Konami announced Castlevania: Mirror of Fate this week, a game set in the timeline started in Lords of Shadow. This means it's part of the ongoing reboot of the Castlevania series, and not the old continuity.

I've been waiting for a follow-up to Order of Ecclesia for a while now... and I'm terribly disappointed. This game loses the lore established over the years, starts anew with the characters, drops the beautiful hand-drawn sprites and completely revamps the gameplay. This isn't the Castlevania I've learned to love.

I started to get interested in the series with Circle of the Moon, on the GBA, and kept on playing all the Metroid-style games that followed. I eventually went back to play Symphony of the Night, too. I really enjoy this gameplay type, and improvements game after game meant that things always remained fresh yet familiar. I played some of the earlier NES / SNES titles also, but the stiff controls don't make them half as fun. Now that Konami seems to be drifting away from the pattern used for the past 15 years, so is my interest in the franchise. Mirror of Fate could turn out to be a solid action game in its own right, much like how Lords of Shadow apparently is, but it's not Castlevania. I don't follow series just because they have a specific name in their titles, I do because of the gameplay and universe they include. Change that completely, and I see no reason to stick around.

I learned this week that Iga, who's been associated closely with the production of the series since Symphony of the Night, is no longer associated with the Castlevania franchise. This would explain this drastic change of tone... and why I don't recognize the series anymore. Shame.

I've had friends tell me good things about it, and they weren't fans of Castlevania to begin with. Maybe this is one of these games that are meant to appeal to people who aren't already hooked on the franchise, at the risk of ignoring the existing fanbase.

It's out! The reviews are coming in! And it apparently sucks!

Some other critics aren't as harsh on it, but the point stands that this isn't a Castlevania of either first gen (platformer with stiff jump controls) or second gen (Metroidvania exploration concept). It's something else entirely... something that I'm not interested it.

It's too bad, but unless they go back to the previous design (not likely), I'm out of the series.