Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2's neo-Gothic world on display in new video

A new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 video shines a bit of bright light on a very dark city. The MercurySteam developer diary gives us a look at how the upcoming sequel will fuse the Gothic sensibilities of a Castlevania game with its speculative, modern-day setting.

The first Lords of Shadow was notable for its spectacular vistas and world building. But it also featured a locked camera perspective, limiting—in a way—how much of its strange and beautiful universe players could see.The sequel takes place in a city that has been built up around Dracula's castle and this time players should have the benefit of a free camera when navigating its back alleys.

"This time around we have a seamless world, a world without any loading time, a world where you can explore," says MercurySteam studio head Enric Alvarez in the video below.

While the linear progression of Lords of Shadow doesn't clash with its beat-em-up gameplay and cinematic narrative, I'm still eager to see how the sequel will build upon its success within a more open-world. I'm also up to see how Belmont's whip and sword will fare against some of the machine-gun wielding bosses previewed in the new dev diary. Lords of Shadow 2 releases February 25.