The series is back, and it hasn't forgotten what it is#
18 years. That's how long it's been since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia last gave us a classic 2D Castlevania, and in that time the entire Metroidvania genre the series effectively invented has grown into an industry of its own, with everything from Hollow Knight to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night building on that legacy. Coming back to it after this long is no small task, and Evil Empire and Motion Twin, best known for Dead Cells, have taken that on together with Konami. We've always loved this series, and Belmont's Curse is a comeback that genuinely makes us happy.
You play as Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades, two of the names who once brought down Dracula. That's a heavy legacy for a new lead to carry, and the game lets her carry it without ever feeling like a retread of her parents. The setting is a burning, monster-infested castle painted in a new, vivid animated style, full of rich color and an electronic, bass-heavy soundtrack built from remixes of earlier games in the series. It feels modern without losing the heavy, gothic mood that has always defined Castlevania.
The whip does everything, and does it well#
What actually lifts Belmont's Curse above a nostalgia trip is how the whip is used. It's no longer just a weapon. You hook onto rings scattered through the environment to swing across gaps, pull yourself straight to enemies to close distance fast, and can even chain a grapple into a mid-air attack. The result is that movement and combat blend into one thing instead of two separate modes, and suddenly every room in the castle feels like an opportunity to move through stylishly rather than an obstacle to get past.
On top of the whip there are seven weapon categories, from swords and spears to boxing gloves, plus relics that trigger their own effects on both offense and defense. Every boss you beat grants a new magical ability, and the bosses themselves demand patience: learning their patterns actually matters rather than just grinding through with raw stats. The combat carries the whole game, and that's where Belmont's Curse feels like a genuine evolution of the series rather than just a reminder of what it used to be.
Exploration comes with a price#
Belmont's Curse is a non-linear Metroidvania with save rooms, fast-travel points and key items, exactly as the genre demands. The problem is that guidance toward what's left to find leans a little too cryptic. You get hints along the way, but no clear marker for what an area you've already visited is still hiding, beyond a percentage showing how much of it you've explored. That delivers a genuine sense of discovery once a puzzle piece clicks into place, but it can also turn late-game hours into more searching than play.
Fast travel between parts of the castle is also more limited than we'd have liked, turning some of the longer backtracks into a chore rather than a choice. It's the one part of Belmont's Curse that feels like a design shortfall rather than a deliberate trade-off.
Is this the next Symphony of the Night?#
No, and that's fine. Symphony of the Night is still the yardstick the series gets measured against, and Belmont's Curse doesn't quite reach it for us. But it doesn't need to in order to be a great Castlevania. Rose Belmont is a lead worth following, the whip-grapple system is the best piece of traversal the series has ever had, and the gothic environments are some of the most beautiful in the whole catalog. The cryptic guidance and limited fast travel slow things down at times, but they never take away from the whole.
9 out of 10 – a Castlevania that respects its legacy while daring to get better.