'Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow' Bites Down On A Release Date

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" and its special edition will land in North America on October 5, 2010, Konami has announced, so you'll have almost a month to practice whipping away at the undead before Halloween arrives.

By the numbers, "Lords of Shadow" will include 50 3-D stages, 45 different enemies and 40 combo attacks that Gabriel Belmont will be able to execute. Belmont's voice may be recognizable to those who have seen "28 Weeks Later" and "SGU Stargate Universe," since actor Robert Carlyle will be handing the voice acting for him. Note that Patrick Stewart also shows up in the cast.

The series' reboot has come a long way since it evolved from a remake of Simon Belmont's original NES quest. The story follows Gabriel has he tracks down the pieces of a relic known as The God Mask, which has the power to save the world. Since it's a Castlevania game, he'll have to chop through a bunch of ugly horror-show monsters to accomplish that task, but that's what you'll be putting down the cash to do anyway, and you know this if you've played anything else from the franchise.

It's a "radical re-imagining" of Castlevania, though, according to Konami's announcement, so at least a few aspects of what you encounter are bound to be different. Whether this means Dracula will have eight fangs, Belmont's whips will be extra-long or the torches bearing power-ups will have even bigger 3-D flames will have to wait a few more weeks to be revealed, but at least now you know when it will be in stores.

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Tags castlevania, castlevania lords of shadow, kojima productions, konami, mercury steam