Konami announced this morning via the official Castlevania Facebook page that the long awaited HD port of Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate will finally be released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 this Fall.
According to Konami studio head Dave Cox, the previously 3DS exclusive Mirror of Fate had graphics that were originally developed in HD before being downscaled to work on a handheld. Cox first mentioned the possibility of releasing the game in HD back in February, where he said that Konami would release the game for consoles if it performed well on the 3DS. Despite mediocre reviews, Mirror of Fate has apparently sold well enough to warrant the release of the HD version.
Mirror of Fate is the second 3DS game to get “remastered” for consoles, the first of which was Capcom’s Resident Evil Revelations HD, which Capcom says sold quite well.
Konami says Mirror of Fate HD will be released as a digital download on XBLA and PSN on October 31st.
Several online retailers have also put up listings for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Collection, an Xbox 360 and PS3 compilation package that will bundle the original Lords of Shadow, all of its DLC chapters, Mirror of Fate HD, and an exclusive demo of Lords of Shadow 2, for $34.99. Online listings for the product say that it should come out sometime this October as well.
I was pretty disappointed with Mirror of Fate when it came out on the 3DS last March — the combat was shallow and the exploration and platforming elements weren’t as well executed as they were in classic Castlevania games — but if Konami releases Mirror of Fate HD at a low price, it might be a decent appetizer for the upcoming Lords of Shadow 2, which is on track to be one of the best games of the year. It’s not a completely terrible game, but it’s certainly not as good as any of the other more recent handheld Castlevania’s either, and I don’t think an HD port is going to fix any of it’s intrinsic design flaws. Still, the game does serve as an important narrative bridge between the stories of the original Lords of Shadow and its sequel, so completionists might want to pick it up anyway.
