Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow

Some walkthrough and hints to help you get started...

Introduction Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a third-person action game with expansive environments and loads of replay. To complete the game fully, gathering all the collectibles and playing at all difficulties, you’ll play each stage two, maybe three times. The game has 12 chapters, and each chapter has multiple stages--complete with a challenge “trial” that will have you replay the level and meet a specific challenge. Also, you’ll pick up scrolls, collect magic gems and find weapon upgrades, racking up the XP along the way. You can purchase skills for your main character, Gabriel, creating many fighting combos to keep the battles interesting. Below, I've included some essential tips for battle, and written a walkthrough that calls out all required pickups (magic gems, weapon upgrades) and also provides tested strategy for completing the trials.

Gameplay Tips Dodge and Distance Learn this technique early. You’ll notice that in an attack combo, Gabriel will advance a step in the direction of his attack with each swing. Mindless button-mashing will then put you in harm’s way by placing you within range of opposition attacks. If a werewolf is swinging it’s arms wildly at you, stay back! Stick and move with attacks and a movement or dodge. Managing distance is important--why go toe-to-toe with a beast when you have a rangy whip to attack from a greater distance? Hit enemies with combos of two or three and then back up or sideways roll dodge. If you get greedy, you’ll get hit.

Area Attacks vs. Direct Attacks When you find yourself amid a large group of enemies, it may behoove you to take advantage of the 360-degree area attack to strike the surrounding monsters. Your attack will strike with less force than a direct attack, but it will keep your attackers at bay. Use direct attacks to take advantage of the power when you're not overwhelmed with enemy monsters.

One Shot, One Kill In any combat situation, you want to take out enemies as quickly as possible while minimizing any damage you take. For the monster infantrymen (Lessers, Goblins, Small Trolls, Gremlins and the like) grab them with your hook tip to trigger a "glowing circle test" event. Press a button when the circles converge to perform a one hit finisher on your foe. Use the left thumbstick and a button to perform a secondary kill strike (awesome for Goblins!).

Giving 110%: Using Difficulty To Your Advantage Castlevania: Lord of Shadows is a gorgeously rendered game and you can quickly get lost in it’s environmental splendor. Most Castlevania fans will want to complete not only the level, but find all the collectibles and explore every area. It’s very statisfying to cycle through your world map book and see each stage boasting 110% completed. To do this efficiently, play each level at “Knight” difficultly. This will unlock Paladin difficulty for another playthrough and a shot at 110%. If you’re still showing less than 110% after you beat the level on Paladin, you missed a pickup or didn’t complete a trial. Play through again in an easier difficulty (yes, even Squire) and finish the trial to log the full 110%. There’s no need to fight bosses again at a high difficulty, as trial completion and pickups, and consequently full credit, are not tied to difficulty.

Walkthrough The walkthrough will include all the level objectives and collectibles. Boss battles, puzzles and the trial challenges are broken out separately and detailed. Your percent complete of each level (with all pickups and a complete trial) will be 84% at Squire difficulty, 92% at Warrior, 100% at Knight, and 110% at Paladin. Complete the levels on Knight to unlock Paladin difficulty.

Chapter 1.1: Besieged Village This is the tutorial level in Castlevania: Lord of Shadows. But, for a tutorial level, the boss battle presents a bit of an early challenge that will help you practice your defensive moves like “block” and “dodge”. As the level moves on, you’ll learn some basic moves and how to heal at the health font. Defeat the few waves of Lesser Lycanthropes with some attack combos to work on your chops, mixing in some dagger tosses here and there. Soon, a cutscene will play and you’ll be introduced to the first enemy of consequence: a Great Warg.

Boss Battle: Great Warg This guy will take swipes at you with his front paws and has an unblockable charge attack you have to dodge as the tutorial states. Sideways dodge this beast (block and left thumbstick) and hit him in bursts of 3 direct attacks followed by a sideways dodge. After his health drops far enough, he will retreat above and howl at the moon. Immediately after the cutscene ends, press “grab” (RT or R2) so you hold up the huge spear William Wallace style, and the Great Warg will impale himself.

Besieged Village Trial: Finish the level, defeating the Great Warg with 3 surviving villagers. Here, you want to beat the Great Warg without losing any of the brave villagers and their mighty pitchforks. They won’t make it easy on you either, as they will continually put themselves in harm’s way. Keep the beast busy with constant attacks in bursts of 3 followed by a sideways roll dodge (block and left thumbstick). Stay close and attacking however, so his attention is on you and he doesn’t turn on the villagers.

