Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

One of the things I’ve been trying to do since the beginning of this year is go back to any game series I’ve played one or two entries of and try to finish them up. Of course this isn’t an easy feat as some series are longer to complete than others. There are eleven mainline Resident Evil titles, four of them got remakes, and some of these games are hot garbage. I managed to beat The Surge, both the Mega Man Zero and ZX series, and A Plague Tale until it got its third entry this year. Gonna have to get to that when it goes on discount, but there’s one franchise I have wanted to play the most over the years. A godfather for my favorite video game genre of all time, Castlevania. Running since the NES days and past posterboy for Konami until Kojima laid a golden egg. The premise of Castlevania is great despite its simplicity. You’re a vampire killer off to storm a castle and kill Count Dracula. Fight an array of monsters, overcome each difficulty curve, and send the castle tumbling.

The presentation, epicness of your journey, and satisfaction of cracking your whip on a skeleton so they can burst into flames. These games didn’t age perfectly and when stacked against other platformers at the time like Super Mario Bros. 3 or the six Mega Man games you realized they could’ve used much more fine tuning. That’s what the developers at Konami did as around the Super Nintendo & Genesis era they delivered Super Castlevania and Bloodlines. Two refinements to what the original three NES games set up. There was also Rondo of Blood, but it never got ported outside of Japan until years later. Castlevania was kicking hard, but rather than continue following the same linear structure they instead went in a different direction. Taking heavy influence from Metroid series and finding a way to cram light RPG elements in. Symphony of The Night, a deviation from what came before. Big sprawling interconnected world, the need to find powers to explore, and secrets hidden around every corner. It was the biggest risk Konami had ever taken. Initially the game sold poorly, but with time became well beloved. So well beloved in fact that it is considered one of the greatest games of all time. An amazing feat because it's such a niche game. Not every person is gonna like a 2D game with backtracking and secret finding, but Symphony pulled it off really well. Then came the Gameboy Advance and DS trilogy.

All of which were also well praised at the time. I've heard amazing things about Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia over the years, and am excited to play them one day. Castlevania is one of the company’s greatest achievements, and one day they suddenly stopped making them. At least the 2D games to my knowledge. The last Castlevania games ever made were those hack ‘n slash titles they made during the seventh console generation, but those bombed hard and similar to any video game franchise at the time, “If it’s not profitable then it’s not worth investing into.” This led to the disappearance of Castlevania and coincidentally Metroid for a prolonged period. Fans wondered if either of them would ever return, and as the days went by those chances lowered. A sad death for two beloved series, but correct me if any of this information is wrong. I didn’t grow up with these games, and my experience could be different from those who did.  Despite both of these series dying they managed to inspire people. Developers who too wanted to create games with the style and structure of either games. Hence the indie scene providing to those who have been starving. Cave Story, Guacamelee, Axiom Verge, and Owlboy are some of the earliest I can think of. Our current market is flooded with indies as we now have a massive barrage of these kinds of games to love. Ender Lilies, Nine Sols, Blasphemous, Grime, 9 Years of Shadows, MIO, Death’s Gambit, Ultros, and of course my beloved Hollow Knight. Heck, even the Metroid series managed to make a comeback. I wouldn't doubt if Nintendo saw what was happening & thought it would be a good idea to invest in a niche property again. Just a genre of good games to enjoy. 

Even though metroidvanias have made a resurgence people still wondered if Castlevania would ever return. Well Konami listened to the pleas of the public and decided to make…. An anime series. Video game adaptations aren’t often good. Converting experiences driven by player interaction to the big screen is difficult. For years video game adaptations have kinda sucked, but Castlevania had something to go by. In that the originals had little plot to speak of, so they could expand on it in any way they dreamt. This then led to one of the best adaptations of all time, and unlike Arcane it managed to stick the landing. More people loved Castlevania than ever, so the next logical step was to… Go and cameo in a bunch of indie games such as Vampire Survivors and Dead Cells. Both games are incredibly inspired by your property. They did though pay heavily close attention to one of them. Evil Empire, who were the devs for the many expansions of Dead Cells, were pretty damn good when it came to making fun 2D games. At some point they were the ones who drove Dead Cells forward, and eventually partnered with Ubisoft to make The Rogue: Prince of Persia. A game that served as a great companion to Lost Crown and revived hope for another dead series.

