History YMMV / CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow

* CompleteMonster (includes [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2 the sequel]]): {{Satan}} is the [[BigBad architect]] of almost every atrocity in the games, all so he could return to Heaven and [[RageAgainstTheHeavens take revenge on God]]. Corrupting the Lords of Shadow themselves, Satan is responsible for the creation of both Vampires. [[ManipulativeBastard Deceiving]] and possessing Zobek, Satan uses him to separate Heaven from Earth, leaving the souls of the dead trapped in Limbo, afterwards forcing [[Characters/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowBelmontLineage Gabriel Belmont]] to murder his wife Marie. Aiming to exploit the prophecy of the Chosen One to claim the God Mask for himself, Satan arranges for Gabriel to kill many others, both evil and innocent, before attempting to dispose of both Gabriel and Zobek. Defeated by Gabriel, Satan has his children pave the way for his return and when when he does come back, he murders the son who summoned him for not disposing of the one man he fears: Gabriel--now known as [[Characters/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowDracula Dracula]]. Opting to simply destroy the world with an enslaved and tortured Leviathan, Satan's final gambit has him possess [[Characters/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowAlucard Alucard]], Dracula's beloved son, to try to stop Dracula from killing him, all the while taunting Dracula. Making paltry attempts at justifying himself, Gabriel saw Satan for the wretched [[ItsAllAboutMe egomaniac]] he is.

* CompleteMonster: {{Satan}} is a ManipulativeBastard, operates as TheChessmaster once he appears, and is TheManBehindTheMan to the Lords of Shadow themselves. Satan [[BigBad arranged every atrocity in the game]], from Gabriel Belmont's wife's death at Gabriel's own hands and the deaths of countless innocents, so he could set everything up to return to Heaven and take it over to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens complete his revenge on God]]. When he appears, Satan attempts to eliminate his final pawn, Zobek, and keeps the souls lost on the way [[AndIMustScream trapped in Limbo]]. Satan [[TheCorrupter corrupted]] the [[FallenHero Lords of Shadow]] into becoming the monsters they had become, also making him responsible for all the innocents the werewolves and vampires had devoured. Using Zobek as a proxy and pawn, he manipulated the entire events of the game to gain access to Heaven, with only Gabriel to stand against him at the end. When he faces off with Gabriel, he attempts to paint himself as justified, but Gabriel sees through it, declaring Satan to be the egomaniac he is who seeks domination and hatred over all things. In [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2 the sequel]], Satan returns in the modern world, casually murdering his summoner -- [[OffingTheOffspring his own son]] -- for [[YouHaveFailedMe not eliminating Dracula and Alucard quick enough]]. Deciding to simply [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the world]], Satan also possesses Alucard to [[SadisticChoice force Dracula to choose between losing his life and killing his own beloved son]].

* BrokenBase: The split sprang up around the increased emphasis on plot and presentation as well as the more action-based gameplay. Incidentally, these Base-Breaking issues have some uncanny similarities to a few that have sprung up with ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', an installment in the fellow [[TropeNamer Trope Naming]] [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} franchise]] for {{Metroidvania}} which came out a few months before this game. Both games have had detractors who have lamented each game taking a page from ''Franchise/MetalGear'', in regards to each having longer cutscenes and such.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The entire soundtrack is excellent, though very different from the upbeat music found in the series' 2D outings.

* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Played with. A character like this is introduced but after a few missions of annoying you, [[spoiler: she's killed.]]

** The three Scarecrows, the two Necromancers, and Gravedigger also count.

* DisappointingLastLevel: [[spoiler:The Castle is the second, not the final act of the game. The final act of the game is in the Land of the Dead. A massive, barren, and very very brown wasteland.]]
** [[spoiler: It's even worse when you consider that the area where you start in the Land of the Dead HAD quite a feel, being mostly dark with purple lines.]]

* FridgeLogic: The Priest sacrificed Wygol Village just for [[spoiler:the Holy Water subweapon?]] Sure, it's effective, but can the old man even use it? Or if this version repels vampires all on its own, how come it doesn't work that way on your belt?

* MostAnnoyingSound: Claudia's [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper constant reminders to find the four Crystal Shards]] in Chapter 2-7. It doesn't help that her telepathic voice uses the exact same audio filter as [[VideoGame/{{Fable}} a certain Guildmaster.]]

* MagnificentBastard: Dracula was once the heroic [[FallenHero Gabriel Belmont]], a champion of the light who [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels succumbed to the darkness]]. Deciding to remake the world, Dracula completely crushes the Brotherhood of Light and destroys their champion, which leads to his confronting and killing his own son Trevor unknowingly, which later causes Trevor to rise as the vampire Alucard. Playing the villain to strengthen his grandson Simon, Dracula later enacts a plan with Alucard to destroy their enemies, the evil Lord of Shadow Zobek and Satan himself: allowing himself to be impaled and placed in hibernation for centuries, Dracula [[BatmanGambit knows Zobek will awaken him to destroy Satan]], and when Dracula [[MemoryGambit regains his memory]], he and Alucard can destroy both. Even at the end, Dracula shows why he is the supreme lord of darkness and chosen of God simultaneously by destroying Zobek and even fooling Satan in the final battle before finishing him for good.