Chapter 1.2: Hunting Path After the introductory cutscene plays here, you’ll find yourself underway in a full gallop on your horse. After a quick tutorial, Lesser Lycanthropes, each riding a great Warg, will charge up next to you in a true wild west chase scene. Use area attacks to clear the Lesser Lycanthropes off their Wargs and then attack the Wargs with direct attacks on each side of you. If you fall off, you’ll have to battle your way back on to your horse by defeating the enemies there.

Note: The “glowing circle test” is a mini-puzzle and is introduced here. When you’re about to fall off your horse, or an enemy grabs you, wait for the outer white circle to shrink inside the inner white circle and glow brighter, then press any button. You’ll regain your balance or shake off the enemy.

After a while of riding, you’ll be forced to the ground and do battle there with the Lesser Lycanthropes and their Warg. Immediately run away (all way to the foreground, down on the left thumbstick) until you get to a fallen soldier. Fend of and destroy any enemies and grab the Life Gem from his body. Defeat all the enemies, using your new skill, block and counterattack, to prompt a cutscene and finish the level.

Note: If you fall off your horse, you’ll have to repeat this process. Oh, and it hurts.

Hunting Path Trial: Finish the level without being healed. This is a tricky one, is the sense that you have to play through the level multiple times to get both the Life Gem and complete the trial. If you get the Life Gem from the dead swordsman in the final scene, you will fail the trial because you’ll heal when you grab it. The easiest way to preserve health is to fight as you ride and not get knocked off your horse to make it all the way to the battle with the Lesser Lycanthropes and one Warg. Kill them and boom, trial complete.

Chapter 1.3: The Dead Bog This level can be a convoluted maze with very few notable landmarks that can confuse the first few times through. Often, the path will split many times and circle back around to connect up with the main path. In this walkthough, we’ve written the most direct path that will satisfy 100% of the objectives and minimize backtracking. At the onset of the level, you’ll see a fallen soldier. Grab the Life Gem from him. Move ahead, climb the ledges and drop into the first group of eight Goblins at their camp. After defeating them, a cutscene will play to warn you about the swamp creatures that lie below the surface of the muck. Move straight ahead and cross the swamp.

Caution: If the swamp creatures grab you, don’t panic. They don’t hurt if you successfully pass the glowing circle test. Wait for the outer white circle to meet in the inner and press any button to break free.

Grab the health font if you need it here and head up the stairs to the left. Fight the five goblins in their camp at the top and then go hard right. Cross the muck to find a fallen soldier laying alone on the small rock island. Grab the Life Gem from his body. From the island, go right and into the next camp of goblins. Destroy them and turn right--you’ll be running toward...you. Drop down a couple of ledges and jump over the muck. Hang a left into the hidden cave battle four more goblins and grab a Life Gem (3 of 4). Go back the way you came and pass through the goblin camp to a big dropoff. Advance to the main goblin camp and go to work on this endless horde.

The Dead Bog Trial: Finish the level after killing at least 50 goblins. In the first exchange with goblins in their village, you’ll have killed eight goblins. And, depending on which way you get to the main goblin camp with the interactive tree, you’ll end up with 13-25 goblins killed when you get there. At the main camp, keep killing goblins until you get to 50 before you pick up the second goblin-thrown grenade to toss at the tree. They’ll continue to spawn until you blow up the tree.

Grab two grenades goblins throw and Gabriel will automatically throw them at the big tree. The second one fells it. Traverse the fallen tree, head through the muck and up the stairs. You’ll face two pairs of goblins as you curl up the narrow path. Turn right at the fork in the road--you’ll see a face carved in the stone--to recharge at the health font. Backtrack and go up the left fork to the cathedral. Climb up the left side the building and drop inside. After two cutscenes you’ll have to climb up to the ornate window with your shiny new grappling hook and break through with an area attack into the courtyard below.

Boss Battle: Swamp Troll The Swamp Troll has four methods of attack. He’ll swing wild haymakers (direct attack), mount a charge attack (dodge this), pound the ground with his two fists (area attack) and he’ll rip gravestones out of the ground and swing them (direct attack). Stick and move by hammering him with 3 direct attacks followed by a sideways dodge. Keep your distance and jump to avoid any shock wave from the troll’s ground and pound. When the troll’s health drops he’ll start to flash. Get close and grab him. Pass the glowing circle test three times in a row, then one more, then button mash whatever “please release me” button flashes up (it’s random from the four) to finish the battle.

After you’ve dispatched the Swamp Troll, collect the Dagger Upgrade from the Ark and use your hook tip to hop easily out of the courtyard. Advance around the side along the fence and past the waterfalls to fill up at the health font. Head down the stairs to the next checkpoint and you’ll find a ruin of a bridge to cross. Jump and lower yourself down--you’ll see the fallen soldier to your right. Hop across and lower yourself down to collect the last Life Gem (4 of 4). Make it across the rest of the span to the other side to complete the level.

Chapter 1.4: Pan’s Temple What a beautiful view! You find yourself in a rainforest and you’ve got a respite from battle as this is a puzzle level. It’s a narrow path that pretty much funnels you straight toward your level objectives--finding four amulets, two scrolls, a magic gem, an ark you can’t reach yet, and two puzzles to solve. To start, head down the path and grab the glowing amulet. You’ll come across another one (2 of 4) and the path will make a hairpin turn. There’s a fallen soldier laying next to a tree. Grab the scroll from him. Move on an take a hard right to find an offshoot from the main path where there’s the third amulet, and the magic gem. Get back to the main path and move on to collect another amulet (4 of 4) and a scroll. Move into the next area, and there is an ark up on the ledge you can’t get to--you’ll have to come back for this weapon upgrade later.

Note: Return to this area after you defeat the boss in Chapter 8.4 and are awarded Seraph Shoulders. This will allow you to double-jump up to open the ark and retrieve the Holy Water Flask Upgrade.

Move on to solve the puzzle at the end of this area.

Fairy Amulet Puzzle: Matching In this puzzle you have to match the fairy’s symbols in the order of what you have on the right side of your HUD. Change them to match your bar on the right side of your HUD and fill in the remaining symbol to advance to the next area.

Spiral up the next area--there’s nothing here. You’ll be confronted by Pan and he has an interesting puzzle for you that is the level’s trial, and the final objective.

Pan’s Temple Trial: Beat the puzzle in five movements. Here, Gabriel has to align the walkway between him and the beautiful lady tied below the swinging axe in five moves. The three concentric rings act in a simple combination. Each 90-degree turn of the inner or outer ring spins the middle ring 90 degrees in the opposite direction. Each turn of the middle ring turns the inner and outer ring 90 degrees in the opposite direction. The combination is: inner counterclockwise, outer clockwise, inner counterclockwise, outer clockwise, middle clockwise. Trial (and level) complete!

Chapter 1.5: Oblivion Lake Run ahead to step out of the woods and onto a dock. Next to the lake lies a fallen soldier--grab the life gem. Step out onto the lake and a cutscene starring your next challenge will unfold. Defeating this Boss will complete this level. Run all the way to the right to pick up a Shadow Gem.

Boss Battle: Ice Titan The Ice Titan has three different attacks. From long range, he’ll spearhand the ice and send out a speeding blast of ice in your direction. From medium range he’ll put a palm of blue energy to the ice and call forth a magic ice ring to contain you. Lastly, at short range he’ll rain down heavy punches on you.

Tip: To avoid his punches, stand in front of Ice Titan as he winds up, then run to the side and jump as the punch is about one-third on its way down. If you jump too early, you’ll get caught on the landing. If you jump to late, the shock wave will blast you.

You’ll start off a great distance from the Ice Titan on the frozen lake. Sprint toward him and avoid the long range ice attack by jumping right or left as it speeds by. Keep sprinting toward him so you get too close for the medium range attack and go toe to toe with him. Dodge two punches and the second one will result in his fist sticking in the ice. Use your hook tip on his wrist to start the climb up the ledges up and around his arm until you cycle around to the inside near his armpit. Tip: When you don’t have to hold on with “grab”, use “jump” to quickly move up and sideways across the ledges on the monster.

Button mash “direct attack” to smash the rune--you may have to pause and hold on once or twice. You’ll end up on the big guy’s arm after the rune breaks. Dodge his attack from his other hand by using “jump” and the left thumbstick to move away from the attack, the hook tip his hand. He’ll take you for a ride up--hook tip his chest when it flashes. Climb over to the next rune and start to smash it. Hang on and use a sideways jump to quickly move out of the way of his other hand when he tries to swat you away. After that rune is taken care of, hook tip up to his chin and you’ll swing around to his back. In moments he’s not shaking use down thumbstick and grab to rappel down and then sideways jump over to the next rune. Smash it in bursts of three and avoid his hand attacks from the top. After that rune is destroyed, the path will free up to his head. Climb up and hook tip to the top and shimmy around to the side of his head to smash the last rune. This will prompt a cutscene and the level is complete!

Oblivion Lake Trial: Beat the Ice Titan in 1:30. This is very difficult and there is no time to waste. The clock will start when he punches. Use jump to move up the ledges as quickly as possible. If you fall or misstep at all, you’ll fail. You can work around this a bit by completing this portion on Squire difficulty for an easier time.

Chapter 2.1: Enchanted Forest This level starts Gabriel off at the top of a waterfall. Rappel all the way down and grab the scroll from the fallen soldier. Traverse the cliff walls until you make it to the river below.

