I will take this time to be a smarmy jackass and say "I called it" to Gabriel Belmont being Dracula. My theory was confirmed when Gabriel's book entry said he was "rumoured" (and rumours in videogames are ALWAYS true) to be of the Cronqvist line. Mathias Cronqvist was a tactician in the original Castlevania timeline that was the best friend (almost brother, really) to Leon Belmont. Cronqvist used Belmont to become the ultimate source of evil, Dracula. 
 
Gotta say though, the Epilogue - I did NOT see coming. Total sequel bait, sure, but holy crap when I saw the modern city my eyes lit up. I couldn't help but think of the possibilities. Playing as Dracula, playing in a modern setting. Damn. This might be the single best direction Castlevania could go in. 
 
So uh, what do you guys think?

I liked everything (a LOT) up until they flew out of the window. Now... hrmmm. The game was definitely at its best when it was in villages, churches and castles. I'd be happy to get another 15 hours of that. Not sure that I want to see Castlevania in a modern setting.

I think that the game had one of the best endings of the year.  Jaws dropped and mine blown.  I am really glad that they have chosen to take the series in this direction.  Instead of Dracula being some dude at the end of a castle that you fight, they managed to paint him in a very sympathetic light.  I feel sorry for the guy.  He lost everything.  He was nothing more then a puppet until the end of the game.  The only thing that I hope that they do in the sequel (obvious one is coming) is that they explain how Gabriel went from a warrior of God to becoming the "Prince of Darkness" and where he got the vampiric powers.

Dawn of Sorrow kind of had the same twist.

I'm just disappointed I was never able to fight Dracula.  I wanted a Castlevania 2 style buildup before the last battle, maybe some awesome music, maybe a little SOTN-style talk with Drac...
 
I don't like the modern times setting for a sequel because we have too damn many of those.  They should have to call the sequel Kid Dracula 2 if they're gonna have us play as Dracula...
 
But I have to admit I enjoyed the idea of fighting Satan, I felt for decades that games should just let you fight the Devil.  He's a good enemy.  It would have been even fine if they had you fight Dracula THEN the Devil, but no Dracula at all made me sad.

" I'm just disappointed I was never able to fight Dracula.  I wanted a Castlevania 2 style buildup before the last battle, maybe some awesome music, maybe a little SOTN-style talk with Drac...  I don't like the modern times setting for a sequel because we have too damn many of those.  They should have to call the sequel Kid Dracula 2 if they're gonna have us play as Dracula...  But I have to admit I enjoyed the idea of fighting Satan, I felt for decades that games should just let you fight the Devil.  He's a good enemy.  It would have been even fine if they had you fight Dracula THEN the Devil, but no Dracula at all made me sad. "

The only thing I hated was that death wasn't a fight... I mean come on he's like a signature boss! And that satan didn't transform into anything cooler to fight (like the first two lords of shadow)... however I'll assume a couple things here. 
 
1. God made him a vampire to repent for his sins.. or he was turned somewhere along the line (maybe through the corruption of the shadow magic via prolonged use.. If you read the scrolls they talk of shadow magic corrupting.)
 
2. Satan underestimated zobek and since he was the master of death it's highly likely he could cheat his own 
 
3. The next chapter in the story is going to help us understand the relationship between Death and Dracula unlike in the other castlevanias where it seems death is just dracula's pet. Both of them uniting to defeat satan it sounds reasonable.   
 
4. I could see us playing another protagonist after the sequel of this one! I can't wait!!!

Well at the end the death mask is clearly seen so im guessing that could be the reason he turned in Dracula, although i was thinking seeing as the other lords of shadow were  created through in part of the bortherhood and left the darksides behind when going to heaven Gabriel could of done the same to be with his wife and Dracula was born. 
 
The ending location has me thinking though he was said to be like a tomb so it seems like something worse happened to Gabriel, i think if they do a sequel it will be to answer the questions of what happened to Gabriel im also wondering if they will bring back Alucard.

I'm hoping this leads into the awesome battle they kept talking about back in Aria of Sorrow, where Julius Belmont gets backed up by the friggin' army to lay siege to Dracula's castle in 1999, killing him off and letting him be reincarnated as Soma.