* TheScrappy: Chupacabras. If players weren't annoyed that they stole your items and then made you play Hide and Seek, they were even more annoyed with the fact that it's a completely different creature with the name of the South American myth slapped on it.
** Also, on a side note - Chupacabras had been in Castlevania since Symphony Of The Night, although they suffered from a DubNameChange and are called Cave Trolls in the western versions. Now this game introduces another sort of Cave Troll: A sort of cute mixture of a gorilla and a tapir, whose first appearance doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}, as well as a BaitAndSwitchBoss.
** Even worse, you don't even get to kill the annoying thing when you do catch it. Gabriel simply grabs the Chupacabras and forces it to give back his gear, then it vanishes.
*** This is also an interesting case in that the Chupacabras gets a TakeThatScrappy in the same game that it first appears in: at one point you find a scroll on one of the dead Brotherhood knights talking about how he's been setting up an extermination squad to drive the Chupacabras extinct. Clearly the developers knew just how much their players were going to hate those things.

* UncannyValley: The artwork present in the both DLC add-ons can be this to some. It's not the style itself that can come off as eerie, but the way the artists decided to handle certain details. For example, the fact that they chose to ''completely'' omit Gabriel's ''eyes'' in majority of the cutscenes, thus leaving two hollow black sockets in their place. He does... “acquire” proper eyes in the end, but it doesn't help. Gaping monochromatic eyes with a demented glint in them? Yeah.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen or InNameOnly (it depends on who you ask, hence it's presence here): Prior to the game's release Konami announced the game as simply "Lords of Shadow,"[[note]]Which was originally going to be an original game[[/note]] so as not to compete with Castlevania Judgement.
** In addition to the "What Could Have Been" side, at one point the game was going to reboot the franchise by being a remake of the original Castlevania with Simon Belmont as the main character. This leads to FridgeBrilliance when you notice that Gabriel Belmont's armor is similar to the armor Simon Belmont wore in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest''. The brilliance? Simon Belmont was the hero of the first Castlevania game in the original series, while Gabriel Belmont is the protagonist in the first game of a new Castlevania "series"[[note]]Assuming this game counts as an actual Castlevania game.[[/note]]. The similarities in their armor may have been made to reflect on that!

** Also, on a side note - Chupacabras had been in Castlevania since Symphony Of The Night, although they suffered from a DubNameChange and are called Cave Trolls in the western versions. Now this game introduces another sort of Cave Troll: A sort of cute mixture of a gorilla and a tapir, whose first appearance doubles as a CrowningMomentOfFunny, as well as a BaitAndSwitchBoss.

* CompleteMonster: {{Satan}} is a ManipulativeBastard, operates as TheChessmaster once he appears, and is TheManBehindTheMan to the Lords of Shadow themselves. Satan [[BigBad arranged every atrocity in the game]], from Gabriel Belmont's wife's death at Gabriel's own hands and the deaths of countless innocents, so he could set everything up to return to Heaven and take it over to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens complete his revenge on God]]. When he appears, Satan attempts to eliminate his final pawn, Zobek, and keeps the souls lost on the way [[AndIMustScream trapped in Limbo]]. Satan [[TheCorrupter corrupted]] the [[FallenHero Lords of Shadow]] into becoming the monsters they had become, also making him responsible for all the innocents the werewolves and vampires had devoured. Using Zobek as a proxy and pawn, he manipulated the entire events of the game to gain access to Heaven, with only Gabriel to stand against him at the end. When he faces off with Gabriel, he attempts to paint himself as justified, but Gabriel sees through it, declaring Satan to be the egomaniac he is who seeks domination and hatred over all things.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Virtually everyone – including those who normally adore the games, – immediately disowned everything that has to do with the soon-to-be-released slot machine game.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Virtually everyone – including those who normally dislike the games, – immediately disowned everything that has to do with the soon-to-be-released slot machine game.

* BrokenBase: The split sprang up around the increased emphasis on plot and presentation as well as the more action-based gameplay. Incidentally, these Base-Breaking issues have some uncanny similarities to a few that have sprung up with ''MetroidOtherM'', an installment in the fellow [[TropeNamer Trope Naming]] [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} franchise]] for {{Metroidvania}} which came out a few months before this game. Both games have had detractors who have lamented each game taking a page from ''Franchise/MetalGear'', in regards to each having longer cutscenes and such.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: After a certain point, it becomes hard to care about Gabriel's journey due to some morally reprehensible actions on his part (his quest to resurrect his beloved Marie doesn't quite excuse them), the CrapsackWorld the characters live in that might actually become ''worse'' if Gabriel continues to defeat the Lords of Shadow, and the fact in the end, [[spoiler:Gabriel's goals are doomed, due to the Brotherhood's manipulations being to make Gabriel into something that could destroy Satan, which [[StartOfDarkness causes Gabriel to become Dracula]].]]

