Mirror of Fate is a curious beast. While I didn’t like first Lords of Shadow all that much, apart from the stunning visual design and an intriguing, but poorly told story, its 2D sequel/side-story feels an improvement in almost every way. It’s like most of the best things and few of the bad things from LoS put together in a 2D action adventure RPG platformer.
While it does noticeable, that the game was originally designed for portable devices with smaller screens and not very powerful hardware, MercurySteam still managed to create a very pretty game, which looks good even on big screen. There’s less variety and chance for the artists to fully reveal their talent, where the game wants to look gothic and beautiful, it does it very well. Music, which was good, but slightly lost in desire to be “cinematic” in the original, felt more memorable and interesting here.
Fighting system is almost identical to the one from LoS, which means, that unlike many older 2D Castlevania games, there are not a *lot* of enemies on levels, but each enemy presents more challenge and a specific approach. I felt, that the fighting system actually felt more responsive and better working in 2D, than it did in full 3D in LoS, but maybe that’s just me. Also, since there are 3 playable characters (+1 one in the prologue), each one has his own set of magic, secondary items and other helpful things or upgrades, which makes gameplay with each character a bit different, including the way you fight enemies.
Big change from the original portable version of the game lies in the (welcome) removal of almost all QTE/button mashing sequences, which, sadly, also has a small negative. There are a few sequences and, technically, a boss battle, which works completely in QTE and with them being almost completely absent elsewhere, these sequences feel very alien and more of a weird annoyance, than anything else. But other than that, removal of QTEs and “mash the button to do a simple thing” moments is really nice.
Biggest complaint I might have with the game is, surprisingly, the camera – something that, you’d think, cannot go wrong in a 2D sidescrolling game. Sadly, there are some weird choices – like chase sequences, where camera shows you more of where you came from, not where you’re going and when you need to jump until the very last moment. Or the fact, that during the fights camera tries to helpfully pan to the side, where the enemies are, and if there are enemies from different sides it tends to lead to hits from off-camera or player not being able to see some enemy at all.
Another complaint is almost ironic to voice. While I felt that Lords of Shadow should’ve been cut at least in half, that it was agonizingly long with lots of pointless padding, Mirror of Fate feels short. There are characters and threads that feel underdeveloped, some things are there probably just to tease Lords of Shadow 2 (which I haven’t yet played) and, more importantly for a more Symphony of the Night-like Castlevania game, running around and exploring is so fun and exciting, and there’s not enough of it. So while I hate the argument of judging the game by the time it takes to complete, I do wish Mirror of Fate has been longer, but quality longer, not padding longer. And when I feel that I can’t get enough of a game, that probably means that I like it a lot. Quite a lot indeed.