" I'm hoping this leads into the awesome battle they kept talking about back in Aria of Sorrow, where Julius Belmont gets backed up by the friggin' army to lay siege to Dracula's castle in 1999, killing him off and letting him be reincarnated as Soma. "

Well first of all, I LOVED the ending. Totally crazy. 
 
I wouldn't be surprised if you played as another Belmont in the next game, against both Satan and Dracula

It's been awhile since I was as flabbergasted by a game as the ending here. Loved it.
For as talky as it was, I absolutely loved all the exposition and story from the final battle and onward. 
Patrick Stewart was killing it with his whole Bond villain speech right before Satan showed up. 
 
This alternate Castlevania universe has really captured my imagination now. 
Though with all the throwbacks to Cronquist, I wonder if they'll set a specific moment where it splits from the original timeline. 

Just finished it not five minutes ago. The ending completely took me by surprise and now am even more interesting in this new retelling of the story. I would love to see how Gabriel became the dude, but I kinda figure just like the other brotherhood dudes, he was the shell of corruption and all that which was left behind when Gabriel's spirit dipped up to heaven. However, that whole saying he can't die but can't live either makes me think that he is still very much Gabriel, but something went awry after Lords of Shadow. The god mask could be some bad news, or he just became consumed by its absolute power.
 
Bring on the next one!

" It's been awhile since I was as flabbergasted by a game as the ending here. Loved it.For as talky as it was, I absolutely loved all the exposition and story from the final battle and onward. Patrick Stewart was killing it with his whole Bond villain speech right before Satan showed up.  This alternate Castlevania universe has really captured my imagination now. Though with all the throwbacks to Cronquist, I wonder if they'll set a specific moment where it splits from the original timeline.  "

" I will take this time to be a smarmy jackass and say "I called it" to Gabriel Belmont being Dracula. My theory was confirmed when Gabriel's book entry said he was "rumoured" (and rumours in videogames are ALWAYS true) to be of the Cronqvist line. Mathias Cronqvist was a tactician in the original Castlevania timeline that was the best friend (almost brother, really) to Leon Belmont. Cronqvist used Belmont to become the ultimate source of evil, Dracula.  Gotta say though, the Epilogue - I did NOT see coming. Total sequel bait, sure, but holy crap when I saw the modern city my eyes lit up. I couldn't help but think of the possibilities. Playing as Dracula, playing in a modern setting. Damn. This might be the single best direction Castlevania could go in.  So uh, what do you guys think? "

Just beat the game and my mind is blown.  I can't wait to see what happens next in this story.

" I'm not sure where you got the link to Leon Belmont or that information about the Cronqvists. But regardless of that, I had a pretty good feeling that Gabriel himself would have at the very least some sort of shadowy past, and I had pegged him with the thought that he was Dracula or at the least Dracula's child or some evil entity after reading his character biography in his book/menu when it couldn't fully detail who his parents were or what his past was specifically.  To be fair, I only had these sentiments near the beginning of the game, and as the game got near the end, those sentiments went away. But when Zobek was betrayed, I actually thought it was Dracula speaking and then betraying him, not Satan. So was anyone else thrown off by Satan's involvement in the storyline? I didn't really understand how he just jumped in out of left-field at the end, unless I missed a key bit of text or storyline somewhere.  On the note of it turning to a present-day setting, I don't mind it too much, I don't think. I'd like to speculate that if that was the case, that it won't be a world traversal with modern-day environments, but more of the approach of the present-day setting Castevanias on the GBA and DS where Dracula's Castle would emerge in the modern-day. So on the positive note of that, we'd see basically those classic environments found inside Dracula's Castle again. But as a negative con, we'd probably miss out on a lot of those really great looking outdoor scenes that this game presented. Either way, I'm curious to know where this game will go in terms of balancing new and original canon with fan service for the hardcore fans. On top of that, I'm also curious to know if they still have plans to release more sidescrollers/SOTN rehashes for those diehard fans as well. I'm not just quite sure if they can maintain a two games in a single franchise like that, but hey, who knows. "

" I loved seeing Slogra among the ruble in the last scene and I'm looking forward to more Patrick Stewart and Robert Carlyle in the sequel.  The guy who voiced Satan was good too."