Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Reviews
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse delivers where it matters most and gets the fundamentals right. The gameplay is fun, encouraging you to explore Paris and Dracula’s castle, and we actually kept playing until we had uncovered 100% of the map and found every secret. In our view, that’s all a Castlevania game really needs to do. That makes it easy to forgive the merely decent soundtrack and somewhat generic story. The only real downside is the limited replay value, as there are no extra game modes to keep you coming back.
Review in German | Read full review
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse delivers a promising return for the series, combining fast-paced combat, a diverse arsenal of weapons, and an interconnected world full of secrets. Its strength shines in the clever utilization of the whip, special abilities, and boss encounters within an experience that respects its classic roots while giving them a modern touch. Although some of its elements feel familiar to fans of this genre, it possesses the necessary components to deliver an enjoyable and distinctive adventure for action and exploration enthusiasts.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Castlevania: Belmonts Curse is an excellent return to form for one of gamings most enduring franchises ever and worthy of the legacy.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is, in large part, the revival of the franchise I had always hoped for. Introducing many fresh ideas and advancing the series' legacy—without being tethered to the past or merely copying what came before—the new title features masterful level design and delivers a highly competent Metroidvania experience on all fronts, even if a few details stray slightly from the core Castlevania formula.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Overall I love Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. When it was first announced I was simply thrilled that this legendary series was finally making a proper comeback, and after experiencing the sheer quality of this successor I’m convinced that it’s here to stay. Evil Empire shows an obvious love and admiration for the Konami series and while I’d liked its difficulty to have a bit more of a kick, I think it’ll be fine for most players.
I think Konami and its development team hit the right notes with Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, especially when it comes to reintroducing a long dormant franchise to a wider audience. It’s a game of three distinct acts: a somewhat generic opening third, a middle portion that gradually picks up the pace, and a truly mesmerizing final stretch that finally feels like good old Castlevania at its finest.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse stands as one of the best 2D and Metroidvania gaming experiences, thanks to its distinctive artistic identity and gothic atmosphere. With rich exploration and varied, enjoyable gameplay that blends combat and movement, it delivers an adventure well worth experiencing.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Castlevania Belmont’s Curse is a great game (and ridiculous price) whether you are fans of the license or newcomer. This is one of the titles of the year. Irreproachable in its realization and its staging, we will evaluate our pleasure not to the martial victories on the bosses, but to discover the passages and secrets of the map and the level design. A grand cru.
Review in French | Read full review
Evil Empire continues to impress by adding a drawn art style and impressive visuals to the game overall. Not just from character designs but bosses, enemies, and environments too. And while its soundtrack is not the best part, the rest of the sound design fits well into the game. If you are a Castlevania or Metroidvania fan, or even a newcomer, it’s a strong entry for a titan of a series. And one that all players should try to experience as soon as they can.
Evil Empire’s Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse draws heavily from the lore, characters, story, and presentation, but the gameplay has shifted away from many of its RPG roots. This shift is met with tightly polished execution; however, there is a lingering sense that this isn’t what some fans were expecting.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is the comeback fans have been waiting for for over a decade: a metroidvania that is classic in structure but modern in sensibility, crafted by a studio that knows the genre inside out and proves it with incredibly rich traversal, memorable bosses and outstanding art direction.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is a compelling return to its roots for Konami’s legendary series, drawing on Evil Empire’s expertise to deliver a 2D Metroidvania that masterfully combines exploration, challenging combat, and an art style brimming with care and charm. Rose Belmont’s adventure won us over thanks to a deep combat system and the Arcana, which enrich both progression and the narrative. The gothic recreation of Paris and Dracula’s castle is stunning, accompanied by a compelling soundtrack, though perhaps not quite on par with the splendor of Michiru Yamane’s work. Some limitations in enemy variety and inconsistent difficulty prevent Belmont’s Curse from reaching perfection, but they in no way detract from the overall quality of an adventure that proves just how much the Belmont family still has to tell.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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Review in German | Read full review
All in all, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse marks a particularly welcome return for a franchise that richly deserved to be back in the spotlight.
Review in French | Read full review
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is an alluringly gorgeous, polished and expressive comeback of the series. It plays things mostly safe across the board, which is a design philosophy that’s bound to alienate more expectant Castlevania veterans. For most other players, Belmont’s Curse is a gorgeous, rewarding and deeply engaging adventure that introduces the Belmont Bloodline and the series’ legacy wonderfully. It resulted in a return to form that hopefully serves as the foundation for braver titles, but until then, Belmont’s Curse is a powerful resurrection worthy of Dracula himself and a great Metroidvania all the same.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse marks a triumphant return for the legendary series, with outstanding level design, satisfying combat and a magnificent soundtrack. Its visuals feel somewhat dated and a few difficulty spikes frustrate, but this is a wonderfully crafted metroidvania.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It’s almost mind-blowing to me to be sitting here, typing up my thoughts on a new Castlevania 2D game in 2026. I never would have called this series coming back. Or if it did, I would have expected Konami to try another big-scale 3D reboot. But seeing Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse on my hard drive and being able to play it makes it feel like one part of the gaming world is working as intended. This game feels incredibly good to play, and I’d recommend checking it out as soon as possible.
How do you bring back one of the most legendary video game franchises after a nearly two decade hiatus since its last 2D Entry? With a twenty-five hour symphony of the classics retaining everything that made the series iconic, but reworked to make the experience feel modern with gameplay inspired by one of the most successful indie games of all time. Dracula, Belmont's, demanding platforming and enemies, gothic aesthetic, whips, sub-weapons, layered map, secrets, it's all here. Belmont’s Curse is a sublime fusion of Castlevania and Dead Cells that blends classic and modern elements effortlessly to make it feel like a natural progression for the series without losing sight of the origins that made Castevania legendary. Purists might disagree with the new feeling being too much of a departure, but for those who appreciated the series revolution that Symphony of The Night was in 1997, they will appreciate the revolution that Belmont’s Curse is in 2026.
Ultimately, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse doesn’t just mark the end of a twelve year mainline game drought, it answers the question posed at the very beginning of this review with a resounding yes. It is an emphatic, confident return to form. While a few weapon categories fall into redundancy once you have the iconic whip in hand, that minor imbalance is easily eclipsed by how thoughtfully Evil Empire has built the rest of the game.
With a storied past, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse sets up the franchise for a bright (but also dark) future. Rose is a fantastic heroine with a deep, compelling story, and she wields some of the genre's most enjoyable combat mechanics. Add a few key accessibility options to make the game less punishing, and I think you have a standout title heading into the final months of 2026. Belmont's Curse is one of the best ways Konami and Evil Empire could have pushed the franchise and the genre forward.