Microsoft has unveiled its Xbox Games With Gold for March, starting with Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season on Xbox One and Castlevania: Lords of Shadows 2 on Xbox 360. The former is available until March 31st while the latter can be downloaded till March 15th.

On March 16th, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero becomes available for Xbox One owners until April 15th. For Xbox 360, Sonic Generations will replace Castlevania on March 16th and be available until March 31st. Overall, it’s a solid selection of titles and backwards compatibility ensures that Xbox One players get four free games for the month.

It’s not too late to download this month’s Xbox Games With Gold which includes the Star Wars Battlefront (Classic) and Call of Cthulhu. Xbox Games With Gold is included with Xbox Live Gold for $9.99 per month or $59.99 annually. Alternatively, one can purchase Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which includes Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass for PC and console at $14.99 per month.

With all the talking about the upcoming streaming future and how its going to change the industry, and if people are ready for it above all else, it can be kind of easy to forget that Sony has been there long before anyone else. Their PS Now service is, in many ways, a precursor to the upcoming Stadia and xCloud, and it’s still getting content. And it looks like August is going to be a dozy of a month, too.

10 games will join the service next month, and it seems Bethesda has the cake here as they will have three games from three classic franchises joining Now. But that’s not all there is to August’s haul as the fighting hit Tekken 7 is also coming. It’s quite a who’s who even without including the last three major Castlevania releases and MotoGP 17.

You can check out the entire list below or check out the official PlayStation blog for details here. PlayStation Now is available now, and the listed games will be available starting August 6th.

• Castlevania Lords of Shadow (PS3)
• Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 (PS3)
• Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate (PS3)
• Doom (PS4)
• Fallout 4 (PS4)
• Monster Energy Supercross (PS4)
• MotoGP 17 (PS4)
• Tekken 7 (PS4)
• The Raven: Remastered (PS4)
• Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4)

It looks like our report yesterday regarding Just Cause possibly coming to Xbox One via the backward compatibility program was correct. Just Cause has indeed been confirmed to be one of the games headlining the newest batch of titles being added to the service today by Microsoft, as confirmed by Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb on Twitter,.

But Just Cause isn’t the only big game being added this time around, either—in fact, unusually enough, all four of the games that are included in this batch are arguably “big”. Alongside Just Cause, the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trilogy—so the two numbered games, and Mirror of Fate HD—will also now be playable on Xbox One. While Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate HD were pretty disappointing, the original Lords of Shadow was a great and compelling reboot despite its flaws, and fans of the series should take this opportunity to look into it.

As is always the case, all these games can now be purchased on the Xbox Store on Xbox One directly.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1057301141980033024?s=21

Dave Cox, who was the producer of the fantastic Castlevania Lords of the Shadow  has finally revealed why he left Konami after the somewhat disappointing sequel. The reasoning isn’t complicated to be honest. He left because Konami had no vision back then (something that also applies in this age given how they fired Hideo Kojima).

“Konami decided… let’s just say it wanted to go in a different direction in terms of development. It’s one of the reasons why the studio I was heading up closed down. They wanted to move more into mobile. They wanted to do more development in Japan. At that time it was simpler to make a clean break, for me personally and for the studio. I don’t think Konami knew at that time what they wanted to do or where they wanted to go. They still obviously had Metal Gear in development. They still had PES in development. But there wasn’t a vision at the top of the company about where they wanted to go or what they wanted to do,” Cox stated in an interview with EuroGamer.

I honestly don’t find that surprising at all. Konami is a mere shell of its former self. It’s borderline impossible to believe that the publisher of massive IPs like Contra, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Suikoden, Silent Hill and many more will lose its way only in matter of years.

What is more disappointing is that MercurySteam were actually working on the concept of a new Contra game but unfortunately that idea was scrapped. “We talked to MercurySteam about that, and we did have early discussions about Contra. But it just wasn’t to be. The planets weren’t aligned, essentially. That was, essentially, it. But also the guys at MercurySteam didn’t want to move on with that relationship as well. So it was mutually agreed that we wouldn’t move forward with it. We had discussions about it, absolutely. And there were concepts, and a basic idea was drawn up. But that’s as far as it got, sadly,” he revealed.