Note: See that waterfall? You can go behind there to a secret area. But...you’ll need shadow magic, so don’t worry about this now. Grab the Dagger Upgrade +5 from the Ark on the other side of this blockade on another playthrough of this level.

Head down the path along the river for a quick tutorial on magic. Kill the enemy and you’ll be introduced to light and how to collect it for your Light Gem Medallion. Equip the magic and you’ll heal yourself as you attack enemies--very handy! Cross the bridge and take out the Lesser Lycanthropes that dash at you.

Tip: Go two-thirds of the way down the bridge and let the monsters come to you. It’s a choke point and throwing a knife will take out each of these guys with one shot! Plus, some of the fallen foes leave knife pickups behind.

Ahead there’s a big courtyard. Head to the left and drop down into the shallow water below. Defeat the pack of goblins that heads your way and go straight to find a flashing pack of daggers. Go right (the only way you can) and hook tip up to the left. Scale the sheer wall by criss-crossing back and forth across the waterfall to until you get to the top. Go up the stairs to find a fallen soldier and his scroll next to the foot bridge. Go across the bridge and circle back toward the big courtyard. Rappel down and jump to the shallow water to find another fallen soldier and the Light Gem. Another pack of goblins will confront you. Dispatch them.

Caution: Goblins are sneaky dangerous. Usually there’s plenty of them and they have grenades. Stay mobile and change levels on them. Jump attacks and aerial direct attacks are good ways to stay out of their aggression.

Run along along the water and jump up to the left of the screen when you can. Jump up to the right to double back on the second level and “grab” (hook tip) the tree. Rappel over and up and make your way back over the foot bridge to continue. Hook tip up the face of the cathedral and break through the window with an area attack, landing in the inner courtyard. Fight the pack of goblins here and use two of their grenades to blow up the big outer doors. Make your way outside and take out the group of Lesser Lycanthropes. Circle around to the left of the center tree trunk and climb the side of the mill. Hook tip twice and swing into the tree to complete the level.

Enchanted Forest Trial: Finish the level after killing 30 goblins with their own grenades. The main cathedral with the doors you have to blow up is the best place to farm this trial. The goblins will spawn endlessly, but there is only one way to ensure that you will complete this trial.

Tip: This trial can take a while and you’re under heavy fire the whole time. Switch difficulty to Squire if you’re having trouble--there’s no penalty.

Using this method we were able to do it in under three minutes: Go to the extreme foreground and the farthest point away from the doors. Make sure you don’t pick up any grenades off the ground. Grab a goblin with your hook tip, and complete the “glowing circle test” while pressing a direction on the left thumbstick. If you just press a button with no direction you’ll bash the goblin to smithereens with your Combat Cross. If you press a direction and a button Gabriel will light a grenade on the goblin’s belt and send him running off with mere seconds to detonation. That’s one of 30. Wash, rinse, repeat until you get to 30, then blow the doors and finish the level.

Chapter 2.2: Underground Caves This level starts you off at the bottom of the giant, hollowed out tree you swung into to end the last level. Bear straight into the cave tunnels. Climb over, shimmy left and up, and jump across to prompt a cutscene that introduces you to the Giant Spider. Take it out.

Tip: The Giant Spider has four main methods of attack. He’ll bite up close, shoot web and then tackle you, and he’ll charge attack. Use combos and dodge. If he bites you and you get poisoned, flick your light magic on and off quickly for a remedy.

Exit this room and hook tip across. Climb up and proceed down the hall. When you emerge into the big chamber, hook tip and rappel down to the ground. Take out the Lesser Lycanthropes and the Giant Spider and then hop up and go left. Shimmy across and drop down. Head into the next room and you’ll see four exits: the one you just came out of on the ground level, one that is blocked and flashing (you can’t get in this right now) and two above you, left and right. Go right and follow the trail down to an open area. Cross the spiderweb bridge. Cross the next spiderweb path and defeat the Giant Spider there. Go to the right part of this area, scale the wall, and shimmy over. Jump over to the room’s only exit. Hook tip across and grab the key from the fallen soldier. You’ll need another one of these keys to open the door below. Drop down and go past the door to cross the spiderweb bridge. Keep heading left (Gabriel’s right) across another web bridge. Head down the hall and past a waterfall to another web bridge. Cross it and the next one. Keep walking to pass a health font if you need it. Up the stairs, you’ll find a flashing door. It’s goblin time! Pick up two of their grenades to blow the door and kill the rest of the goblins for some XP. Through this door you’ll find the second key on a fallen soldier. Backtrack over the four web bridges to the locked door and use the keys to open it. Walk inside the cathedral to trigger a cutscene and your weapon upgrade to the Spiked Chain.

