Castlevania is coming back to Nintendo after a sustained exile from the Kyoto-based company’s machines. Dutch Nintendo website N1ntendo (via NeoGAF) reported on Monday that Konami has sent invitations to the press for E3 that include information about Castlevania: Mirror of Faith, a new game for the Nintendo 3DS.
There have been six Castlevania games released for Nintendo’s handhelds in the past 11 years, but Mirror of Faith will be quite a bit different based on this report. Unlike past titles for Nintendo’s handheld that were directed by Konami veteran Koji Igarashi, this new 3DS game will be handled by the creative team responsible for 2010’s Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a God of War-style action game that rebooted the series. Producer David Cox, who championed Lords of Shadow developer Mercury Steam’s adoption of the series, and writer/director Enric Álvarez are making Mirror of Faith.
For some, this may come as a serious disappointment. Igarashi’s Castlevania games for DS like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and 2008’s Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia are amongst the very best games on the system. Their blend of exploration, action, and elegant production make them unique and precious, but it’s hard to argue with Konami’s unwillingness to invest in Igarashi’s style again. Order of Ecclesia sold just 300,000 copies world wide, diminished returns after 2006’s Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (340,000 copies) and 2005’s Dawn of Sorrow (360,000 copies.)
Then again, it’s remarkable that Konami is willing to invest in the franchise at all at this point. Lords of Shadow actually began development as an original title from Mercury Steam, but Konami decided in 2009 that it could use the game to invigorate the franchise. The company poured resources into the game, bringing in Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions to assist on Lords of Shadow’s cutscenes and presentation.
The effort was worth it from a quality perspective. While it was a Castlevania game in name only, forgoing many of the old titles’ conventions, it was still a long, lavish game that played well even if it didn’t innovate. The game sold well, nearly 1.2 million copies, but not nearly well enough to make it the power earner that other franchises like Metal Gear Solid are for Konami.
Rumor is that Mercury Steam is hard at work on Lords of Shadow 2 in addition to Mirror of Faith. It’s good to see that a talented team is continuing to get work, but it may be time for Konami to consider finally putting the Castlevania name to bed.
“finally putting the Castlevania name to bed.”…? I think that’s crazy talk considering the incredible amount of explored and untapped potential that the world of Castlevania holds. Konami is lucky to have Transylvanian lore as their solid foundation to build on. They’ve done allot of things right with this series, but they’ve also left plenty of room for improvement. Like anything else, I think it’s just a matter of delving deep(er) into each and every aspect of that lore/world, understanding what makes it so dark, sinister, oppressing, mysterious, macabre, colossal, looming, intense, etc., etc., etc., and being able to convey and exponentially build on that to make a juggernaut of a game or series without letting obscure creative vision “get in the way”. *insert IMO and inspired/passionate/fanboy creative ideas here*.
300k sales for a handheld game is pretty damn amazing and its no suprise that iga’s team and the other team are picking each others brains to make
ANOTHER 2D game which is what this is.
Long live castlevania may you continue on
“Konami still hasn’t given up on the Castlevania franchise even after a decade of declining sales”
your wrong, sales have been pretty much increasing since SOTN
And fyi
Update: NeoGAF member “Santiako” is adding more details to the rumor. Mirror of Faith features 2D gameplay similar to what was produced on the DS. However, Mercury Steam is making the game rather than Konami. Konami will still be publishing.
So basically the japanese team is probably still developing……on a level