Absolutely none of this surprises me. I guess I will wait for the moment when Konami will genuinely surprise its fans with the revival of all its AAA game franchises, but given the company’s commitment to mobile games, Pachinko, and not to mention putting next to no effort in Metal Gear Survive, it seems like a distant dream.

Remember Konami’s Dave Cox, who was in the spotlight often to provide new information on the disappointing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2? Well, Cox has left Konami after 17 years of service.

Cox took to Twitter and stated that, “After seventeen years I have decided to leave Konami to explore new opportunities. Today is my final day with the company #endofanera” He further added that, “I joined the company in 1997 as a UK product manager and my first title to manage was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.”

So he’s clearly had a lot of experience with the franchise as it evolved over the years. Though its sequel was somewhat disappointing, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow marked a new beginning for the franchise and counts as its most successful 3D title till date both critically and commercially. We wish Dave Cox all the best in his future endeavours and hopefully those new opportunities will benefit the industry in some way.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 launched earlier this month to somewhat middling critical acclaim; the final part of the Lords of Shadow saga, which remains the only successful 3D re-imagining of the classic Castlevania franchise to date, closed out the tragic story arc that began in the original Lords of Shadow, and was fleshed out in Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate.

Revelations will be the first DLC for this game- it follows Alucard, the son of Gabriel, and will take place just before the events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, and show us how Alucard’s story ties into the overall, grander Lords of Shadow story arc.

In gameplay terms, Revelations will feature unique abilities for Alucard, with his vampiric abilities mixing up how the game plays quite a bit.

Revelations will cost £4.49 and is scheduled to be released on March 25th.  It will be hitting the Xbox 360, Ps3, and PC versions of the game. Stay tuned for further coverage.

"Whereas Lords of Shadow relied on a 1280x720 resolution, Lords of Shadow 2 employs a 1024x720 resolution while emphasizing on the same particle effects, texture blurring and other effects apparent in the previous game."

The most noticeable improvement Lords of Shadow 2 brings over its predecessor is the frame rate. The original game was criticized for its highly fluctuating 30 FPS frame rate which had a tendency to drop to sun 20 during some of the crazier sequences. Lords of Shadow 2 stays relatively rock-solid throughout – you may see 4 to 5 frames dropped in the worst circumstances.

The other big change is the downsized resolution. Lords of Shadow 2 employs a non-native 720p resolution while emphasizing on the same particle effects, texture blurring and other effects apparent in the previous game.

While good for sustaining a strong frame rate, it does hurt the overall edging on textures. There’s no anti-aliasing to speak of and you’ll spot more than your fair share of jaggy edges throughout. Does it affect gameplay in the least, especially considering the overall environmental effects (albeit low-res) employed to mask the same? It’s certainly less intrusive than the frame rate troubles of the previous game.

"Interestingly in terms of performance, the PS3 and Xbox 360 sequences are more or less evenly matched and neither can stake a claim to higher resolutions or superior anti-aliasing."

Interestingly in terms of performance, the PS3 and Xbox 360 sequences are more or less evenly matched. Since neither can stake a claim to higher resolutions or superior anti-aliasing, it falls to the frame rate performance to decide which is superior. Both versions experience their fair of dropped frames, and both maintain a strong 30 FPS frame rate throughout. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any real differences unless comparing them both side-by-side and even then it’s difficult.

What does that say about the PC version then, which is neither limited by its resolution or texture quality? PC users can expect a solid 1920×1080 resolution and 60 FPS with fairly generous system requirements. Mercury Steam also used post-process anti-aliasing on textures and though it doesn’t compare to the likes of, say, Ryse: Son of Rome or Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PC), it does the job more often than not.

Texture quality is thankfully higher grade with improved depth of field and higher resolution environmental effects. It’s easily the most visually impressive of all three versions, even if it’s not pushing any boundaries compared to the latest crop of PC titles like Thief or even Titanfall. Frame rate performance is also reliably solid with very few drops at 60 FPS even with high settings.

"That lower resolution and overall lack of anti-aliasing on the PS3 and Xbox 360 is noticeable and the frame rate does still see some drops."