Konami, who noticed the high quality of the Castlevania expansion which Evil Empire and their former coworker studio Motion Twin had made, handed them a difficult task. To make their very own Castlevania game! Konami would provide funding and Motion Twin would serve purely as assistance. Evil Empire could do what they wanted so long as it encompassed what a Castlevania game is. The new game was titled Belmont’s Curse, revealed to the public, and reception was a tad bit skeptical initially. I myself was extremely excited as I love these kinds of games, but you got some of the hardcore fans wondering if it’s ‘truly a Castlevania game.’ In the same way folks wondered about the new Silent Hill titles. The game released just a few days ago and reception wise it’s a bit divisive. Some players really love it and others found it disappointing. I think it’s due to how many metroidvanias have come out in the last ten years, and how Evil Empire needed to compete with all of them. They could be experimental and drive off those who grew up with these games, or play it safe and be criticized for that instead. They did pieces of both alongside combining what they learned from Dead Cells and The Rogue: Prince of Persia. I need to clarify this before moving forward. I am not being paid to sponsor this video game.

Never have I been given a review copy from a studio, because I’m a small person who reviews video games as a hobby rather than as a job. Every word written is done so with honesty, because I want them to learn so they can improve with future projects. In the same way a student looks at a failed assignment and tries to understand how to avoid making the same mistakes. I need to say this now, because conversation for this online hasn’t been pleasant. My opinion isn’t also being influenced by others, because if so it wouldn’t be my opinion anymore. With all that said, what do I think about Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse? I think this game is really f*cking good. This is one of my favorite games of 2026, and each second spent away led me dreaming of playing more of it. I’ve searched the world for everything it has to offer, achieved all three endings, and nearly one percented the map. (It’s like 98% which is pretty close.) At first I was skeptical whether to play the previous six 2D entries first. Seeing how I opened the review by saying I want to delve more into series I haven’t finished. Held onto this question for days, but my sibling gifted me a copy to enjoy over my fall break. Incredibly thankful for them giving me this experience. Today we’re gonna be talking about Belmont’s Curse and why it deserves your attention. 

Story

In the year 1476, the evil Count Dracula raises an army of monsters to terrorize the land. Scour every street for human beings, kill them, and eventually rid the world of what he sees as sickly. If you played Symphony of The Night or watched that anime series you know he’s mainly doing this because his wife was accused of being a witch and burned alive. Dracula seeing the world full of nothing of rage and revenge induced animals deadlier than the monsters who walk decides to end it once and for all. Calling upon a medieval apocalypse, but whenever this happens legendary heroes are called upon to attempt and defeat the dark lord. In this case it was Trevor Belmont, the last remaining member of the Belmont clan. A family of vampire & beast hunters who go dozens of decades back. Trevor, armed with his family’s legendary whip, fights back. Along the way he makes powerful allies such as the talented pirate Grant Danasty, the dark lord’s son Alucard, and sorceress Sypha Belnades. During the adventure both Trevor and Sypha fell in love, and once all was said and done they soon became married. Birthing a beautiful girl named Rose, but during that time Dracula returned from beyond the grave. By ‘that time’ I mean roughly three years. He was killed again by another vampire hunter, and the world was safe again. However, this made Trevor worried for the future because if Dracula can return from death it meant this would be a never ending cycle his family would deal with. By ‘deal with’ I also mean now.