Important: Go back out of the door you just unlocked and go back over the web bridges to the goblin area. From there, go out the exit to the right and you’ll find yourself near the flashing door you couldn’t open earlier. Grab the door with your Spiked Chain to break it open, then go grab the Light Gem from the fallen soldier inside.

Head back to the cathedral and walk around the alter where you got the Spiked Chain and grab the flashing door. Run through and hook tip out to end the level.

Underground Caves Trial: Finish the level after killing at least 10 enemies while poisoned with Spider Venom. Let the first spider you meet poison you, then kill it while you are still feeling the effects. You may have to repeat this process and heal with magic. Next, In the room with the Lesser Lycanthropes and the Giant Spider, advance to the spider and let him poison before you strike the first blow. It may take a few blocks and dodges. Once you are poisoned, grab the enemies one by one or take them out quickly with daggers. It will take a few rounds of poison, but you can heal if necessary by arming magic and hitting the spider to heal. There are exactly eight Lesser Lycanthropes. Those, plus the two spiders make 10! If you accidentally kill an enemy when you’re healthy, there is another spider in the level ahead, and all the enemies will regenerate after you shimmy out of this room. Leave and come back to a full house so you can repeat the process until you have 10.

Chapter 2.3: Labyrinth Entrance Drop down into the courtyard below. All seems quiet, for now. Run up to the door and the note will ominously tell you that even “Goblin grenades won’t blow up this door”. An endless horde of Goblins will attack with one riding a Warthog. Hammer the Warthog with some direct attacks and some jump direct attacks (Guillotine) to quickly dispatch his rider and daze the Warthog. Grab him and you’ll mount up with a “glowing circle test”. Ride him over to the door, and over any Goblins in your way, and ram the door till it blows open. Head through the door and take a hard right to find a fallen soldier and a scroll. Go back to the left and climb up and hook tip to scale the castle wall. Step out on to the castle allure and make your way across the planks that span the ruin. As you reach safety on the other side, stay to the right before you cross the last wooden bridge three planks wide. Here you will find a ramp leading down to a small chamber where a fallen soldier lies with a six-foot spear sticking out of his back. Grab the light gem and head back up the ramp and across the wooden bridge. Head over and grab the scroll from the fallen soldier lying ahead. Turn around and walk out on the outcropping. Jump across and shimmy around the center building--keep moving because part of it will give way--and across the timber to safety. Drop down, go left and use your hook tip to rappel down. Follow the on-screen instructions to push off the wall and jump across the span. Follow the staircase down to the next courtyard. Grab the mechanism and turn it with the left thumbstick to raise the gate, but waves of Lesser Lycanthropes will show up and knock you off. It takes two full rotations to get the gate all the way up--you should be able to do this after the second wave of monsters. Go through the gate to find a health font on the left and a fallen soldier with a scroll on the right. Proceed down the path and enter the building at the end. Go right to stock up on daggers, then head down the hall. You’ll have to return later to get through the broken wall for the weapon upgrade here, so jump over the broken-out span and go outside.

Boss Battle: Greater Lycanthrope This is a fairly straight forward boss battle. You’ll start off with a bunch of goblins, one of whom is carrying the handle to the mechanism. Kill all the goblins and mount the handle to trigger the entrance of the Greater Lycanthrope. Use well-timed blocks to stun the beast (a flash of blue will occur on the block) and hammer him with direct attacks. Repeat this process until he’s finished.

After the boss is dead, pull the mechanism around to open the door. A cutscene will show the door breaking open and the level is complete.

Labyrinth Entrance Trial: You’ve finished the level after killing 5 Warthogs. The very first battleground is where you will complete the trial. Since you need the Warthogs to bust open the door, they’ll spawn until you do so. Beat down the hog until it is stunned, mount it, and press block and grab at the same time to strangle the warthog with the reins. After it dies and disappears, another Warthog will promptly show up. After you’ve killed four, ride the last one through the gate and then kill it for the fifth kill and the completed trial.

Chapter 2.4: Waterfalls of Agharta Here, you will start next to a fallen soldier with a scroll. Move down and go right to enter a large canyon. Jump to the middle area and a Giant Spider will appear. Hit it until it is stunned, then mount it like you did the Warthog in the previous level. Use its web to pull down the tree, then kill and dismount it to release the Light Gem. Move close to it and grab the gem. Move to the right and hook tip over to the tree. Follow this tight ledge around (you’ll have to shimmy at some points) then hook tip up to the next ledge and battle the Greater Lycanthrope. Climb up the sheer wall to the left and hook tip up to the ledge on the left. Move around to the exit. Go through and battle the three Lesser Lycanthropes and one Greater Lycanthrope.

