14 DAY TRIAL // A developer who has worked on the recently launched Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 says that the biggest problems associated with the title, which has been criticized by long-term fans of the universe, are linked to the actions of studio director Enric Alvarez.
The unnamed game maker is quoted by VG247 as saying that the game development process was basically hell and that the entire studio is not surprised by either the low review scores or by the limited sales that publisher Konami is predicting.
He states, “If there’s someone to blame here, that’s Enric Álvarez. He is the person who has led a broken development based on his personal criteria, completely overlooking programmers, designers and artists. Despite his nice look to the press, often considered as some sort of creative ‘visionary’ in the looks of David Cage and Molyneux, this guy has serious problems.”
The director is described as both mean and naughty, with an ego issue that was aggravated by the success of the first Lords of Shadow release.
The source adds, “Most of the development team often found out features of the game through press news, rather than from the studio’s head – unbelievable. And there is no corporate culture here at all… this is just a handful of people working blindly and at the disposal of an alleged visionary.”
Another problem for the new Castlevania was the fact the Quality Assurance department at the company was understaffed and underpaid and was unable to catch all the issues the title had in order to make sure that they were remedied before launch.
Enric Alvarez is also accused of taking every idea that junior members of the team had in order to tinker with it before deciding whether it could be added to the game.
Konami is said to be unsatisfied with the quality of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and might be willing to close down the entire Mercury Steam studio in the coming weeks.
35 core members of the team have already left the company in order to find more fulfilling jobs.
No official comment about the accusations has been made by other members of Mercury Steam or by publisher Konami.
It seems that downloadable content for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is already in development, will be called Revelations, and will allow gamers to fill in gaps in the main story by playing as Alucard, with new abilities and skills to use against enemies.