Rose Belmont’s magic whip can pull her toward enemies, turning a leap into an air juggle before a fight has even settled. That fast, tactile combat is a big reason Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse feels like a confident return for the series. It builds on familiar ideas with movement inspired by Dead Cells, though players hoping for a sprawling Metroidvania may find its tightly guided map a little too focused.
The first mainline Castlevania installment in over a decade, developed by Evil Empire, makes a strong case that the series still has room to move. It pairs crisp action with vivid gothic atmosphere, then adds Arcana Cards and a focused world full of secrets. The game doesn’t need to reinvent the Metroidvania. Its best qualities come from making this particular series feel like itself again.
The story follows Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse, which Netflix’s animated series loosely adapted. Almost two decades after Trevor Belmont and his allies killed Dracula, Rose Belmont, the daughter of Trevor and Sypha Belnades, is ready to earn her place in the family tree as a vampire hunter. When Trevor receives a letter warning of dark happenings, he and Rose travel to Paris to investigate. Rose soon becomes separated from her father and faces the forces of hell as she tries to stop Dracula from attacking humanity. A curse tied to her emotions also threatens to eat away at her future.
The writing isn’t the game’s main strength. Its atmosphere is. Paris has become a ghost town, its skyline a flaming wreck of bright reds and oranges. Hyperstylized 2.5D visuals give the city the look of a comic artist’s take on The Triumph of Death, with mountains of corpses rotting against vivid backdrops.
Each region looks distinct, and the open world rewards exploration without turning into a maze. The first few hours are more linear, but branching paths soon open up. There are substantial secrets and hidden puzzles to uncover, and the main route stays clear enough that you’re unlikely to start punching random walls for a missed corridor. Dracula is best faced with proper preparation; charging in too soon won’t end well.
The map isn’t as sprawling or ambitious as Hollow Knight: Silksong. Its tighter design is closer to Metroid Dread, a focused sequel that doesn’t overstay its welcome. If you want a vast, intricate map, this one will feel small, but exploration still pays off. Among the rewards are Arcana Cards, a deck of magic tarot cards Rose inherited from her mother.
Defeating a powerful boss or helping a hidden character can free or imprison souls warped by Dracula. Former enemies may become friends or frenemies, and their Arcana Cards grant magic abilities that consume mana. Rose can shoot fireballs, manipulate time, freeze small enemies for a speed boost, or recover life through vampiric bloodletting. Some abilities are more useful than others, but many change how a fight or traversal sequence plays out.
The cards also tie into the game’s more affecting story material. As Rose encounters beings twisted by Dracula’s power, she has to reckon with redemption and forgiveness. The game touches on those ideas lightly at first, then an optional path gives them more weight than expected. Dracula’s true weakness proves more compelling than garlic or wooden stakes. As a pseudo-sequel to Netflix’s series, the game gives viewers who already care about characters like Sypha more to latch onto.
Finding the cards and their stories is one of the game’s best rewards. Hints scattered through the setting point toward puzzles and mysteries that feel satisfying to untangle. Chests also hold useful loot, including unique weapons and equipable trinkets with passive effects.
Exploration is only half the appeal. The other half is how good the platforming and combat feel. Belmont’s Curse carries over Dead Cells’ ultra-responsive controls, but replaces invincibility-frame rolls with a more deliberate rhythm. You have to read enemy movements and choose when to slide, backstep, or jump, using your position and open space to stay in control.
Without an invincible dodge, getting pushed onto the back foot can be dangerous. Rose still has plenty of ways to fight back. Her magic whip zips her toward foes and sets up air juggles, bringing Devil May Cry’s Dante to mind. A parry keeps the pressure on, too: Rose can summon a holy orb to deflect a skeletal archer’s projectile while she beats down a haunted suit of armor. Later upgrades let her race across the map, chaining cancels and movement tricks that make fights and platforming more engaging.
The controls are slick, but swapping equipment breaks the flow. Arcana Cards suit different situations, so you’ll want to change magic skills often, and that means pausing and digging through a menu. You also get only three equipment slots, which can mean more time in menus when preparing for a difficult boss. At least the menus are snappy.
The role-playing systems are streamlined compared with older entries, though leveling remains. There are seven unique armaments, each with four versions, but the first three tiers differ only in gradual damage increases. That’s a step back from the distinctive weapon drops in the RPG-focused “Igavania” games, the exploration-heavy entries overseen by game designer Koji Igarashi, who also led Symphony of the Night. Some of Belmont’s Curse’s simplifications work well, but finding a strange purple sword that deals 20% extra damage against skeletons would be more fun than getting another small stat bump. Even so, the weapons are rewarding to use, and this weakness barely dents the overall experience.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse brings the series back with vivid 2.5D visuals, whip-driven movement, and a pulsing score beneath its moonlit gothic setting. Its map is more guided than expansive, and its menus and weapon tiers leave room for improvement. But the focused design, responsive action, and moonlit atmosphere carry it.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse releases Oct. 15 on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a prerelease download code provided by Konami.
