Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is the first big new 2D Castlevania in nearly two decades, made for the series’ 40th anniversary by Konami together with Evil Empire — the studio that handled Dead Cells’ updates and its Return to Castlevania DLC — with Dead Cells creator Motion Twin in an advisory role. You play as Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades, inheriting the legendary Vampire Killer whip. The setting is Paris in 1499, twenty-three years after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and Dracula’s castle has manifested in the heart of the burning city.
Rose is a genuinely new kind of heroine for the series — the first female Belmont to headline a mainline, canon Castlevania game. Alongside the whip, which doubles as a grappling hook for swinging across hazards, she carries her mother’s tarot deck: defeated bosses are sealed into the cards as Arcana that grant spells and special actions, each with optional Works of Mercy challenges that unlock Blessings. It’s a whip-and-exploration game with fast, fluid movement and a cinematic presentation that clearly takes cues from the Netflix animated series, whose voice cast — including Graham McTavish as Dracula and Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha — carries over into the game.
The first new 2D Castlevania in eighteen years — Rose Belmont, the Vampire Killer whip, tarot-sealed Arcana, and a demon-haunted Paris in 1499.
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