurs of vampire-centric media for quite some time now (thankfully, we've managed to avoid those dreadful books), but we never knew that vampires were made entirely out of blood. At least, that's the conclusion we've drawn from the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow screenshot you see above -- one of a handful of pieces of media we just got our hands on. You can see the whole batch in the gallery below.

None of the others feature this bizarre phenomenon -- however, we suppose it's equally amazing that the vestments of Gabriel (the game's protagonist) remain so hemoglobin-free while he's running around, popping dudes like bloated mosquitoes.

Gallery: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (GamesCom 2009)

Tags: castlevania, castlevania-lords-of-shadow, dracula, gallery, gamescom-2009, kojima-productions, konami, mercurysteam, screenshots, vampires

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Access Granted [No one can stop Mr. Domino!] @ Aug 19th 2009 11:08AM

I'd be full of blood if I drank it all the time too! =)

Tiptup300 @ Aug 19th 2009 11:13AM

Fuck you konami, make a sequel to SotN, still regarded as one of the best games ever.

Note: I said one of.

Access Granted [No one can stop Mr. Domino!] @ Aug 19th 2009 11:18AM

I'm not Konami.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Aug 19th 2009 11:19AM

Hate mail...fail?

Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 19th 2009 11:40AM

Fuck you Stephen Sommers! How did you fuck up G.I. Jow, which is utter crap, when you've created two of the best adventure movies ever, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns?

Note: I said two of.

Tiptup300 @ Aug 19th 2009 12:55PM

Wasn't directed at you.

Jinsenken @ Aug 19th 2009 1:48PM

You did reply to him didn't you?

Andrew @ Aug 19th 2009 11:08AM

BOOMER!

CJLopez @ Aug 19th 2009 11:09AM

Ya know, either the page didn't loaded right, or i need a pair of glasses already, cuz i was looking for the gallery and its nowhere to be seen, xDDDDD

Really, reaaaaaaaally want to see those images

CJLopez @ Aug 19th 2009 11:10AM

Unless of course now gallery = source

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Aug 19th 2009 11:13AM

Yeah, you gotta click on the Source button to view the gallery. Kinda weird, but oh well.

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Aug 19th 2009 11:11AM

Ugh. This is going to be as much a Castlevania game in the same sense that the Resident Evil movies are about Resident Evil.

It'll inevitably be the turd in the toilet bowl, but hyped up anyway due mostly to the legions of Kojima fanboys, even though from the sound of it his name is being attached to the game to promote it and nothing more.

baby sea tuna @ Aug 19th 2009 11:15AM

It can't possibly be worse than Judgement or the N64 game (whose name escapes me currently)

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Aug 19th 2009 11:16AM

You mean Castlevania 64?
I suppose that was the low point for the series in general. The only redeeming thing about Castlevania 64 was the opening violin music, I thought.

whylekat @ Aug 19th 2009 11:17AM

Yeah I heard he only produced it.

Cody @ Aug 19th 2009 11:18AM

Aww c'mon tuna!!! I loved the N64 one! The second one released, enhanced with the Ram Pak, was pretty decent!

As long as you don't compare it to any other Castlevania released ever.

Mr Khan @ Aug 19th 2009 12:16PM

The problem is that it's like they outsourced the game twice. Konami outsources it to Kojima, who in turn outsources it to these Spanish developers (who made Clive Barker's Jericho, a game of ill repute), so basically you have a western PC developer making a game that's being produced by a guy who really has nothing to do with the series

What's Igarashi up to? And how does he feel about all this :/

Jimbotron @ Aug 19th 2009 2:40PM

I don't know if it will be a turd, but the only thing Castlevania about the game is the title. Originally it was just called Lords of Shadow. I don't remember what magazine I was reading about this game in, but almost nothing about the game as far as plot or characters has anything to do with Castlevania.

But Konami's tactic worked. Tons of people are excited about this game simply because "Castlevania" is in the title.

