Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

4.5

Overall Score

4.5/5

Pros

• Fast & fluid traversal that makes exploring fun
• Impressive combat gameplay
• Lots of weapons to crush enemies
• Impressive tarot card system to gain boss abilities
• Fun puzzles & dangerous obstacles to overcome

Cons

• Fun but challenging boss battles

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Review

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

Verdict Summary

You pick up the whip and instantly feel the weight of Gothic history. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse delivers the tightest action the franchise has seen in decades. Every swing feels sharp and every parry rewards your timing. The dark world grabs you early and refuses to let go. You will die often, but every defeat teaches you something new. This is modern Metroidvania design operating at its absolute peak performance. You owe it to yourself to dive into this bloody masterpiece today.

Game Overview

You step into Paris in the year 1499. The sky burns red as Dracula’s horde lays waste to the city. You control the vampire hunter Rose Belmont alongside her father, the legendary Trevor Belmont. You traverse various wings of the castle, cutting down hordes of enemies, defeating bosses to gain magic spells and abilities, in hopes to stop the demon invasion in Paris.

This new Castlevania adventure brings back the classic two-dimensional side-scrolling exploration with immense care. You explore massive sprawling cathedrals, damp sewers, and haunted clock towers. Motion Twin and Evil Empire (developers of Dead Cells) partnered with Konami to craft this experience. The visual style blends gorgeous Gothic pixel art with modern dynamic lighting effects. Iconic musical themes like “Bloody Tears” get fresh heavy metal remixes. The soundtrack drives your momentum forward with every single step. In the end, you feel like a true vampire hunter from the moment you hit start. 

Check out this Gameplay Trailer!!

Gameplay Features

a) Fast Combat & Various Weapons at Your Arsenal

As Rose Belmont, you get access to seven unique weapons types to choose from. She starts with a simple sword, then as she progresses she finds herself more weapons to choose from which vary as: other swords, sword and shields, spears, fists, great swords, dual swords, and, of course whips. Each weapon type comes in four tiers of strength, hidden in chests and some from defeating bosses.

As I played this game, I liked using the spear as you can not only use it as a melee weapon but also throw it to kill your enemies. Then later during my play through, I found the strongest whip of the game and just whipped my enemies to dust. In short, there’s a lot of weapons to choose from in this game, that requires patience to master. 

Belmont’s Curse builds its core combat around a magical whip and a luminous shield of light, complemented by tarot-based magic spells—Thanks to Rose’s deceased mother. The whip (which acts like a grappling hook) is an absolute thrill. Beyond swinging across gaps, you can latch onto enemies to instantly close distance, chaining momentum directly into heavy-hitting attacks.

Zipping target-to-target or narrowly vaulting over a charging minotaur feels consistently awesome, no matter how many times you pull it off. Platforming fans will also find plenty to love in the game’s brutal obstacle rooms, where pixel-perfect precision is required to dodge spikes and snatch high-tier loot.

The shield takes a defensive approach. A perfectly timed parry reflects damage back at your attacker, while its secondary effect lets Rose phase straight through specific walls and floors. It’s a neat trick, but the sheer speed and density of combat heavily favor raw aggression. Belmont’s Curse wants you on the offensive—a point hammered home by the fact that the only way to refill your spell meter is to keep landing hits.

b) A Large Map to Traverse & Explore 

The map is split into large, self-contained zones, with bosses lurking over every region. Bridges and narrow pathways stitch these areas together, while hidden ferryman doors eventually open up, letting you fast-travel between distant regions and the twisted corners of Dracula’s castle. There’s even secret pathways to uncover so you need to keep you eyes peeled.

For players prone to getting lost or forgetting side paths, Belmont’s Curse brings a welcome modern polish. You get percentage trackers for every zone and a full suite of custom map markers. I used them constantly. Every time I spotted an out-of-reach collectible or a locked gate requiring a future movement upgrade, I dropped a pin—saving myself hours of head-scratching later on. But then that would mean backtracking to that marker once I have progressed further into the game and learnt new traversal abilities. 

Then there’s one especially handy feature, which the game forgets to say. You can actually fast-travel between save rooms within the same region. You can also heal your health and restore mana but it also respawns enemies. Just hold down to crouch Rose in front of a mirror for a few seconds, then you’re pulled into a small central hub to pick your next destination.

In a game packed with classic Metroidvania backtracking, it’s a lifesaver. The catch? The whole process takes roughly 15 seconds from the initial crouch to regaining control in the hub. As useful as it was, watching that load screen drag out got old real fast.

Dealbreaker Features

You’ll will hit frustrating walls during your journey through the gothic ruins. Fast-travel points feel far apart during the early hours of your run. Backtracking through cleared zones can drag down your momentum when you just want to progress.

Boss fights feature sudden difficulty spikes that punish small mistakes without warning. Frame rates can dip heavily on older hardware during busy visual moments. Menus feel cluttered when you try to sort through massive piles of gear. These flaws rarely break the game, but they will test your patience.

Final Verdict

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse stands as a triumphant return to form for legendary action platforming. You get incredible combat depth, stunning visual flair, and an unforgettable soundtrack. Minor pacing bumps and framerate hiccups cannot dull the shine of this masterpiece. If you love classic side-scrollers or deep action role-playing games, you must play this. You will fight, die, and rise again with a smile on your face. Grab your whip and claim your rightful place in the Belmont family line. 

If you want to experience this action adventure based on a legendary franchise, go and get yourself this new installment. Now it’s your turn. What are your thoughts on this game? Is it as good as like it to be? Leave a comment here below and let’s hear from you 😎