Dracula placed a curse on Trevor’s future ancestors. An affliction that saps away their life based on how much stress, anger, and anxiety built up. If the holder doesn’t know how to bear the curse then they will pass away. Rose watches her mother die at a young age, and Trevor promises to do all he can to protect his daughter. Teaching her how to fight, wield the magic her mother utilized, and remain calm so the curse can always be at bay. In 1499, he’s sent a letter by a bishop located in Paris. The streets have become overrun with monsters, the skies are growing into an eternal dark, and a sinister energy is brewing beneath the surface. The bishop wants Trevor to stop this problem from escalating further, but our former vampire hunter is older and grows more tired by the day. Hence why Trevor brings Rose along with him. She’s grown strong over the years and he sees her capable enough of handling everything on her own. The two part ways at a dock, so while one explores the streets the other marches into the sewers. Rose is equipped with a deck of cards passed down by Sypha, and serves as protection from the beasts lurking about. One of said beasts ambushes her and is slain. Rather than bleed to death this beast is absorbed into one of her cards and gains consciousness. Saying he has no recollection of how he got put into this state, and wishes to help Rose as an atonement for whatever acts he committed. He also tells her there were two other strong fighters like him. Together guarding a door that leads into the Catacombs, and down there is where true madness lies. Rose, knowing what she has to do, decides to explore all that Paris has to offer, uncover a grand mystery, and destroy the root of where all evil beings on the globe lie.

Gameplay

Now I could say that Belmont’s Curse feels like if they took The Rogue: Prince of Persia but if it were a metroidvania instead, but it’s more than that. Belmont’s Curse feels like a combination of multiple ideas from different metroidvanias across the years. A love letter to not just Castlevania but the genre entirely. Right off the bat you can slide and jump off walls. Two abilities that would normally have to be unlocked through usual metroidvania progression. Metroidvania staples such as the air dash and double jump so many of these games aren't unlocked until late into the game. Your means to traversing early on are interesting in that it takes time to get used to, but once you do Belmont’s Curse has some very fun navigation. This is further elevated with the large amount of  platforming challenges the game has in store. Making use of the abilities you gain, and the more that are unlocked with time the more mechanics are stacked on top of each other. Introduce 1st element A, then introduce 2nd element B, and combine A and B to create 3rd element C. This was once an action platformer series, and to see Castlevania expand on movement in the same way others have is exciting. This is the area I’m most happy that Evil Empire learned from the most when they made The Rogue: Prince of Persia last year. It may even be better, as even though the controls aren’t as fluid I’d say navigation is more intriguing.

World design is another thing to note, because without superb level setup in each area you would not have the intrigue as mentioned. The map of Belmont’s Curse really opens up as you progress and unlock different powers and shortcuts. Rooms looping back to points you once were. Either to let you reach a secret you couldn’t before or show that there's a shorter path to your goal. They even mark rooms in gold to show you’ve fully cleared them out of collectibles and secrets. A bit similar to how Ender Lilies handled completion, so there wouldn’t be much time wasted towards exploring for the one thing you missed. Another thing that reminded me of Ender Lilies are spells. Earlier I mentioned a powerful beast was absorbed into one of Rose’s cards, and with him you can perform a spell tied to his powers. Not every boss grants you a spell as some are unlocked thru side quests, but most of them come from toppling these massive barriers. Spells require mana to be performed, and mana is regained either by picking up blue consumables or striking back at foes. Meaning there’s a push to fight actively and always be on the edge.

Your spells also have a unique upgrade system where acquiring certain feats unlock one of three skill points. A skill point can then be spent on one of three perks increasing the power & abilities of the spell. Of course spells aren’t your only means of fighting back as you have an arsenal of melee weapons. You start off with a sword, pick up different tools, and stronger versions of these tools. Greatswords, dual swords, gauntlets, a light sword & shield, spear, and whips because it wouldn’t be a Castlevania game without them. Each with their own attack power, speed, range, and unique combat skills. If the large room for customization wasn’t enough there are trinkets, because every metroidvania has trinkets now. Three can be equipped at a time and offer passive perks. Some are incredibly good for combat like dealing more damage from behind, recovering mana from parrying, or increasing defense if Rose’s health falls too low. Others are better suited for exploration such as traps dealing less damage, restoring health when finding a chest, or health potions refilling the bar completely rather than partially. Mix and match to your choosing, and unlike most metroidvanias you can switch out trinkets without having to rest at a checkpoint.

