http://www.siliconera.com/2013/08/16/konami-added-exploration-to-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-because-fans-asked-for-it/

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow focused on combat, but many fans of the series fondly remember Castlevania: Symphony of the Night which was lauded for its exploration elements. Konami listened to requests and added multiple paths to explore and optional boss fights for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Speaking to Siliconera, producer Dave Cox said most players only see 50% to 60% of the game their first time through.

Sounds great. I really can't wait to play this game, the E3 demo looked absolutely spectacular and this news makes me even more excited.

Oh I'm gonna see it all baby.

Sounds promising at the very least.

Well...

That at least sounds good. Hopefully it lives up to that.

So inverted castle confirmed?

Can we still call zobek?

I'm skeptical. There's yet to be a 3D Castlevania anywhere near the quality of the 2D iterations.

I'm still annoyed that Konami canned the long-time composer of the series for her Castlevania soundtracks being "too feminine" for Lords of Shadow. I mean, what the fuck?

I HOPE!

@sinusoidal: Then you are driven by nostalgia. Lords of Shadow was excellent...and don't tell me Symphony of the Night was the best because that game was way too easy...

Awesome news! Really can't wait for this game!

If that is true the game better have a completion percentage at the end or something.

I really liked the first game. I think you need to give it time to grow on you and some people just aren't patient enough for it. Don't get me wrong - Lords of Shadow has a really long winded and boring beginning. Caves with giant spiders? An annoying gnome that steals all your equipment and you have to go off looking for him? But once you get past all that beginning nonsense, oh you know, like about 6 hours into the game.. then it really starts getting pretty interesting! Especially once you reach Camillas castle.

I dunno about the actual game, but if nothing else the trailers for the second Lords of Shadow have some extraordinary music.

@el_galant: Lords of Shadow looks alright (it sits in a pile behind my ps3 waiting to be played,) but nothing I've seen suggests it's in any way better than SotN, nor for that matter the GBA and DS games: games I've played through multiple times and still occasionally go back to. If difficulty is your only measure of a game's quality, I'm not sure why you're bothering with Castlevania at all. Go play Takeshi no Chousenjou.

Te question is will most players be interested in finishing the game or will they burn out trying to call for Zobek.

I'm actually playing SotN right now. It's not especially difficult but I don't think it's "easy". Maybe it's easy for you for the same reason that Mega Man X is easy for me - you've memorized it, or at the very least played it way too much.

Anyway, having multiple paths doesn't necessarily mean that it will be something like a Metroidvania in 3D. I would rather it be more like the first Darksiders, or maybe the second but way less boring.

Heh, that's the first thing I thought too. The first game was a gosh dang snooze fest. I did get past the 50% mark. Not by a while lot though.