Castlevania Mirror of Fate Revisited

A retrospective analysis of the mircosequel to Mercurysteam's 2010 reboot Castlevania Lords of Shadow, originally for the 3DS and later for consoles and PC in 2013.
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[@mykplaze193]

UPDATE: My Lords of Shadow 2 video is still coming don't worry! I've finished the game and recorded it and I'm currently half way through editing it. Looking like it's going to be about 45-50 minutes long and hopefully will be out sometime next week! I've had some PC issues while I was doing my GTA Definitive Edition video that seem to be all sorted now (I had planned to do GTA after LoS2 but because those remasters turned out to be a shit show I decided to get it out of the way).

[@imaginarycorgi7312]

Now I’m hyped

[@alexandernoviello9557]

Holy shit, I just looked at your sub count and I’m blown the fuck away. Content of this quality and incisiveness deserves a much larger audience. You very easily earned my sub

[@mykplaze193]

Thank you so much!

[@Foolsjoker]

@@mykplaze193 Definately agree with this comment. But as someone who has done podcasting/audio work for years - you need to back up from your mic, and work on the giant inhale when speaking. Audio quality is very important when the majority of your content is verbal. Great quality, minor critiques and hopefully this has changed over time as this is an older video by now. Keep it up, and keep growing.

[@chrisdyter1440]

Great and balanced review. This was a pretty underrated game at the time I reckon and the point of it was kind of missed. The upscaled version on the PS3 after the initial 3DS release was awesome. Bags of atmosphere in the castle.

[@CutterboyBK]

so much nostalgia for this game as it was my first “M” game ever on the DS(and in general), with the dark and creepy environments and amazing enemy design i can almost remember every level and enemy from last playing this game almost 8 years ago. such a great game

[@ianarthur93]

Awesome video man, Castlevania is one of my favorite series of all time and you did an splendid job reviewing this and the first one. 10/10 video for me!

[@vallaurianv6024]

Great video. I always liked this game and didn’t get the hate for it. It’s great to play, feels like Castlevania and has a genuinely evocative soundtrack. The final act with Trevor is one of the saddest sections in gaming - I became a father not long before this came out and was touched by the story. Must pick up LoS 2 soon…

[@julianx2rl]

This game's 3D effect was one of the best on the 3DS. There's a bunch of games that just send everything to the back, but this one is nicely layered. I only with they didn't go so crazy on those polygons, they kinda made the game chug from time to time.

[@MrRaheninm]

As a big fan of the castlevania serie i love the lords of shadow saga, exellent review man i will follow

[@carlosmendoza1177]

Really loving your reviews here! I almost finish LoS and I love it, so I'm definitely going to give this game a try and see what surprises it holds for me, hopefully they're good ones

[@Hynotama]

I'm subscribing with anticipation for a Lords of Shadow 2 video. Don't leave us hanging, alright?

[@filthycasual8187]

Despite its flaws, this is easily my favorite game in the Lords of Shadow series. I love the more classic feel it has while retaining some gameplay elements and the lore from the first Lords of Shadow game. Narratively, this seems to be a reimagining of Castlevania 1, Castlevania 3, and Symphony of the Night all in one game and using the new lore established by LOS1 to build off of. MercurySteam finally got to do that CV1 remake they originally wanted to do.

[@MakoyUnggoy]

I'm just about to buy this and wanted to see what the reviews were like. You did a great job of explaining stuff and now I'm off to ebay to see what's what, thanks!

[@abareamphibia6812]

This not just one of my favorite castlevania games and 3ds games but it’s one of my favorite games of all time, seriously played thru this game 6 or 7 times over the years

[@pfam128]

The whole vibe of this game was so amazing completed this 3rd time on hard difficulty idk why they stopped making this style of castlevania games i didn't like 3d ones much 😢.. just need mirrors of fate 2 ❤... And thanks myk making video on this game ...

[@calfiend4699]

Looking forward to the Lords Of Shadow 2 and Last Of Us revisits. 👍

[@mykplaze193]

Thank you! My Last of Us video should be out this week!