* MostAnnoyingSound: Claudia's [[StopHelpingMe constant reminders to find the four Crystal Shards]] in Chapter 2-7. It doesn't help that her telepathic voice uses the exact same audio filter as [[VideoGame/{{Fable}} a certain Guildmaster.]]

* StopHelpingMe: Played with. A character like this is introduced but after a few missions of annoying you, [[spoiler: she's killed. AndThereWasMuchRejoicing.]]

* BaseBreaker: Gabriel. He's either praised for being the first Belmont in the franchise who isn't a downplayed VanillaProtagonist, or scorned for [[spoiler: becoming ''the'' villain of the games.]]

* ThatOneSidequest: Most of the trials are funny to do. Timed trials, with special mention to the titans's ones and Olrox's one, however, ''are not''.

** Skeleton Warriors are also a pain, being surprisingly fast enemies who are very difficult to stagger. When defeated they explode into a pile of bones, which recombine if you don't destroy them with a fully charged earthquake punch. Unfortunately they nearly always come in groups of three and charging the punch takes just long enough for one of the others to run over and hit you out of it, resulting in an endless battle of attrition.

** As you'd most likely guess from his name and the fact that he's described in story to be extremely powerful, Forgotten One is a hard boss, but most of it unfortunately relies on FakeDifficulty: the segments between the 2 fights are supremely annoying timed platforming gauntlets not suited for the game's physics or controls, any weak points beyond the first one require you to jump to hit him, where you're unable to dodge anything, none of his attacks can be blocked, most of them have very similar tells and getting your Focus Gauge high enough to get any Neutral Orbs off him beyond the first weak point is an exercise in futility, very few of his attacks leave him open long enough to hit him at all and only a select few leave him open long enough for you to actually hit him and back off before the next attack, every time you take off enough of his health to trigger a QTE and the next checkpoint involves a different minigame where you need to figure out what you're supposed to do on the fly or risk losing all of your hard-earned progress, neither of the stages you fight him in have any Neutral Orb fountains or Health Fonts, and to rub the constant dying in even further, the game uses yet another ill-timed ShoutOut ([[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland "Avoid fighting like a dairy farmer."]]) as one of the "tips" you see when you die.

* BreatherBoss: [[spoiler:Pan's is not a really difficult boss, considering that he's a PhysicalGod. However, it should be noted that he was out of his "area", which weakens him, and his objective was not to kill Gabriel, but to teach him how to fight against Satan.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen or InNameOnly (it depends on who you ask, hence it's presence here): Prior to the game's release Konami announced the game as simply "Lords of Shadow,"[[note]]Which was originally going to be an original IP[[/note]] so as not to compete with Castlevania Judgement.

** Although the music is also a huge BaseBreaker, as many of the series' long-time fans lament the lack of classic tunes and mostly orchestral, atyhmospheric music, as compared to the more modern, jazz and rock-heavy classic soundtracks.

* AwesomeYetPractical: The Combat Cross. Is there anything this weapon CAN'T do once fully upgraded? It has more reach than most spears, it can be swung around for massive Area attacks, it doubles as a grappling hook, you can put a stake on the other end for ye olde vampire killing, you put spikes on its chain for dominating huge monsters so you can control them, you can ''catch objects thrown at you and throw them right back at the enemy'' with it.

* CompleteMonster: {{Satan}} is a ManipulativeBastard, operates as TheChessmaster once he appears, and is TheManBehindTheMan to the Lords of Shadow themselves. Satan arranged every atrocity in the game, from Gabriel Belmont's wife's death [[spoiler: at Gabriel's own hands]] and the deaths of countless innocents, so he could set everything up to return to Heaven and take it over to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens complete his revenge on God.]] When he appears, Satan attempts to eliminate his [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness final pawn]] [[spoiler: [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Zobek]]]], and keeps the souls lost on the way [[AndIMustScream trapped in Limbo.]] Satan corrupted [[FallenHero The Lords of Shadow]] in to the monsters they had become, also making him responsible for all the innocents the werewolves and vampires had devoured. Using Zobek as a proxy and pawn, he manipulated the entire events of the game to gain access to Heaven, with only Gabriel to stand against him at the end. When he faces off with Gabriel, he attempts to paint himself as justified, but Gabriel sees through it, declaring Satan to be the egomaniac he is who seeks domination and hatred over all things.