There’s a healing system akin to soulslikes albeit not as good. Everytime you rest you get three vials, but sometimes when you kill an enemy you gain another vial. The chance of it happening is random, but when it does happen you have an extra push to keep going. Rather than realize all means of survival are out the window and you gotta run back to a safe zone. Some players might not want to do that, because every time you rest to save all the enemies you killed will respawn. Carefully consider how much you want to explore and your means of survival. It’s important to always be on the lookout for secrets, because they may contain those weapons and trinkets I have spent so much time discussing. There are also fragments to increase maximum health and mana, because trust me those later bosses love to hit like a truck if you’re not properly leveled. This is a game that’s not afraid to get hard when it wants to, but man is it satisfying to overcome. I love everything Belmont’s Curse is trying to do, but I also have to realize it’s not for everyone…..

The Weird Design Choices of Belmont’s Curse

Last year I wrote my review for Hollow Knight: Silksong and gave it incredibly high acclaim. It was a game I waited six years for, and when it finally released I ate every inch of it up. Soaking in the world, exploration, combat, secrets, and just about everything. It wasn’t a perfect game but the many strengths to me heavily outweighed the cons. Silksong is a masterpiece to me, but then time passed and I started to notice a small fraction of people expressing their displeasure. Mainly towards the game’s difficulty and balancing. Silksong is not only a long game, but also a pretty hard one. Due to the game’s fast and reactive combat Team Cherry had to ramp up the speed and damage output of bosses. A few moves could kill the player instantly and force them to restart a long fight or run back to then restart the long fight. I can go on and on about the problems people had, but you get my point. I acknowledge that these design choices aren’t for everyone. I have a friend who believes Silksong is overrated, because of having to beat your head across a 20 to 40 hour long game whereas so many other games do it with shorter runtimes. It had some weird ass choices you may not wrap your head around, and Belmont’s Curse is the same.

The healing system for this game is not great. I like the idea of vials sometimes being dropped by enemies or destroyed objects. Meaning taking the time to kill foes you’d normally skip or take apart the environment might give the extra means of survival. It also allows you to keep going in the same way lootable blood vials in Bloodborne did. Health in my opinion is one of the most important systems in video games. It not only serves as an indicator for the amount of hits you can take, but estimate how much longer you can keep going. Using a consumable is a decision in of itself, because you are spending a resource that can only be restored at checkpoint to regain lost health. Everytime you rest at a checkpoint all enemies placed around respawn. This leads to making other gameplay decisions like what encounters you can handle, or how to kill enemies in the most efficient way possible. You’re taught to either play better or more wisely depending on how you manage your health bar. Belmont’s Curse has a healing system that combines the flask restoration and limitation of Dark Souls with lootable vials of Bloodborne. What holds it back is how many vials you carry at a time. Three vials, and this capacity is not increased despite how many upgrades there are in the game. Which is a jarring considering so many titles of this time reward you with increased healing capacity for exploring their worlds.

You can carry a maximum of six vials if enemies manage to drop enough, but then it resets back to three if you rest at a checkpoint. Evil Empire probably did this to maintain balancing, because if the player were to run around with six vials all the time it would break the flow. It’s kind of a bad design choice though, because it punishes those who perform well and learn how to conserve their resources. It’s not the only design choice Evil Empire attempted to carry over from popular inspiration. This game has parrying, and it’s not tutorialized well to the player. Tied to the holy barrier Joan of Arc gifts when pressed at the right time you can deflect an attack. This is done at any time even if you’re in the air, midway performing an attack, or facing away from an enemy. I don’t mind how they designed the parry, because Belmont’s Curse is a visually chaotic game and I will address this. It’s how the parrying blends in with the core gameplay. Much of the bosses in Belmont’s Curse utilized the different navigation options Rose has. There’s this one fight where you get a platform around the arena through swinging and zipping. Midway you have to navigate a tight passage to chase the boss to another room, and it’s a really fun fight! Same goes for the Death fight and how you gotta use the different elevated platforms to avoid beams. Parrying is just there. Not only is it taught poorly and feels weird to use, but it isn’t blended well into all else that the player utilizes. It’s there as games like Nine Sols and Grime had it, but those titles at least did it well by varying between different deflections.

