Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse arrives over a decade after the series' last mainline installment, aiming to prove that the legendary vampire-hunting franchise still holds significant potential. This new entry, developed by Evil Empire, successfully revitalizes the Castlevania formula by integrating elements from the acclaimed roguelike Dead Cells while retaining the series' signature gothic ambiance and gameplay hooks. The game breathes new life into the series with a bold color palette, striking visuals, and an innovative Arcana card system.
Paris in Flames
The narrative picks up following the events of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse, with the Belmont lineage facing Dracula’s resurgence. Players step into the shoes of Rose Belmont, the daughter of Sypha Belnades and Trevor Belmont, who journeys to a ravaged Paris to investigate Dracula’s return. The game employs hyperstylized 2.5D visuals that render a visually arresting world, depicting Paris as a desolate, flaming cityscape against colorful backdrops, evoking a unique blend of gothic horror and artistic flair.
The world design in Belmont’s Curse offers a satisfying exploration experience, reminiscent of Metroid Dread in its tight structure. While the initial hours are relatively linear, the game soon opens up, providing branching paths and rewarding exploration with secrets and puzzles. This design ensures that players can find their way through Dracula’s domain without becoming hopelessly lost, while still offering ample opportunities for discovery.
Heart of the Cards
A key new mechanic is the Arcana card system. After defeating powerful foes or assisting characters, players can collect souls that grant access to magical abilities. These abilities, ranging from fireballs to time manipulation, draw upon a mana resource and can significantly alter combat encounters. Some cards offer defensive or utility functions, such as freezing weaker enemies for a speed boost or enabling life recovery through vampiric means. These powers not only add strategic depth but also tie into the game’s narrative, exploring themes of redemption and forgiveness as Rose confronts beings corrupted by Dracula's influence.
The quest to find these Arcana cards is a rewarding aspect of the game, with hints scattered throughout the environment leading to hidden puzzles and lore. Beyond cards, players can discover chests containing valuable loot, including unique weapons and passive-granting trinkets.
Action-Platforming Brilliance
Evil Empire has crafted an action-platformer with ultra-responsive controls, inheriting a sense of precision from Dead Cells. Combat in Belmont’s Curse emphasizes deliberate movement and enemy pattern recognition rather than reliance on invincibility frames. Players must carefully manage positioning, utilizing slides, backsteps, and jumps to evade attacks. The arsenal includes a magic whip for rapid engagement and a parry system that allows for deflecting projectiles and maintaining offensive pressure.
Upgrades enhance Rose’s movement capabilities, enabling advanced techniques like cancels and air juggles, making both combat and platforming more engaging. However, the game’s menu system for managing weapons and Arcana cards can be cumbersome, requiring players to pause the action to swap skills or equipment, which can disrupt the flow during intense boss fights.
While the game streamlines some of the more complex RPG elements found in older Castlevania titles, such as weapon variety, the core combat experience remains exceptionally rewarding. Each of the seven weapon types feels distinct and enjoyable to wield, contributing to the overall polished gameplay.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse successfully revives the beloved franchise with its striking visuals, engaging gameplay mechanics inspired by Dead Cells, and atmospheric world design. It honors the series' legacy while charting a compelling new path forward.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is scheduled for release on October 15th for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The review was conducted on PlayStation 5 using a pre-release download code provided by Konami.