Chairman Hurf [Planeteer | Power of Politically Correct Comedic Relief] @ Aug 19th 2009 11:13AM

This is going to be fantastic, I BELIEVE IN HIDEO KOJIMA

baby sea tuna @ Aug 19th 2009 11:14AM

Whoa!

Oh, and if there's any doubt about how full of blood vampires are, True Blood will serve as a gory reminder (not to mention that post-bathtub kill from The Lost Boys.)

Personally, I like my vamps slayed the Whedon way, nice and tidy (if not a little dusty.)

Dirty @ Aug 19th 2009 11:15AM

Have you ever swatted a mosquito right after it bit you, yeah its like that.

Jerk Face @ Aug 19th 2009 11:18AM

It kind of looks like a Devil May Cry with more exploratory elements. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's pretty, too.

rells009 @ Aug 19th 2009 12:05PM

If that's the case then I'm game. I'll never forget playing the original (and imo, best) DMC and thinking it had the makings of a fine Castlevania game. Sure they ratcheded up the "cool factor" a million fold but it had it all. Huge bosses, platforming, a nice assortment of weapons; seriously, Capcom should've made at least one weapon a whip.

gamer4250 @ Aug 19th 2009 11:18AM

Heh, for a second there I thought you said they were bloody awesome.

Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 19th 2009 11:18AM

I miss 2D Castlevania =(

But this does look like the sweetness.

Heavytoka @ Aug 19th 2009 11:44AM

Can you imagine a 2D Castlevania with all that blood

Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 19th 2009 12:05PM

I can imagine it...and in the process, my pants have become severely tighter.

Evildude @ Aug 19th 2009 12:35PM

what about the 1 for PSP, wasn't that 2D?
oh well, maybe I need to get my eyes calibrated :P

FNG @ Aug 19th 2009 12:58PM

Castlevainia 4 on the SNES is the best one. I still play it to this day. Also, it had great game music.

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Aug 19th 2009 11:21AM

I dunno guys. It looks very Metroplex-y.

mitchellgreen @ Aug 19th 2009 11:24AM

I just hope there is some remnant of the collection system in SOTN available. I like searching for the piece of uber gear, or the hidden awesome weapons.

Also, the screen with many bad-guys has me hopeful that it will be more than 2-3 enemies at once.

XBL: xGeneral DEATHx PSN: Deeth82 @ Aug 19th 2009 11:27AM

Very GoW-ish, not necessarily a bad thing, I just hope the story is rich enough (though probably not) to augment the gameplay even more. I'm psyched about this one, but also optimistically cautious.

Heavytoka @ Aug 19th 2009 11:43AM

More blood the better

captainprotonx @ Aug 19th 2009 11:44AM

I'm not seeing a good product.

3D Castlevania has been as inspired as 3D Sonic.

In this case, it is literal that these attempts always look like "other" games but slapped with a Castlevania label.

It just doesn't work.

Dr. Stabbingworth @ Aug 19th 2009 1:47PM

They know we want the next SotN, why won't they give it to us? Imagine how amazing the graphics would look in a 2D game on the 360/PS3.

Stop putting all the good Castlevanias on a fucking 3" screen!

WINterfang @ Aug 19th 2009 11:44AM

Holy fuck....how does a whip make somebody explode like this? and there's not limps only blood.

darthjayson @ Aug 19th 2009 11:52AM

As long as there is some sweet succubus action somewhere, count me in!

Arkhetype @ Aug 19th 2009 12:07PM

As one of the biggest Castlevania fans on this site and perhaps anywhere I must say this game looks amazing. I have enjoyed most every Castlevania game to date with the exception of Haunted Castle and Castlevania Judgement.

This may be the ground breaking breath of fresh air that is needed for Castlevania. The other 3d adventures were amazing. So hopefully this will not disappoint.

Cant wait. The screen shots look excellent.

ids @ Aug 19th 2009 12:49PM

The game looks great. And you know you know your going to have great fight scences. I just hope that it becomes a vary dark game. Not light hearted. I think that once you have castlevainia game you need a lot of blood and gore to set the mood of the game.