Having Gabriel as the Narrator is a good move, because it starts by giving an insight into his feelings one the events from Lords of Shadow, which, to me are the absolute most important pieces in these DLC. Beating them was a completely hollow victory for Gabriel, and his feeling that fate just blows them like leaves in the wind is expecially important to his attitude. The backstory about the Forgotten One & the Founders of the Brotherhood (before they were the Lords of Shadow) were really interesting. Also, the fact that Frankenstein's fingers are littered around for you to find gives an extra taste of how much Carmilla absolutely HATED him.
The first chapter was an interesting revisit to previous locations, and seeing Ghouls and Skeletons roaming through the halls during the day time that were previously creeping with Vampires in the evening. The return to Laura's room and the chess board was nice, and the puzzle was clever.
Creeping around the water area was a little tough, and I wished that I had a little bit more time to just stop and look around, and the vastness of the bowels of the castle. My ONE complaint is that the water effects don't shimmer when you get higher up, and so they look a little off, but nothing too big. The platforming sections were really nice, especially with Laura being a little cocky the whole time. This is the one area where, when looking back, there could have been a boss fight that felt natural when leaving it. Fighting a Leviathan that was blocking the exit, or even a QTE-type event of Gabriel killing one would have been nice revenge, especially with the nicely animated death scene that they made. Also, the goddamn blade puzzle was BRUTAL. Laura using her mist form, like Alucard from SotN was also really interesting, and made for good gameplay.
The final areas puzzles were by far the most interesting. Though I had a little trouble with the controls doing what I wanted, the one hanging with the combat cross was well designed, and shows that the team has a lot of interesting ideas that I hope they get to impliment in a sequel. I really,
really liked the Founders/Lords of Shadow's puzzles. Zobek's on Teleportation; Cornell's on moving in straight lines, like his dash; Carmilla's on blood.
Finishing off, I wish that Laura had explained a little bit more about WHY Gabriel couldn't proceed, or why one Dark Ones could enter the portal, and needed to take on her powers. (Possibly a little bit about how the Founders of the Brotherhood couldn't go past here, or how Carmilla kept it at bay). It's interesting that while he's somewhat manipulated into the situation, it's not really done without his knowledge, and in the end he makes the choice to continue that way, and takes Laura's powers of his own volition. Plus, something new comes from Gabriel taking a life. He's not destroying Laura, he's setting her free as she wishes, and taking up the mantle of his new powers.
(Link to the ending cinematic for more details).
Hopes for Resurrection:
Gabriel is going to have new powers emerging. We know from the information that David Cox released via Twitter that anything new you obtain in the DLC, you keep for the main game. I can only assume that this means new powers. I'm suspecting that, since it was introduced as a mechanic, Gabriel's dodge will be modified in Resurrection to be similiar to the version Laura had. That being said, I don't see it moving as far, or as fast, and instead, staying a little bit closer to the range of his current dodge, but allows him to get through gates (similiar to Alucard having the "Mist form" vs. the upgraded "Power of the Mist" in Symphony of the Night). On top of that, giving him a blood-draining grapple move, even if it's only against specific enemies would be awesome, though I don't see it coming around as long as he continues to use his Light Magic for healing, (but as a Vampire, I don't think that he'll be able to use the Combat Cross forever).
Lastly, is the
Forgotten One. The devs have been talking about making the boss fight incredibly epic, and with the lack of any boss fight in Reverie, I can only hope that it's spectacular. Having never played Lament of Innocence, I don't really know anything about him, but the boss fight was apparently 3 stages, and just massive, which bodes well for potential. I'm hoping that, because it's a boss fight, we'll get some in-game cutscenes, rather than just the artistic onces that Reverie had. They weren't bad, but I think that going out with a bang would be more interesting to see in-game Gabriel at the end.