Tip: Take out the Lesser Lycanthropes first with 3 knife throws if you’ve got them. Three shots: three kills. Then you’ll be able to fight the Greater Lycanthrope one-on-one.

Grab the scroll from the fallen soldier to the left and then run to the right. Use your hook tip to grab the giant stone face and pull it down to make a land bridge. Cross and hook tip to rappel down all the way. Go to the right and hook tip across the crevasse to trigger a battle with the Cave Troll. After a few hits, you’ll stun the Cave Troll and you can mount it. Use him to blast through the large rock with some of his melee attacks and you’ll open up a hook tip target. Strangle your mount and hook tip across.

Tip: There’s a health font here if you need it!

Go through the right exit and under the waterfall to find the fallen soldier with the fifth and final Light Gem. You have a complete medallion and health bar increase! Go back out and past the health font to the left exit. Hop across and battle the three Lesser Lycanthropes and the Greater Lycanthrope. Move around to the left side of this area and scale the wall. Shimmy over and jump to the other ledge across the waterfall. Follow the path around to the left and hook tip up. You’ll see a cutscene of a Giant Spider clumsily breaking the bridge as he crosses it (thanks Spider!). Hit it until it is stunned and you can mount it. Use the Giant Spider’s web to weave a new bridge and cross over. Fill up your magic at magic font and head into the ruin. Grab the statue to reveal a fallen soldier with the Shadow Magic Medallion. Go back out to the magic font and fill up your new shadow magic. Re-enter the ruin and open the door with shadow magic active. Defeat the Lesser Lycanthropes inside. Scale the wall and hook tip up. After a series of shimmies and swings, you’ll end the level with a combo of three hook tips to the exit. Level complete!

Waterfalls of Agharta Trial: Finish the level killing at least 20 Small Trolls while you are mounted on a big one. This is a very straight forward trial. Instead of punching through the big rock right away, run through 20 Small Trolls as they spawn, then punch the rock. This should take about one minute.

Chapter 2.5: Agharta

This level starts off with your being introduced to an impish girl. She’s followed by the Black Knight, who protects her. After the cutscene, head right and up the stairs. From there, hook tip across and grab the scroll from the fallen soldier. Battle the group of Small Trolls and move up the stairs on the left. Run to the foreground to grab another scroll from the second fallen soldier. Go down the stairs ahead on the right to an open area and you’ll face some Lesser Lycanthropes. Dispatch them. Head up to the left and follow the stairs up to a small alcove in the ruin where you find the Shadow Gem. Go back past where you fought the Lesser Lycanthropes and go to right and hook tip across the broken trail. Move across to the open area and go to the glowing, broken bridge. This will trigger a Warg to show up. Battle the Warg and when you’ve beaten him enough to stun him (he’ll start flashing) grab him to mount up.

Note: Anytime you mount an animal, you’ll be faced with a “glowing circle test”.

Ride the Warg across the gap by double tapping forward and pressing jump. Battle the Lesser Lycanthropes from the back of the Warg--area attacks are good for this--and then ride the Warg to cross the broken bridges. You’ll have to strangle the Warg here and scale the wall. Over the wall, you’ll fight a group of small trolls and a Cave Troll. Stay mobile and blast the Cave Troll with direct attacks to eventually stun him. Mount up and ride him into the next clearing. Strangle him to dismount. Go left past the stairs and grab the scroll from the fallen soldier and then back up the stairs. Follow the path and drop down to find a health font and a fallen soldier holding a Life Gem. Go back and find another spawned Cave Troll and mount up. Follow the path down and to the left, and you’ll come to a large, glowing gate. Punch through the gate with the Cave Troll and pass through. Dismount and advance to the fork in the road.

Tip: If you’re low on daggers, there’s a glowing bag down the left fork.

Climb up to the top level and battle the Warg there. Stun him and mount up to cross the broken bridge straight ahead from this area. Once across, dismount the Warg and follow the path to the left. Halfway down, you’ll come across another small area at the top of the screen. Through here you’ll find a fallen soldier and a Shadow Gem. Go back and get another Warg (you’ll have to drop down and climb up again) and then ride him across all the broken bridges to the glowing vines. Climb up the vines with the Warg. Dismount and follow the girl to finish the level.

Agharta Trial: Finish the level without using Shadow Magic. On your second playthrough on Paladin, ignore the large flashing statue once again. It requires Shadow Magic, and you’ll come back and get your +5 Dagger Upgrade later. You’ll have to blitz through the level from beginning to end this time, and since you don’t have to backtrack for scrolls or gems, you should be able to sprint through this level in no time. The enemies don’t really require much muscle either, but healing with Light Magic will not jeapordize the trial.

