There are some games where you can tell almost immediately that the developers understand what made the original games special. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is one of those games.
Set in 1499 Paris, 23 years after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Belmont’s Curse puts you in the shoes of Rose Belmont, the daughter of Trevor and Sypha. As Paris falls into chaos, Rose sets out to uncover the mysteries surrounding the latest supernatural threat, eventually finding her way to Dracula’s castle.
I got my first chance to play Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse at Gamescom, and despite only having a limited amount of time with it, I came away feeling like Evil Empire and Motion Twin – filled with experience from the Return to Castlevanis expansion they crafted for Dead Cells – have managed to capture that classic Castlevania feeling while giving the formula enough new ideas to make it feel fresh.
The demo threw me straight into exploration, with Rose initially armed with a sword rather than the iconic Belmont whip. Combat is incredibly responsive, with Rose moving quickly and attacks feeling fluid enough that chaining together strikes and manoeuvring around enemies feels natural.
That doesn’t mean the game is easy, though. Enemies are aggressive and don’t hang around waiting for you to finish them off. You really need to pay attention to their attack animations, because getting complacent will see Rose getting smacked in the face.
One particular enemy, an archer, gave me more trouble than I was expecting. Getting close allowed me to land a couple of attacks, but he’d then kick me away, forcing me to rethink how I approached him. It took me a couple of attempts to get the timing right, jumping out of the way of his kick before moving back in to continue the assault. It’s exactly the sort of small encounter that makes a difference in a game like this. Enemies aren’t simply obstacles to slash through; you need to understand how they behave and react accordingly.
Rose eventually gains access to a whip ability, and this is where the exploration side of Belmont’s Curse really starts to open up. The whip can be used to grapple and swing across gaps, allowing Rose to reach previously inaccessible areas, but it also has an offensive use.
You can attach the whip to enemies and zip towards them, and if you time it correctly, you can launch an attack while flying towards your target. It adds another layer to combat while also making exploration feel more dynamic.
This is where the influence of classic Castlevania starts to blend nicely with the modern design philosophy of Dead Cells. There’s a constant sense that the environment is hiding something from you, whether that’s a new path, an ability or one of the game’s many secrets.
Exploration is tied heavily into Rose’s Arcana system. Her mother has given her a tarot deck containing Arcana cards linked to powerful monsters, and these can be unlocked by finding clues scattered throughout the world, giving hints of where to go next. It’s a clever way of encouraging exploration without simply putting a big objective marker on the map and telling you exactly where to go.
Each Arcana also has two or three Works of Mercy associated with it. These are specific tasks that can be completed while playing, with each completed Work of Mercy providing a blessing that can be used to improve the Arcana it is connected to.
I only had access to a limited selection during my demo, but I found myself using my available Arcana regularly. Even with only one to play around with for much of the session, it quickly became an important part of my approach to combat, and I’m particularly interested to see what some of the later cards bring to the table.
Then there are Relics, which provide Rose with additional abilities and bonuses. I found a Crypt Key that fully restores Rose’s health and mana whenever she opens a chest, while another Relic, the Twilight Gem, increased her damage by 30% for three seconds after using a spell. I also found the Cetus weapon, which becomes more powerful the more enemies you hit. These little additions give you plenty of reasons to poke around in corners and explore areas that you might otherwise have ignored.
And that’s perhaps what impressed me most about Belmont’s Curse. It feels like a game that wants you to explore it rather than simply push forward. The game doesn’t appear to be afraid of making you work a little to uncover everything, which is a huge part of what made the classic Castlevania games so memorable.
In terms of how it actually feels to play, Belmont’s Curse landed somewhere between Symphony of the Night, Bloodstained and Dead Cells for me. There’s the exploration and progression you’d expect from a modern Metroidvania, the gothic atmosphere and enemy design associated with Castlevania, and the fast, responsive combat that Evil Empire knows particularly well.
You can see the Dead Cells DNA running through it, but it never feels like the developers are simply transplanting that game’s mechanics into a Castlevania setting. Instead, it feels like they’ve taken what they learned from making Dead Cells and applied it to a world that they clearly have a genuine affection for.
That’s particularly evident in the way combat and exploration work together. You’re encouraged to experiment with your abilities, look for alternative routes and learn enemy attack patterns, while the Arcana and Relic systems give you further reasons to explore beyond simply finding the next room.
There’s still plenty I haven’t seen. The demo only scratched the surface of the Arcana system, and I’m particularly keen to discover what some of the more powerful cards can do. I also want to see how the story develops and how Rose’s relationship with Trevor and Sypha fits into the wider narrative. But even from this short hands-on session, Belmont’s Curse feels like a very promising return to the world of Castlevania.
