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For me, Castlevania was always one of the coolest-looking franchises imaginable, simply brimming with potential across every medium, be it film, TV, animation, or, of course, video games.
It's a real shame that the franchise has been dormant for so long, but over the last decade we've been getting a bit more Castlevania content, and while not all of it has been good (looking at you, Castlevania: Nocturne), Netflix's first series was spectacular, opening the door for more Castlevania in the future. That paved the way for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, Konami's first proper Castlevania game in a while, and one that will hopefully mark a proper resurrection of the series in the gaming medium.
It's not a massive AAA project, which is smart. Belmont's Curse is a side-scrolling Metroidvania title, think Blasphemous, that doesn't require an investment of hundreds of millions like some other Western AAA titles. It's a safe bet by Konami to test the waters before plunging into something bigger.
But a smaller scope never means something isn't worth your time, and in the case of Belmont's Curse, it's quite the contrary. Based on the roughly 45-minute demo I got to play for this preview, Konami have something special here, and it doesn't take more than this demo to see that.
Paris, City of the Damned
The story premise here is simple enough at the start, but the demo hints at much deeper twists and turns later on.
It's the year 1499. You play as the last of the Belmonts, a woman called Rose, who arrives in Paris with her father, legendary vampire hunter Trevor Belmont, following a call from the city's bishop, who is desperate to put an end to the chaos plaguing the streets of the city of love. The darkness has descended; the royal knights and city watch are all gone, having fled in fear of the monstrosities roaming the streets, and it's up to you to get to the bottom of it.
As you progress and beat the first boss, you start getting hints that Rose herself carries some kind of curse, hence the name Belmont's Curse, right? In addition, Rose gives some context: 23 years ago, her father killed Dracula, but the famous vampire was resurrected three years ago before being killed again. A hint that we're dealing with Dracula once more? It's not completely clear, but that's where the story seems to be leading.
The Whip Cracks Again
In terms of gameplay, this is your classic side-scrolling Metroidvania. Think Blasphemous, but with a very different art style, since Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is far more colourful and flashy, with fluid animations that stand in stark contrast to Blasphemous's pixel art.
There's platforming, obviously: jumping across chasms, dodging spike traps, and climbing wooden platforms that start to crumble as soon as you stand on them. You can also use your whip to grab hooks and swing further across gaps, and so on.
There are plenty of locked doors, blocked paths, and secrets to uncover that you won't be able to reach at the beginning, but once you get a certain ability later on, you can revisit and clear these areas. Again, proper Metroidvania fashion.
One thing I did notice is that there's no classic Souls-like element of dropping your XP when you die and having to retrieve it. Probably done for accessibility and to keep focus on the action itself, which is a smart choice. Walking back in fear of losing your XP never felt good in any game, if you ask me, apart from the original Dark Souls, which made that process so nerve-wracking.
There is not much that Castlevania: Belmont's Curse offers in its first 45 minutes that we haven't seen in other places, but execution is what matters, and here it's all flawless. The movement feels great. There's a slight delay to Rose's dodge animation during combat, but overall it feels like a properly polished game. One thing that bothered me is the FPS drop during the transition between cutscene and gameplay. The game runs flawlessly at 165+ FPS on an RTX 4080 at 4K/Ultra, but there's a noticeable lag when the camera starts to zoom in for a cutscene or non-playable segment.
As you progress, you'll also unlock spells and new abilities. In this demo, I had access to two: a fireball and a boomerang-like cross, both ranged options so you can attack enemies from a distance, but they are not infinitely spammable. You attack enemies with your sword to gain mana, which allows you to cast these.
I only had one weapon though, but hope to see more in the future. This one felt right at home in a Castlevania game; the combos look and feel great, and I was particularly smiling when pulling off a diving attack. Basically, you can use your whip to get yourself close to enemies fast, and while you're travelling towards them, you quickly press the attack button for a strong attack that slams them powerfully. I quite enjoyed that one.
The game throws a lot at you in this 45-minute demo, but it's all well thought out. It never feels overwhelming, and you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Is this something worth keeping an eye on?
When Konami announced the Castlevania: Belmont's Curse demo, I immediately knew I wanted to try it. I love Metroidvanias - Blasphemous and Hollow Knight are some of my favourite games ever - and I'm glad I gave this a try.
As I suspected, this is skyrocketing to my must-play list for the rest of the year. The only downside of this demo is that it was too short. But the game is just around the corner, so it's fine.
