Come this fall, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate will no longer be a Nintendo 3DS exclusive. Publisher Konami confirmed today that they're going to release a high-definition version of the game on Xbox 360 and PS3.
These might be the least surprising remakes ever announced. Konami admitted before the 3DS debut of Mirror that developer MercurySteam had already built HD versions.
"We created everything in high definition - all the textures, all the levels, high-poly models, everything - and we kind of shrunk it all down into the 3DS," Lords of Shadow series producer Dave Cox told CVG in February. "Then we lost bones from characters, you know, we dropped the resolution of the textures and everything to make it fit. At MercurySteam we have an HD version of the game sitting there in a computer somewhere."
Konami and Nintendo had an exclusivity deal regarding Mirror of Fate but apparently it had a time limit. Cue the Xbox 360 and PS3 release.
Releasing Mirror on consoles makes a lot of sense for Konami. The original Lords of Shadow and its upcoming sequel are both Xbox 360 and PS3 games. While there's plenty of Castlevania fans who own a 3DS, MercurySteam has created a healthy console following with the Lords of Shadow series.
Mirror of Fate is set 25 years after the events of Lords of Shadow. Gabriel Belmont is now the vampire lord Dracula. Players take on the role of Trevor Belmont, his son Simon and the mysterious Alucard as they venture into Dracula's castle and try to snuff out the vampire.
Unlike previous handheld games, Mirror isn't sprite-based. Instead, it's a 2.5D game: two-dimensional movement but three-dimensional characters. Nonetheless, you can expect the usual mix of platforming, puzzles, and combat.
Mirror of Fate HD will be released in digital form through both PSN and Xbox Live Arcade. No price has been mentioned yet but if it's digital, we can expect it to be quite a bit cheaper than $60.