The game’s difficulty curve is really weird in general. Most of the reviews I’ve seen like the one from Austin at Skill Up claim the game starts steadily difficult then becomes too hard by the end. I think it’s the opposite, especially for someone who took time to explore the entirety of the map. The beginning is rough, because you lack a majority of the movement options needed to weave around attacks. It’s unclear to me if the slide is designed to offer invincibility or move away from attacks. Sometimes I’d slide through a hit and negate all damage. Other times it wouldn’t, so it depends. The final boss has this grab attack where ninety percent of the time I’d get hit by sliding at the right time or away. The game despite having amazing art direction is cluttered at times, because even outside of cinematic boss fights there were basic arenas where too much was happening within a close space. Most of it was skill, but occasionally it was me crossing fingers and praying I’d make it with luck. The game is hard at first, but then I started unlocking all the health and mana upgrades. Leveling up quickly by killing everything I saw, and by the end my Rose was slashing through stuff. Clearing arena rooms, tanking hits, and barely falling below 50 percent of maximum health. There are optional bosses I fought that feel like they were supposed to be harder only to then be obliterated in five minutes. Belmont’s Curse is a weirdly balanced video game and I can see why numerous players are so mixed on it as of writing this. 

Yet, it was also a game I did not want to stop playing for four days straight. 

The Wonders of Belmont’s Curse

Belmont’s Curse reminded me of Hollow Knight: Silksong in a lot of ways. There are aspects that are going to annoy players to hell and back, but if you stick around you’ll find a game heavily worth picking the ins and outs of. The act of playing Belmont’s Curse is addicting. Exploring the world, finding collectibles, killing enemies, everything galore! The platforming takes time to get used to, but as I said earlier moving around and seeing how mechanics stack on top of each other is a joy. The first upgrade is the holy whip to swing around or grapple to point. The points are colored gold and pink so you can tell which of the two they are. A good choice, because there is a lot of color in this game. Yet, everything is super readable and easy to see. The aspect I’d say surprised me the most, because even though I complained action gets visually chaotic at times a majority of challenges are designed fairly. Difficulty and balancing is whack, but learning what killed you and how to avoid it the next time is fair and fun. This game doesn’t have as numerous of bosses as Silksong, but they are top quality bosses. Against iconic beasts from prior titles, or reinterpretations of French historical figures. Evil Empire is an indie studio stationed in France, and seeing how Castlevania games mostly take place in the far past and follow these alternate fantasy timelines it gives them room to imagine what a world with magic & monsters look like.

Joan of Arc was a military leader and religious figure in real life, and I love how they interpreted her in this game. Someone who believes in faith, honor, and protecting the weak. Which makes learning what happened to her kind of sad. Jean de Challes was an architect who constructed the Notre Dame, and here he’s reincarnated as the automaton Talos which is a nice to Greek Myth as a lover of these stories. I love the whole surrounding cast of Belmont’s Curse, because while they don’t get enough moments for conversation it’s interesting to see bosses assist Rose for different reasons. I mentioned Ender Lilies earlier, and one of my favorite things about that game was how fallen warriors blinded by corruption would have their minds cleared by you. Able to isolate the darkness from their minds and use any strength left to undo what they’ve done. Belmont’s Curse does this too, but not every person you absorb wants to eagerly help you. Medusa mocks Rose, goes against her beliefs, and serves as the doubt clouding Rose’s mind. Seeing when or if she’ll break under pressure. There are monsters who help you despite conflicting beliefs like Brauner. A vampire artist who serves Dracula, but wants to stop him as if Dracula succeeds the human torture which serves as his artistic inspiration will be erased. Seeing these characters clash when they want is interesting, and the final sequence during the true ending is magical. As you witness every bond Rose has made protect her.