Chapter 2.6: Dark Dungeon

Here in the Dark Dungeon, you will start off by descending through a series of climbs and shimmies, with an intermitant hook tip to rappel you down. After you rappel with your hook tip next to the big waterfall, jump left from your hook and latch onto the wall handhold. Shimmy around to the fallen soldier and grab the Light Gem. Make your way down and go into the entrance to the Dark Dungeon. Grab the scroll from the fallen soldier to the left and go up the stairs. A cutscene with the impish girl will play, but she’ll flip off and disappear. Go down the left path and grab the scroll from the fallen soldier. Keep going and you’ll be faced with a flock of flying Gremlins. Use area attacks to knock these annoyances down and grab the Rune from the fallen soldier. Beat off the Gremlins and head to an alcove on the right. Inside, you’ll find a Shadow Gem. Head back to the area where you saw the girl and use the Rune, and the bridge will cross the span halfway. Battle the foes that appear and head out onto the bridge. Go through the door that’s ahead and to the right. Inside, grab the glowing gate to trigger a Great Spider. Battle him (and the pesky Gremlins) and mount up. You can grab the gate with the Great Spider’s web and pull it open. Inside, you’ll find a health font and a fallen soldier with the other Rune. Now, return to the bridge and place the Rune to complete the bridge. Cross the bridge and go through the door ahead, then climb up the rock face with your hook tip. When you reach near the top of your hook tip, press area attack to push off the wall, and then jump to release the hook tip. You’ll launch yourself to a Shadow Gem on a ledge. Go back and climb to the top of the rock wall, then cross the crevasse and recharge your magic. Keep jumping forward and you’ll battle the Gremlins until the Black Knight appears.

Tip: If your health goes low, pop on Light Magic for a few hits to fill you up, good as new.

This will trigger a cutscene and you’ll meet the impish girl. Misson complete!

Dark Dungeon Trial: Finish the level without using a grip attack against a single Gremlin. This can be a tough trial on the harder difficulties because grabbing these guys is the best way to take them out. However, rangy weapons like knives can help, and using magic is a must. If you’re struggling too much, you can always playthrough on Squire--then they’re not a problem at all.

Chapter 2.7: Sanctuary Entrance This level starts off with a cutscene with the impish girl Claudia, who explains that her giant friend is her, well, protector of sorts. And no, Claudia is not a master ventriloquist, but rather a mute who can communicate with you simply through her thoughts. This level asks that you find the four crystal shards that grow throughout the level’s map. After the cutscene, move forward and go left up the staircase. Work your way through the broken wall and battle the Lesser Lycanthropes that await. Destroy them and then advance across to the right side of the open area. Grab the scroll from the fallen soldier and climb up to the ledge. Hook tip over to the next ledge and run. The landing will crumble under your weight so keep moving. Keep going and you’ll drop into an area with some more Lesser Lycanthropes to battle. Take care of them and head all the way to the foreground to find the first crystal shard growing in a glowing bunch in an alcove. Grab it and head back across the area and to the right to hook tip up to the roof. Run all the way to the foreground to find another fallen soldier and a Light Gem. From here, head off to the right and you’ll see a fallen soldier with a scroll. Collect it from him and then traverse the gap via the large wooden beams. Drop down to find a battle with Lesser Lycanthropes and the second of the four crystal shards. Go left and climb up the wall to find a room with a fallen soldier. Grab the Shadow Gem from him, then shimmy back out of the room and to the right.

Tip: Before you leave this little room replenish your dagger supply from the bag here. Save them for an upcoming battle with Greater Lycanthropes.

When you run out of room, drop down and kill the Lesser Lycanthropes and move across to the wall--you’ll see a handhold there. Climb up and shimmy your way toward the roof. Here you can demonstrate your refined grappling skills: before you reach the roof, at the last hook tip, jump away from the ledge (it’s a leap of faith) and hook tip up to the opposite wall. Climb up, then run and jump safely across the crumbling ledge and drop down into the next area to meet three Greater Lycanthropes.

Tip: Use the rolling sideways dodge to stay on the move and battle one of these monsters at a time if possible. Time their attacks with a block to follow with a powerful direct attack to maximize damage. Use daggers with Shadow Magic for a boost.

