It's been too long since the last Castlevania game, even longer if you're pining for one adhering to its 2D tradition, which was 2008's Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the DS. Ironically, there have been many pretenders in that time, with countless indie games that can be categorised as Metroidvanias – such as Hollow Knight and Blasphemous – of which the most influential is arguably 1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
But with the Castlevania's 40th anniversary this year, Konami is finally giving one of the OGs a timely revival. It's picked the perfect studio for the job, too, since Evil Empire helped expand Dead Cells, one of the best modern Metroidvanias, including the acclaimed Return to Castlevania expansion.
Unlike Dead Cells, however, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse isn't a pixel art game- a controversial choice for old-school fans- but instead embraces a more modern approach. While not going for the hand-drawn style of Hollow Knight, it's also not a typical 2.5D game that uses 3D visuals for cinematics before fixing you to side-scrolling gameplay.
From its painterly Gothic backgrounds depicting 1499 Paris engulfed in flames to 2D portrait illustrations for characters, it mostly wants to evoke the feel of a 2D animation.
The acclaimed Netflix animated series, itself based on the artwork from Symphony of the Night, is more than just an inspiration then, especially as Belmont's Curse also includes some lo-fi animation for its cinematic cutscenes. It's even a kind of continuation of that show's timeline, which had adapted the story for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, albeit set 23 years later with an older Trevor Belmont.
Indeed, you don't actually play as this now-ageing vampire hunter but rather his daughter Rose, the last in the line of this legendary vampire-hunting family.
This new blood has a refreshing agility to her, from the way her long blue cape and long blonde ponytail animate while she runs to her ability to slide under obstacles and wall-jump off them. Even the series' trademark whip, the Vampire Killer, is put to new use here, prioritised more as a tool for grappling and swinging around environments.
In any case, there are plenty more weapons for dispatching monsters, from a swift dagger to punching gauntlets, though I'm still wondering whether there will be an axe with its iconic throwing arc.
Alongside weapons are Arcanas: ranged magic attacks such as my starting fire spell, which cost the magic meter, though it seems to refill easily by defeating enemies. But rather than just having an arcana, you can also improve it over time just by using it often in specific challenges. You also earn XP by defeating enemies regularly, which means you're making progress every time without the punishing systems of a Soulslike.
More intriguing is how to unlock more Arcanas, as these actually come from bosses, who upon defeat are sealed into tarot cards. It's the Mega Man approach to absorbing the power from a powerful enemy, yet Belmont's Curse doesn't leave it at that.
For a start, those tarot designs look exquisite in their own right, where you initially only have them partially complete, but you may have clues as to who that tarot represents. But in the way these arcanas can be upgraded, you can also learn more about those you have sealed.
Take The Fallen, the first boss I encounter, a cursed beast who wouldn't look out of place in Bloodborne. While I was pleased to unlock his arcana, a holy cross that controls like a boomerang, which he had been using on me during a few challenging attempts, it turns out you'll still have chances to converse with those sealed away, perhaps learning of the tragedy of how they came to be cursed, in turn humanising the monsters you must defeat.
In other words, despite a game being developed by a studio called Evil Empire, there's more depth to this world than just good and evil. You would hope for that too, considering that one of the bosses you fight is also Joan of Arc, and I can't imagine French people would look kindly on having their beloved Maid of Orléans vilified without some justified rationale.
Even though Castlevania: Belmont's Curse arrives at a time when the genre it helped spawn couldn't be more saturated, let alone launching in one of the busiest times in the gaming calendar, after an hour with it at Gamescom, I'm already itching to dive further into the streets of Paris and face more mythical foes. Rose feels like a fresh face with the agile moveset that ditches the older games' cursed stun lock, and with a smoother sense of progression, it may also hopefully be welcoming for players burned out from Hollow Knight's punishment. That sounds less like a curse and more like a blessing.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse releases for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Xeries X/S, and PC on 15 October.