[@justinmoney5508]

I never forgot about this series castlevania mirror of fate was my personal favorite

[@adpbobcat]

Trying to decide to buy lords of shadow 2 for the first time...didn't even know about this game. Good editing. Subscribed

[@Gumma0]

finished the game a week ago and i absolutely LOVED it. its no metroidvania, but still a pretty great CV Title. its a real shame, that we are still waiting for a new CV Title

[@Batman_83]

Can't wait to see the LoS 2 review.

[@mykplaze193]

Thank you! It'll be coming after my Last of Us 2 video! All I can say for now is that's it been interesting replaying LoS2 after all these years

[@Batman_83]

@@mykplaze193 I got LoS 1 and 2 through PS Now and really enjoyed them. But LoS 2 just left me feeling very mixed.

[@KevinKeys-KK]

My main gripe, and probably a lot of others is we were expecting a Castlevania in the vein of the GBA and DS trilogies. 3d is amazing, music amazing, enemy and environments amazing..and that's about it honestly. Gone are weapon and armor systems, items, soul and money drops, hidden walls and hubs or NPC quests. No choosing a play style by switching up weapons or souls. I think it's a great game, I don't think it's a great Castlevania game though. I'm fully guilty of not wanting change in this series and understand I'm being negative mainly because of nostalgia and expectations but thats also because the previous games were so good and they couldn't meet the bar set. DMC or GoW are so evident as inspiration when they really didn't need it, just had to stay with what worked. Really bummed we will probably never get another 2d or 2.5d Castlevania again, haven't heard of them doing anything with the IP.

[@rodvarmo]

I love this game in the 3ds in 3d wow a Masterpiece. Hi from Costa Rica

[@justinmoney6285]

Man I remember running thru this game and completely finishing the game on all difficulties on the 3ds and on ps3

[@mash9537]

Good review. I enjoyed this game a lot. I never understood why it got so much hate.

[@leonozuna3242]

I think that the confusion with the story of LoS Mirror of fate is because not many people played the first game since it came out first on the 3DS. After playing the first game and this game you realize how much Gabriel angriness had grown up and why he does what he does in LoS 2

[@alphahunterd]

god I loved this game. my first of the franchise and what made me love it

[@Kenshiro3rd]

8:22 There were more QTE in the original 3DS version. Everyone had a couple sequences. They removed most of them for the HD version. But yeah there were are LOT less prevalent in it.

[@mykplaze193]

Huh that's interesting! Part of me wishes I had actually played the 3DS version as well, but I could never justify buying one just to play one game..

[@AlphaZeroX96]

Wha...how is Mirror of Fate's art style better than Bloodstained's???

[@mykplaze193]

Simple. Bloodstained is completely beholden to the old look of other 2D Metroidvania's, with lots of repetitive rooms, simply rendering it 3D doesn't change that. It doesn't feel fresh in any way. Mirror of Fate on the other hand has a greater sense of scale to areas and uses it's 3D nature to move the camera in artistic ways to highlight this and the castle look and feel more like a real place, instead of Bloodstained which looks very gamey by comparison. Plus there is very little in the way of repetition, you never spend long in one area before you move to a different looking location. That's why I think Mirror of Fate has a better artstyle.

[@AlphaZeroX96]

"Which looks very gamey?" Bloodstained's a video game though.

[@maiastniki]

i have both lords of shadow games and i remember being hype for this when the 3ds first came out and not liking the demo but ill say i was sleep

[@maiastniki]

overall it felt kinda slow i guess i liked the quick n snappy/weighty feel of the gba n ds games

[@davidt1995]

Nice video !

[@chiefenumclaw7960]

excellent work!

[@mediocremason]

Game is on sale on steam rn and is worth the $3 fellas. Loved this game on my 3ds and can't to relive my nostalgia of playing this on a school night.

[@guidemissile1494]

Six words that can sell you this game: They. Put. This. On. A. 3ds.