There are five traversal mechanics you unlock throughout the game which isn’t much, but Evil Empire do their best to showcase what kind of levels and gimmicks they have to offer. Each area contains unique challenges tied to that area alone. Once you get to Dracula Castle things get real crazy. You got these mirrors you zip into, and then launch yourself into the air with. This time gear that slows down mechanisms giving you a few seconds to reach the unreachable. You go to Notre Dame, there’s this organ puzzle, and finding music sheets lets you discover how to turn these lasers off. An observatory with constellations, and bouncing on the constellations correctly opens the way forward. A few of these are puzzles and I love how despite mainly being action and platforming they were able to cram in moments of thinking. Pieces where you slow down and pay attention. Bringing me onto one of my favorite aspects in Belmont’s Curse, and that is the clue system. Interacting with certain ghosts and scriptures in the world lets you learn of one of the big baddies or figures you gotta hunt them. It’s not just Evil Empire finding a way to place lore documents about, but offer even more moments of observation. Those puzzles I mentioned a few seconds ago aren’t solvable unless you explore and locate those clues. A vast majority of the main hall in the castle can’t be traversed unless you learn you’re supposed to follow the Alucard paintings. This then exposes alcoves hidden to regular eyes, and it’s just so cool!

The world design is great and I never felt lost exploring. The game does a fantastic job ensuring you’re on the right track, but gives you enough optional content to bumble around. I critiqued that once you overpower yourself the difficulty curve falls down immediately, but some players are gonna love this. I myself kinda loved this, because it’s a reward for clearing out the map and taking the time to get better. Similar to how all 2D entries before did so as well. It’s not hard to get back to where you died or need to go, and clearing out everything the game has to offer will net you fifteen to twenty hours of playtime. Going back I said my friend didn’t like how Silksong and so many games of this genre want to be twenty or more hours long. When all they want is a good game that does all well within a shorter period. A good ending should run you ten hours and a true ending takes two or five hours more to achieve. Belmont’s Curse is great for those that want a game that is reasonably lengthy. The art direction is splendid. It’s gonna be a selling point for anyone interested in this game. Hand drawn backgrounds, water coloring, and lining that help make objects and characters pop towards the player’s eyes. I love the portraits and designs of all the characters. Fantastic job spent reimagining these classic characters in a new light.

Finally I want to touch upon the story. I really like the narrative of Belmont’s Curse. Sure it can be simplistic or cheesy at times, but consider the material it had to adapt. Canonical it follows the events of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. That game came out all the way back in the NES era, and despite some NES games having plots they were often just there for context. Remember that good old phrase, “Story in a game is like story in a porn movie,” John Carmack before the next three decades worth of video games proved it wrong. Belmont’s Curse being built upon a series with twenty plus entries means it has a lot of lore to work with. Castlevania 3 wasn’t a very lore heavy game, and the anime series did a fantastic job adapting this story. Belmont’s Curse can be seen as a story follow-up to either or, but mainly the original third game. Telling a tale of how the Belmont family lives on through a new generation, and how their fight towards protecting the world is a never ending cycle. A circle that can become hopeless and tiresome to preserve. Yet it is determination, purpose, and connections with well minded folks that drives them on.

I really love Rose Belmont as a character. She’s confident and skilled in what she’s doing. Never does it feel like a dumb writing trick is pulled out to place her back at zero. However, it doesn’t mean she’s perfect. She has her weaknesses she’s actively working toward fixing, and the curse as a physical representation of her anger and anxieties. It’s easy to get stressed out with the task at hand or the idea that we’re all gonna die someday looming in your head. She learns to control these, and if you pursue the true ending you get this wonderful moment where she’s reminded of why she does what she does. The people who looked after her and despite them being gone they will always be proud of the person she worked herself up to me. Rose learns to move on through life, look towards a hopeful future, and let go of her burdens. Sure it’s cheesy, but I love this kind of sh*t. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is one of my favorite games of 2026 and I’m confident in saying it’s a masterpiece. It’s not perfect. Anybody who loves this game can admit that, but this is by far the best game Evil Empire have made to date and I hope any future game that is made of this type can improve upon the flaws and critiques I found. I strongly recommend this game to anyone who likes metroidvanias, and want to see a tribute to not just the genre but the past that made it. I give Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse a 10/10 for being incredible.

10/10, Incredible