It’s been twelve years since the last release of Castlevania; since then, it’s made sporadic appearances in other video game titles as complimentary DLC. We now have a new title in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, developed by Evil Empire in collaboration with Motion Twin, which also featured the series in their title Dead Cells. Taking place in 1499, Rose Belmont follows her father Trevor to take on demons who have taken over Paris, France, in the wake of a soon-to-be-revived Dracula.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is a 2026 action-RPG co-developed by Motion Twin and Evil Empire and published by Konami. It is currently available on PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Editor’s Note: Spoilers for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse and the series’ overall mythos may be present within this review.

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Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor and Sypha, takes up the family craft.

Castlevania, after a fourteen-year main release hiatus, returns to its roots with a roguelike twist. Belmont’s Curse follows Rose Belmont, who travels to Medieval Paris with her father Trevor after demons attack. During the attack, they learn of a new plot to revive Count Dracula and are forced to split up. As she continues her journey, Rose learns more about her family history, including the curse she acquired at birth from her deceased mother and the tarot cards she left behind to defend herself from it.

Rose faces off against Dracula and his disciples in Belmont’s Curse.

THE GOOD: In 1499 Paris, France, Trevor & Rose Belmont have been called to save the city from a night of demon attacks. Trevor and Rose are forced to split up, and Rose is left to fend off the demons in Paris alone. She encounters a demonically possessed Joan of Arc who becomes her ally upon defeat, and later a turned Leon Belmont. Both of whom guide her during her journey and advise her on options for Dracula’s defeat.  Following the defeat of Medusa, Rose acquires her soul, and it taunts and manipulates her while Joan and Leon bring her to her senses. Having acquired all three keys, she unlocks the gate to Dracula’s castle.

She confronts Death and fights him but can barely do any damage. Death nearly kills Rose, but she’s saved by Trevor, who sacrifices himself to help her escape. She regains her will and continues onward to defeat Dracula. Her curse begins to activate more and more, and she realizes that she needs all of her tarot cards activated to control it. Rose unlocks a spell known as Absolution, meant to defeat Dracula, and defeats his disciples Isaac, Carmilla, and Death. There are three possible endings:

Bad: Rose faces Dracula completely unprepared and succumbs to her curse, having been defeated by it.

Normal: Rose acquires the necessary arcane artifacts to defeat Dracula, but fails to properly kill him, leaving Paris still cursed by a demon attack.

True: Rose not only has all the artifacts, but the spell Absolution and activates it to properly kill Dracula, thus saving Paris.

Multiple weapons and forms of magic can be used and upgraded.

With Konami’s blessing, Evil Empire took advice from Motion Twin on the direction for the next Castlevania game. Having previously featured the title as DLC in Dead Cells, the developer had some seasoned fans of the series. This did it a good bit of justice after being away for so long. Having been the inspiration for Dead Cells and titles like it, they fit together like a glove. There’s a mark of brilliance in Konami’s thinking in starting small with the scale of Belmont’s Curse to follow up with a much more ambitious entry down the line. And after a wild rumor that started years ago about Konami going back to proper game development came out, it was a half-truth of sorts as we began to see them roll out remakes and remasters as well as new releases for some of their legendary IP, with Castlevania earning its well-deserved rerun.

Belmont’s Curse’s placement in the timeline puts it as a story of closure to the Trevor & Sypha era of the Belmont clan. Sypha has passed, and Trevor has become old and wary, training their daughter Rose to carry on the family legacy while being the best hunter she can. Born with a curse inflicted by Dracula and passe

d on by her mother, Rose’s affliction often interferes with her work as a hunter. As an adult, she’s learned to control the curse with her training and the unique tarot cards her mother left behind for her protection. The tarot cards aren’t just neat little trinkets; they’re actually a part of the larger story that you have to search for with clues. This will also affect the ending you receive when facing the final boss.

An array of various weapons and unique abilities is unlocked through defeating bosses and progressing through the game. This includes waves of flame, holy crosses, and turning enemies into stone. Different weapons such as twin daggers, sword and shield, lances, and whips further increase the arsenal. Rose gets stronger with XP gained from defeating enemies and increasing her level to buff attack and other stats. You can also find unique artifacts which act as an accessory-like system to give additional buffs such as 10% attack, longer stuns on enemies, additional health & mana meters, etc.

The map is a large auto-filling exploration of Paris and its surrounding areas in addition to Dracula’s Castle. It’s rather sizable with optional areas for more powerful upgrades. Most exploration is locked through these upgrades as you progress the story or choose to divert from it a bit. It’s encouraged to explore as much as you can as certain weapons can provide different strategies for defeating the bosses, especially in the late game.

In classic Castlevania fashion, the environment can be just as dangerous as any enemy.

THE BAD: Belmont’s Curse is a trial run to test how viable bringing the series back full-time is. Because it is a smaller-scale project, you can complete the game in about ten hours, and about twenty with a completionist run. Some of the platforming felt unfairly punishing, to the point that I wasn’t sure whether my timing was off, or the game itself was screwing me with minor glitches.

The Belmonts return to send evil back into the darkness from where it came.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is an excellent opening bridge to a full-blown revitalization of the franchise. With Metal Gear & Silent Hill finding massive success in their own respective revivals, it’s time to invest in the future of one of Konami’s most storied franchises. Fans are clearly hungry for more, especially with some previous game collaborations and tie-in media featuring the characters receiving a great deal of love from the fandom. The publisher is reportedly fast-tracking the next entry as a 3D action title, which we last saw in Lords of Shadows 2, and if Belmont’s Curse is anything to go by on its potential quality, I’m interested in seeing where things go from here.