Lords of Shadow is the latest Castlevania in over two decades of games which encompass ten centuries of the past and eight thousand years of the future. Since the eleventh century Count Dracula has walked the Earth, rising every hundred years to spread his evil influence across the world, and at every resurrection he has been foiled by a descendant of the Belmont bloodline.
Videogames, like movies and music, live and die by their release dates. A smartly planned launch can make a niche product soar to unpredicted heights or cause a long-respected franchise to slip beneath consumers’ radar.