Trivia / Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

• Celebrity Voice Actor: Never expect to see any prolific voice actors in the English version. Live-action actors doing voice acting instead? APLENTY!
• Dawson Casting: Robert Carlyle who was forty-nine back in 2010 did the voice-work for Gabriel, who's presumptively in his late twenties or early thirties. This trope also applies to his Japanese voice actor, Keiji Fujiwara, who was forty-six at the time of the recording.
• Dolled-Up Installment: To not complete with/detract from Castlevania: Judgment sales, Lords of Shadow was first unveiled as a standalone major franchise before it became an official Castlevania title.
• Franchise Killer: Lords of Shadow 2's mediocre reception shut the coffin on the 3D side of the series.
• Pre-Order Bonus:
  • Gamestop preorders got a black Castlevania shirt with a Combat Cross motif.
  • Best Buy preorders got a download code for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
• Recycled Script: To another Konami franchise: A noble warrior and member of a large heroic organization is sent on a quest to stop a possible world-ending scenario. The loss of a close female character is factored into said quest, which turns out to be part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the hero's organization, his learning of which later factored into the hero's eventual fall from grace and into villainy. Who are we talking about, Gabriel Belmont/Dracula or Naked Snake/Big Boss?^note Then again, Hideo Kojima was involved with this game...
• Saved from Development Hell: Back in November 2007, Konami's executives nearly scratched the entire game as they did not like its distinctly different/Darker and Edgier direction. The production was preserved by one of the game's producers, David Cox, who said he'd fly over to Konami's USHQ to show them the tech-demo his team had created. After skimming through the newest progress reports the head executives decided to continue production, and even granted the developers greater creative freedom – as well as Hideo Kojima's advice – which led to the complete overhaul of title's protagonist.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original pitch video for the title starred Simon Belmont as the game's protagonist.
  • Originally, Gabriel's design resembled that of a classical Ineffectual Loner Barbarian Hero before Hideo Kojima insisted they change him to a Knight in Shining Armor.
  • Ian McKellen would have been the one to voice Zobek, but his busy schedule could not allow it.
  • Claudia was a Raven Hair, Ivory Skin kind of gal before she became a Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold.