Mercury Steam is back once again with their classic Castlevania series, this time reintroducing the bloodthirsty Dracula at somewhat of a weaker standpoint. Facing a new and powerful threat, the vampire lord must reacquire his old powers and only his castle holds the key. Of course, these kind of things aren't going to be easy.

To help see the way of the darkness is our own Bennett "GunSlingerAUS" Ring, who finds out that this isn't exactly the best entry in the Castlevania series.

It’s a tragedy to see Lords of Shadows 2 arrive in this form. Rather than focus on what made the first game so much fun, the designers seem to have totally misunderstood what gamers wanted from the sequel, and delivered something that was utterly alien to the first game.

Find out just what Dracula really gets up to in the full Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 review.

Konami has announced today that the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo is available across the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, acting as a prelude to the game's full release.

In the demo the player takes control over Dracula as his castle comes under siege from the Brotherhood of Light and their armies. Along with the chance to get familiar with the game's weapons, Konami is also touting a Titan combat sequence as a major highlight of the demo experience.

You can find the demo available through Steam for PC, on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively.

Mercury Steam, the Spain-based dev team currently hard at work on finishing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has released the second video in its developer diary series offering a behind the scenes look at the game. This latest clip focuses on the game's world, which takes a bit of a departure from what Castlevania fans are used to, by bringing the player into a modern day city as Gabriel Belmont awakes as Dracula hundreds of years after the end of the first game.

As Producers Dave Cox and Enric Alvarez explain, it's not London or New York or any other real world locale, but draws inspirations from modern day European cities like Madrid or Cologne that have a mix of slick contemporary buildings with plenty of old gothic architecture as well. Watch the clip below.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is due in Australia on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 27th 2014.

Konami has ushered out another promotional video for the forthcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, not showing much new in the way of gameplay, but making a note of its rather decorated cast of voice actors.

Robert Carlyle returns as Gabriel Belmont/Dracula, with Patrick Stewart as Zobek, Richard Madden as Alucard, Natascha McElhone as Marie, Sally Knyvette as Carmilla, and Jason Isaacs as Satan, who are joined by Stuart Campbell as Trevor, Anthony Howell as Victor, Mark Lewis Healy as Toymaker, and Alex Childs as Raisa Volkova.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is due in Australia on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 27th 2014.

With Halloween now in full swing over in America, Konami has released a new trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and taken the curtains off the Dracula’s Tomb Collector’s Edition.

The new trailer, titled Dracula’s Vengeance, focuses on Dracula, the new anti-hero of the franchise. CLOS 2 is the first game in the quarter of a century old franchise that lets gamers play as the ultimate hunter, as Dracula not only faces off against anti-vampire forces, but as also the Devil himself.

Those looking to nab themselves the quite appealing collector's edition will find it includes four exclusive figurines designed by famous comic artist Neil Googe, whose work includes Judge Dredd and Wildcats. Also on offer is a Steelbook, a limited edition A4 art book, the game, and a tomb-shaped case to keep all the goodies intact.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is out on the 27th of February for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

We're still waiting for the various new trailers showcased during Saturday's 2012 VGAs to surface through official publisher channels, but the greater Internet needs no such formalities. Among the "world premieres" at the event was this new cinematic trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.

The new clip features a bit of vengeance proclamation from Gabriel Belmont in his new pale look of Son of the Dragon, Dracula. It likely won't make any sense to those not familiar with the storyline of the original Lords of Shadow, but its rather cool and reminds us that ol' Gabe is now going to be sucking blood in modern day Europe. Check it out below.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is due in 2013 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Out of GamesCom 2012 in Cologne, Konami has let it be known that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, the anticipated sequel to Mercury Steam's well-received action adventure title will now also be coming to PC, in addition to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions already announced.

The Windows PC version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is being simultaneously developed by Madrid-based Mercury Steam, and builds on its critically acclaimed predecessor in every way. The new game features an all-new storyline, a larger cast of characters, huge open world environments and breath-taking visuals delivered via a much more powerful, brand new in house game engine called Mercury Engine 2.

The press release doesn't mention any specific ways that the Madrid-based studio is planning on taking advantage of the strengths of the PC platform, only that "It is a game that pushes whatever format it is on to the absolute limit".

The release date for the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is still broadly set for "2013".