JBoc924Today we finally got to see Simon Belmont in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’s universe. The footage that was released today showed off a very early prototype of the game, which was what made Konami give Mercury Steam’s ‘vania project the green light. Yes, Lords of Shadow was initially going to be a remake of the first Castlevania game. The quality of this video isn’t that great, we’ve been promised a high-quality version of it on Castlevania’s Facebook page next week, but it still gives us a good look at what could have been. So, what would’ve happened if Simon Belmont actually ended up starring in Lords of Shadow?
One of the things that immediately sticks out in the footage shown is the overall atmosphere. It just screams out “Castlevania” and we shouldn’t forget, though, that the castle featured here is the actual one that we ended up traversing in the final product– so there’s one thing that stuck. Also, the enemy lurking at the castle’s entrance is also present in the game we ended up getting. Two other things worth noting are the combat cross and the gauntlet, they’re apparently the same ones Gabriel wields in the game. Hell, even Simon himself looks like Gabriel here.
The question now is: was this going to be a faithful remake of the original NES classic? Or was it gonna be a re-imagining of it with a new take on the story? Seeing as how Mercury Steam isn’t setting out to alter the series’ main timeline, I’m personally feeling it was going to be the latter. Another reason why I believe this to have been the case is because of the aforementioned gauntlet. As any ‘vania fan will tell you, Simon in the original game didn’t possess any magical powers. But the Simon in this footage is seen performing a spell of some sort on the lone enemy. At first I thought he was going to perform a soul-steal, but the actual magic attacks seems to have just incinerated his foe.
But why magic? He didn’t have it in the first game so why would he have it in a current-gen Castlevania? That’s where the potential story for this remake comes in. Mercury Steam may have been planning to give us a new take on the Belmont family, one that explains their ability to take on Dracula and his creatures of the night. They sure aren’t ordinary mortals, so perhaps this version of Lords of Shadow was going to show us just that by tapping onto their previously ignored, for the most part (Richter and Juste come to mind), magical prowess. But I’m almost 100% sure that Mercury Steam wasn’t planning on making Simon turn into Dracula in the end. Or were they?
Now let’s look at Simon’s actual attire. Before you shout out “Ezio Belmont!” let’s actually take a good look at his garb. So, for comparison’s sake I put up an image showing off Simon in his classic outfit (this was artwork for the original NES game). As you can see, after looking at both the new Simon and the old one, he still retains the gold and browns of his uniform, for the most part. The new Simon doesn’t have the bandanna or even the dirty blonde hair but he still aesthetically resembles classic Simon after looking at both extensively. The most striking difference in the new Simon’s costume is the white tunic and hood. Maybe if we ever get to see this Simon without the tunic, his armor underneath will make him look more closer to his classic rendition.
Back before Lords of Shadow was released, David Cox was always citing Super Castlevania IV as his main source of inspiration for the new game. He wanted to capture the feel of that game and translate it to this current generation (Did he and his team succeed or not? I’ll be talking about that next week!). This then brings up another interesting notion. Just how Super Castlevania IV is seen by many as a re-imagining of the original ‘vania, this once-remake could have been similar in essence and it would’ve served to expand the story while staying true to the main conflict at hand: Simon vs. Dracula and his minions.
It’s been stressed that this is just an early build of the game, but that doesn’t mean that Mercury Steam has completely gotten rid of this render of Simon Belmont. For all we know they could end up using it in a future sequel, but that’s just my own personal speculation. I can truly see us playing as this version of Simon someday but we’ll just have to wait and see. Things would have to be changed like the combat cross, since it was destroyed in “Resurrection” (but it could easily be replaced with a similar weapon). And, like the vampire killer being passed down from Belmont to Belmont, Gabriel’s gauntlet could end up being something that also gets passed down, granting the current wielder magic powers suitable enough to enable him (or her) to take on Dracula (Gabriel) and his creatures of the night.
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So ,what do you guys think about today’s revelation? How would you have felt if we ended up getting a current-gen game with Simon Belmont in the lead role? Would you want Simon Belmont to take the lead role in a future sequel to Lords of Shadow?
