Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is going to be very different from the first title in the trilogy. Just looking at gameplay videos wouldn’t tell you that, however, as it still retains the same combat and dark gothic themes as the original game. Where it truly differentiates itself is in the world and exploration.

In a new trailer for Lords of Shadow 2, the development team goes into detail on how they built the open world that players can freely explore in the sequel. After hearing from players that they wanted exploration back, the team built a modern city around Dracula’s castle that could be freely explored. Like in the past games, players are encouraged to return to previous areas with new equipment to find new items that were previously unobtainable.

As for the world design itself, the developers at Mercury Steam took inspiration from their home country of Spain. They note that they live in the middle of castle country and had plenty of architectural design to pull from when building their modern, gothic city.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will be out on February 25 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Image via Castlevania: Lords of Shadow/YouTube