In comparing Lords of Shadow 2 to the original, its obvious Mercury Steam wanted to make the overall gameplay fluid and hassle-free while still maintaining the same epic visuals and set-pieces as before. The aesthetics are honestly underwhelming at times, with Dracula’s castle rendered in resplendent detail while the modern cityscape bores more often than not, but when it comes to reliable performance and overall presentation, its leagues beyond its predecessor.

That being said, it comes at a price. That lower resolution and overall lack of anti-aliasing on the PS3 and Xbox 360 is noticeable and the frame rate does still see some drops. Despite the PC version delivering far more performance-wise, it’s not among the best looking games on the market by a long shot. If you’re a fan of Castlevania, Lords of Shadow 2 may be worth a look but for the casual gamer, the game represents nothing extraordinarily revolutionary in either the gameplay or graphics department.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 is bigger in scale compared to the original which was released back in 2010. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Pile of Sacrifice Locations / Runes of Kleidos Locations /Relic Upgrades /Pain Boxes:

There are 17 of them, all located in five different locations. They may contain relic upgrades or Kleidos runes. These are located throughout the game and some of them are easy to find whereas some of them are hidden.

• There are six Pile of of Sacrifice locations in Sciences District.
• There is one Pile of Sacrifice in Downtown.
• There are four in Arts District.
• There are four in Victory plaza.
• There are two in Overlook Tower.

Note: There are 2 upgrades for each relic. Talisman does not have an upgrade.

Art Locations:

There are 400 pieces of art work scattered across the game. Try destroying objects to fund them. Chupacabras also stock them in their shops. So make sure you buy a art icon from them as these consists of 7 different arts.

Gem Locations:

Gems are divided in to three type: Life, Chaos and Void.

Life Gem Locations:

There are 30 Life gems in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Collect all of them using the video below. Please note that once you collect all of them you will also unlock the Life Collector Trophy/Achievement.

Void Gem Locations:

Just like Pile of Sacrifice, these too are located in different areas. They have been detailed below:

• There are six void gems in Sciences District.
• There are two void gems in Downtown.
• There are two in Arts District.
• There are four in Victory plaza.
• There are four in Overlook Tower.

Chaos Gem Locations:

Once again, you will find them in the following areas:

• There are five chaos gems in Sciences District.
• There are three chaos gems in Downtown.
• There are five in Arts District.
• There are five in Victory plaza.
• There are four in Overlook Tower. 

Cheats [May or may not work]:

This code worked in the first game, may or may not work in the sequel but worth a shot.

• Enter the code on PS3: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, O, X.
• Enter the code on Xbox 360 & PC: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.

Skills Guide:

Acquire all of the skills and upgrades. There are only 3 weapons in the game: Shadow Whip, Void Sword, and Chaos Claws. You need 120,000 experience points to unlock all of the skills. Note that some skills needs to be unlocked in a particular order.

Mastering all weapons guide:

As mentioned above, you have 3 weapons in the game and each of them have a skill tree indicated by circles. Depending on your combat style i.e. which of the weapons you use most,  each of the circles for that respective weapon will be filled red. Once they are completely filled, you can unlock them. Each of them have a mastery level of maximum three. So your best bet to each mastery is to take down each and every enemy that you come across and try farming once they respawn.

Gaining More Experience Points:

You can earn more experience points by engaging in combat, progressions of the story, quick time events, breaking and destroying objects. The best way to earn more experience points is to play the game at the highest difficult which is ‘Prince of Darkness’.

Why Dodo Egg Is An Important Relic:

• It will help you find Piles of Sacrifices.
• It will help you find pain boxes.
• It will help you find Gems.

Achievements/Trophy Guide:

Prince of Darkness:

You need to Complete the game at “Prince of Darkness” difficulty.

Kleidos Champion I:

Complete all the Reminiscences of Sapphire challenges. You need to have four Kleidos pieces to unlock the sapphire challenges. Refer the Kleidos  guide above.

Kleidos Champion II:

Complete all the Recollections of Ruby challenges. You need to have 8 Kleidos pieces to unlock the ruby challenges. Refer the Kleidos  guide above.

