I recently finished LoS2, including the DLC, and while I highly enjoyed the design of Castlevania, the castle, I didn’t really enjoy the increased Metroidvania aspect in the gameplay. The reason for that is that it didn’t really led to “wow I want to explore that later” feeling, but only “great, another ability-gate, nice that I wasted my time exploring this side path”. And there is no world map so you can mark it for later. To accommodate for that, they included an item that shows you where the closest unfound secret is. Which solves the problem by removing all the fun from it and making it literally a chore.

In contrast to the first LoS, they created two big interconnected world maps, where you unlock more parts with the abilities you gain. Another problem is though, that it is still absolutely linearly unlocked. So you can only explore for optional upgrades. The castle itself looks great though! Normally you see concept art and then the finished game and you can see the influence of the concept art and how they simplified the CA to create the in-game assets.

Here?

You put the concept art next to the finished game and it is simply the same picture. (you unlock concept art in game through destroying destructible objects). Its over designed to hell and I love it!

Although you play as Dracula this time, the gameplay isn’t that different to the first game, the fights feel pretty much the same. Which wasn’t a big problem to me, as I liked them. This was especially true when you fight against a similarly abled boss, which luckily happens in this game again.

The story is functional but has illogical parts, so don’t expect great storytelling here. The DLC is more of the same, especially the fights, even though you play another character. But the DLC area is nice and visually different from the main game.

Would I recommend this game? Not specifically, if you didnt already liked the first game or just want some pretty looking game where you can turn your brain off and pummel some demons.