[@SintelMK]

why they didnt make castlevania lord of shadow 3, i love the series man

[@wiletheridge88]

Can't wait for lords of shadow 2

[@theganjician9272]

I wish Lords of Shadow 2 wasn’t a rushed product. I wish the stealth could have been different to where we could mist like areas to sneak kill our enemies and drain enemies and citizens blood from. Kinda like blood omen 2 but, better developed and not a long repetitive draining cycle. That way we could heal ourselves using blood since you’re Dracula. The combat too could have used the magic to add elemental damage and whatnot. They should have done away with not needing magic bars to use the other weapons. It could have added to the combat to actually use those weapons in combos. The magic bars could just add the element damage like it does normally.

[@dennischeng9541]

I hope they will re-release this game again in PS4/PS5

[@popcornkid4325]

the nostolgia

[@djslw0114]

I actually quite like this rebooted series, I don't like LoS1's style because I find it too generic compare to Ayami Kojima's beautifully bizarre gothic. But I like how the series took more inspiration from past game and finding its own identity, as well as getting more unique/colorful over time. The new Alucard looks great and probably the best version since sotn. I wouldn't mind if they continue this line but too bad it died right when they start getting the hang of things :(

[@JuliusCaesar103]

Really enjoyed this game. Shame the franchise gets hated on so much.

[@danboxall4762]

What are all these weapons you have? Fairies, fire magic, holy water? Have I missed something, or do you get it later in the game?

[@mykplaze193]

Each character gets different sub weapons and magic abilities

[@richardgurney1844]

I remember trying the 3ds demo back in the day and thought the game was rather lackluster and disappointing. So I searched for a review and, naturally, IGN's review came up - it was very negative and validated my opinion of the game Now - I'm finding out that the game is supposedly pretty solid and fun with an interesting enough story, and that IGN were in the minority with it's hateful review?!? I didn't know the game was good!! :( Am I missing out? Is it worth buying?

[@eduardoromeroruiz-sarmient2744]

The game is good. Good gameplay, puzzles and combat. Maybe it's not among the best in the castlevania series but playing the game is fun.

[@AlexsaurusRex]

I'm stuck due to a bug on the 3ds version. Anyone know if it's gotten patches?

[@tomivalkonen1343]

I started playing thia series for the first time tonight and im kinda hooked right now. I did play around 50% of DS game when it came out but I dont like playing on handheld systems so I quit it halfway. I had X360 version of Mirror of Fate for a while now but I waited correct mood and moment to jump back in. Today I bought Lords of Shadow 1 and 2 for Xbox 360 and im totally loving it.

[@mykplaze193]

I hope you enjoy them!

[@Eastsid3]

Nice retrospective. I had I high hopes for this one but it was just bland for me. I played this on Xbox and I love the story and some of the visuals but the game was just boring compared to other castlevania and this isn't even comparing it to SOTN or DS games. I may give this a try again but as soon as I finished it i never even thought of playing again unlike LOS.

[@marcleblanc5639]

Playable on PS4?

[@mykplaze193]

If you live in the US and have PS Now you can stream it I think?

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

Hell yeh.

[@bardsandsages1278]

😎👍

[@mrsalento78]

if it had a better graphics, like Hollow Knight, it would have been a splendid game.

[@brandons6167]

IGN is trash. They seem to enjoy being contrarian. The audience scores are always more useful to me.

[@Lastkingof33]

Men on video games: hated it!

[@mykplaze193]

... what?

[@simonwest1977]

lord of shadow was the nail in the coffin for castlevania, they were dire. goblins? wanna be shadow of colossus bosses. hated it and the trevor/alucard changes.

[@mykplaze193]

The changes made to the lore are subjective and you can dislike Lords of Shadow, that's fine. However to say that Lords of Shadow was "the nail in the coffin" is factually incorrect. It remains the most commercially successful game in the franchise and did well enough to green light two sequels (Lords of Shadow 2 sold well enough to warrant it getting a DLC/expansion pack). Lords of Shadow had nothing to do with Konami's decision in 2014/2015 to move away from console releases, as it's also neglected its many other franchises like Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Contra.

[@swordofdanu]

Yeah, it's still shit.

[@mykplaze193]

Alright dude groovy, go hug a rainbow

[@castlev1986]

i don't like how they make simon's mother a weak women in this game in the real time line she's a bad ass i think that was a low move to make her weak in this time line & killer off so fast the real one could of killed the beast that killed her in the old games