After destroying the Greater Lycanthropes, you can move to the corner of the room to find access up to the walkway above. Move across the broken walkway and up to the second level. Run to the foreground to find the third crystal shard. Run down the path and drop down to the area below to find the fourth and final crystal shard in the far right corner. Go over to the glowing pillar and grab it. This will trigger a Cave Troll to appear. Battle him until he is stunned and then mount up. Use direct attacks to bust up the stone pillar and then choke out the troll. Before entering the next area, find the fallen solider in the center of the area and grab the scroll. Enter the next area and approach the glowing statue. Use the newly formed Dark Crystal and the statue will emit a purple laser beam that will open the door.

Statue Puzzle: Aim the Lasers Grab the Dark Crystal from the first statue and place it in the next statue. Turn it so it shoots the laser at the third statue. Turn the third statue so the laser reflects at the fourth. Turn the final statue to the door to blast it open and complete the mission.

Sanctuary Entrance Trial: Finish the level after absorbing 20 Neutral Elemental Orbs simultaneously. This trial hinges on your ability to fill up your focus meter so that hitting your enemies distributes the maximum amount of orbs. This is easily done on the Cave Troll as he is all alone. Block and counterattack with a special move to quickly fill up your meter then blast away to send a bunch up orbs floating around. Suck up the orbs and continue.

Chapter 2.8: Sanctuary of Titans This level begins with a cutscene where you are introduced to the next of the Titans: the Stone Idol Titan. It will emerge from the ground and the battle will ensue. But, before you engage, run past the stone beast and to the right (you’ll be all the way at the other side of the area) and grab the Shadow Gem from the fallen soldier.

Caution: As you run across, you may have to jump to avoid the stomping attacks of the Stone Idol Titan.

After you grab the gem, you are free to face the Titan.

Boss Battle: Stone Idol Titan Just like the Ice Titan from the first chapter of Gabriel’s story, you have to climb up and smash the runes that power the monster. The Stone Idol Titan will stomp the ground and then hurl rocks at you as her attacks. Jump to avoid the stomp attack and wait for the Titan to throw the rock. As the rock gets close it will start to flash. Grab it and move the thumbstick quickly around counterclockwise to send the stone back to the Titan. In biblical fashion, the huge Titan will fall to its knee. Run straight for it and hook tip to the glowing part. Climb up and then hook tip over to the other leg. Climb down and smash the glowing rune. When it is smashed, drop down two handholds to avoid being grabbed by the Titan, and hook tip up to the hand.

Note: If you get knocked off, don’t worry, you can repeat the process of swinging a stone back at the beast to knock her down, only this time she’ll drop a glowing hand.

Climb up and attack the rune on her elbow. Once that is smashed, climb down and avoid her attack. You can hook tip over to the other arm and work your way up to the next rune on that arm. Smash it and then you’ll be able to hook tip to a floating rock and go for a ride. Hook tip over to the Titan’s forehead and climb up to the next rune. After you cause enough damage, a cutscene will play and Claudia will toss up the Dark Crystal to you. You’ll have to pass a “glowing circle test” to finish off the beast with the crystal.

Sanctuary of Titans Trial: Finish the level and defeat the Stone Idol Titan in less than 2 minutes. This trial requires you to move quickly and make no mistakes. If you get knocked off, restart the trial. The stomp and stone process simply chews up too much clock. Use jump to shimmy across the Titan at a quick pace and don’t fall.

Chapter 2.9: The Black Knight This is another boss battle level that will begin after an initial cutscene where Claudia dies. The Black Knight is now free to attempt to lay waste to Gabriel!

Boss Battle: The Black Knight This fight has a couple of phases. To start, move around and imploy a combination of sideways roll dodges and jumps to avoid any of the boss’s area attacks. Pepper him with two to three direct attacks followed by a dodge in the same fashion as before.

Tip: This is a very similar battle to the Swamp Troll in chapter one, except this guy does serious damage if he hits you, and he’ll take some damage too!

You’ll stun him a couple times. Grab him and pass the “glowing circle test” to chip away at his armor. After his health drops down far enough, he’ll start to ooze black goo that will chase you around the arena in creeping pools. The goo will immobilize you and make you vulnerable to his attacks, so stay on the move.

Tip: If you move around and run the goo into itself, it will disappear. You can also blast it with ground attacks.

After many more blows, his health will drop and he’ll be stunned. Grab him to rip off his helmet and you’ll emerge victorious. A cutscene will end the chapter and you’ll be awarded the Dark Gauntlet.

The Black Knight Trial: Finish the level and defeat the Black Knight Golem without using Light Magic energy. Well, you can’t heal during this fight, but the trial won’t penalize you for using any Dark Crystal or Shadow Magic you might have handy. Use these to increase the power of your attacks and make the fight shorter. Obviously the objective is to survive any fight with any boss, so this trial is nothing new, but you’ll have to take care you don’t get hit by this guy--he hits hard. Watch out for the black goo and you should pass this trial no problem.