Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 console. Part of Konami's Castlevania video game series, it is the first installment of the series on the PlayStation 2 and the third to make use of a 3D style of gameplay. It was released in Japan and North America in late 2003 and Europe and Australia in early 2004.
Lament of Innocence is chronologically the first game in the Castlevania series. Set in 1094, it focuses on the origins of the series' premise—the eternal conflict between the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan and the immortal vampire Dracula. Lament of Innocence follows Leon Belmont as he searches a vampire's castle in search of his kidnapped betrothed.
Lament of Innocence received generally positive reviews upon release, with praise for the origin story, gameplay, music, and graphics, though some criticized its repetitive level design and excessive backtracking.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Leon (center) fights the [[Medusa boss; the heads-up display indicates his remaining "health", magic points, and number of subweapons (upper left) and the boss's life bar (lower center).]]
The objective of Lament of Innocence is to lead the primary player character and protagonist Leon Belmont through the monster-filled castle as he searches for his kidnapped beloved. Exploring the castle is an open-ended task, with puzzles, concealed items and rooms, and bosses. A room near the castle's entrance contains portals to the five main areas, all of which are accessible from the beginning. After Leon defeats each area's boss, the final area becomes unlocked. Later on, Leon can acquire three more whips, each guarded by an elemental boss: the Ice, Lightning, and Fire Elemental Whips. Near the end of the game, his Whip of Alchemy turns into the more destructive Vampire Killer.
Plot
Lament of Innocence is set in the fictional universe of the Castlevania series. Set in 1094, it focuses on the origins of the series' premise—the conflict between the vampire-hunting Belmont clan and the vampire Dracula. The protagonist and primary player character of Lament of Innocence is Leon Belmont, a former baron and member of the Belmont clan. His close friend, Mathias Cronqvist, tells him that Leon's betrothed, Sara, is being held captive by the powerful vampire Walter Bernhard. During the game, he encounters Rinaldo Gandolfi, an alchemist and resident of the forest outside Walter's castle.
Arriving on the castle grounds, Leon meets Rinaldo, who gives him a whip crafted by alchemy to assist in killing the monsters and enchants his gauntlet so he is able to use magic relics within the castle. Leon learns that he must defeat five monsters to gain access to Walter's throne room. Arriving at the castle, Leon proceeds to defeat the five monsters, including Joachim Armster, a vampire kept prisoner in the castle by Walter. Before dying, Joachim mentions the Ebony and Crimson Stones, both of which are created from alchemy, From Rinaldo, Leon learns that the Crimson Stone converts the souls of vampires into power for its holder.
After Leon reaches Walter's quarters, he rescues Sara and attempts to slay him with the whip, to no effect. At Rinaldo's cottage, it is revealed that Sara is slowly becoming a vampire. Rinaldo reveals that Leon must sacrifice Sara to make the whip effective against Walter. Leon reluctantly completes the ritual, creating the Vampire Killer whip.
Devastated by the loss of Sara, Leon returns to the castle to confront Walter and defeats him. Death takes the dying Walter's soul and offers it up to Mathias; Mathias appears and reveals he had orchestrated everything to obtain his soul and convert it into power for himself using the Crimson Stone. Mathias explains that he chose immortality as a vampire so he could curse God for taking away his beloved wife Elisabetha. He offers Leon the same, but a disgusted Leon refuses. Mathias orders Death to kill Leon, but Leon defeats Death and vows that the Belmont clan will hunt down Mathias and destroy him one day. (The game's epilogue reveals that Mathias became Dracula, the series' main antagonist.)
Development
thumb|250px|upright|Promotion at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo
Producer Koji Igarashi unveiled Lament of Innocence at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Lament of Innocence marks the first appearance of the series on the PlayStation 2 and is third in the series to make use of a three-dimensional (3D) format, after the Nintendo 64 installments Castlevania and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (both 1999). Envisioning the concept of the game as possessing "fully connected rooms", Igarashi found that this hindered the map's accessibility and made the puzzles more difficult to solve. on November 27, 2003, in Japan, In Japan, Lament of Innocence saw a re-release under the Konami Dendou Collection label on March 2, 2006. The game was released for the PlayStation Network on June 18, 2013.