Kleidos Champion III:

Complete all the Reminders of Amethyst challenges. You need to have 12 Kleidos pieces to unlock the Amethyst challenges. Refer the Kleidos  guide above.

Kleidos Champion IV:

Complete all the Memories of Emerald challenges. You need to have 16 Kleidos pieces to unlock the Emerald challenges. Refer the Kleidos  guide above.

Kleidos Hero:

Complete all of the four Kleidos challenges.

Kleidos Legend:

Complete all of the Kleidos challenges at “Prince of Darkness” difficulty.

Void Collector:

Recover 30 Void Gems. Use guide above.

Chaos Collector:

Recover 30 Chaos Gems. Use guide above.

Life Collector:

Recover 30 Life Gems. Use guide above.

Expert Silversmith:

Recover all the Void, Chaos and Life gems. Use guide above.

Multiple Pockets:

Recover all the upgrades for the Relics. See guide above.

Philanthropist:

Collect all of the art. Refer guide above.

Start the path:

Acquire a skill.

The path of the Whip, The path of the Sword, The path of the Claws, The path of the Warrior:

These four achievements/trophies can be unlocked using the skill guide above.

Good customer:

Buy an item at the Chupacabras’ shop

Customer of the month:

Spend a total of 20000 Experience Points at the Chupacabras’ shop.

Initiated in Mastery, Whip Master, Sword Master, Claw Master, Weapons Master 

Refer Mastering all weapons guide above.

Classic Flavor

You need kill Agreus boss’s giant bird using Chaos Bombs.

Experienced

Gain a total of 10000 Experience Points [see experienced points guide above]

Specialist

Gain a total of 50000 Experience Points [see experienced points guide above]

Veteran

Gain a total of 100000 Experience Points [see experienced points guide above]

The Outer Limits:

Complete 110% of the game. For this you need to complete the game, find all collectibles, unlock skills and upgrades, achieve mastery in all weapons, complete Kleidos challenges on ‘Prince of Darkness’ difficulty.

Vampire kiss:

Accept Zobek’s gift

 Crushed rock:

Destroy the golem

Hunted hunter:

Capture Raisa Vólkova

A madman’s on the loose

Release the Chupacabras from his prison

Heart of stone:

Kill the Gorgon

Next stop: Castlevania:

Survive the train trip

Femme fatale:

Subdue Carmilla

Natural selection:

Defeat Agreus

Once upon a time…:

Sabotage the Toy Maker’s show

Family reunion:

Gain the trust of Victor

Inner Dracula:

Shed your darkest self

Death is not enough:

Get rid of Zobek forever

Note: This guide will be updated once we have more information about the game.

The son of Dracula returns as Konami announces the Revelations DLC for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. It will feature Alucard and apparently take place before the events of the second game.

The DLC will take place within the same world as Lords of Shadow 2 but will expand on the original story significantly as Alucard awaits the return of Dracula and the war with Satan. Alucard will be able to use his own vampire abilities in-game with the ability to turn into a wolf or bats and effectively rewind time.

Glaciem and Igneas will also be present as powers and you’ll be able to drink the blood of your enemies to make your powers stronger. Revelations releases on March 25th for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network – will it help improve the somewhat subpar experience of Lords of Shadow 2? We’ll find out when it releases. You can check our review of LoS2 here.

Some files have been extracted from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2‘s disc, and it seems that MercurySteam has a new DLC in works for the game titled Revelations, and it looks like you’ll get to play as Alucard in this piece of DLC.

“Play as Alucard in this extensive add on for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2,” the files say. “The immersive story is expanded further as new branches of the plot are uncovered, along with rich new environments and challenging puzzles. Fight creatures of darkness and discover the true extent of Alucard’s involvement in Dracula’s story, his deal with death and his fight against Satan.”

There is, of course, no confirmation from either the developer or the publisher whether this DLC actually is a thing, but we’re pretty sure that we’ll hear something soon.

We recently reviewed Lords of Shadow 2 and found that while it does nothing out of the ordinary and is not quite the refreshing package the original LoS was, it still is a decent action adventure title. Read our review here.