Once again we return to the battle against the growing night as we delve into the past and the eternal battle of those who fight the monsters. We open the book to another chapter in the family of Belmont.

It’s always good to hear of a beloved franchise returning to its roots, especially when it is one we thought had long since been lost. Castlevania was one such franchise. After Lords of Shadow (which itself was just them taking something they were already working on and twist it to be an alternate take on the franchise so was never really Castlevania), Konami had abandoned the franchise and only used it for gambling machines like its other IPs. Fortunately that doesn’t seemed to have paid off as they hoped while collections of older games, spiritual successors like Bloodstained and the animated series renewed interest in the franchise. So we get Castlevania Belmont’s Curse.

Belmont’s Curse is (let me check my notes) according to the current canon, the 4th game in the Castlevania timeline. Lament of Innocence is first, then its Castlevania 3 followed by Curse of Darkness. So this game is set between Curse of Darkness and the original Castlevania, or one of its many reimaginings. You play as Rose Belmont the daughter of Trevor and Sypha (and for those who only ever know of Castlevania from that terrible Captain N series, Yes Sypha is a woman, that’s how little that show did on its research… then again she is a major character in the far more recent animated series so you would be very odd for knowing what Captain N is, and not Castlevania)

They are summoned to Paris as… well the place is on fire and monsters everywhere, clearly bad stuff is happening. And so its time for a great return to good old Metroidvania style gameplay. Exploring the streets of Paris and beyond using your skills, fighting monsters finding new equipment and powers and fighting a boss who usually provides you with more tools making more of the map explorable.

Rose starts out with just a short sword but she can find other weapons as she explores as well as more powerful versions of the different kind of weapons. This gives different players choices of what kind of weapons you want to tackle opponents… or you can just keep using the whip when you find it and more powerful versions of the whip because this is a Castlevania game and I found it the best weapon in the game mechanically. Worth saying that Rose can attack in multiple directions and thus not stuck to just a straight line like some classic Castlevanias.

She isn’t just limited to the physical attacks as she has inherited her mother’s magical potential. At first this is just a fire ball like attack from her curse (the curse is an important part of her story) but as you beat bosses or achieve some other late game challenges, you get different spells with different special attacks. The first boss gives you the good old cross boomerang that we all know and love while others… well you will find out. Completing challenges the Arcana present can allow you to power them up with further abilities.

Exploration and platforming is a big part of this game, some of the challenges are great. Using a whip action to swing from one area, landing on a wall, jumping up it to then get to other areas and through a sequence of things that add more challenges as you get more abilities eventually to reach new areas or powerups all while avoiding spikes. It felt exhilarating, except, I started to notice a pattern with some of those. If it was ones that you have to get past to get to new areas, you will at the end of it find a switch that will open a gate so you never have to do all that in that section again. It had a having your cake and eating it too feel.

The music is also a bit of a downgrade over what we have had, a little too muted if you know what I mean from the franchise, it is good when you encounter some classic tracks like a new version of Bloody Tears. But on the long explorations of regions having a muted track, just felt a little disappointing.

On exploration, after you reach a certain point the map opens up and it’s HUGE but often to its detriment. I did get very lost and took me a long time to find where I should be headed to for progression often ending up in false leads that would leave me facing a challenge I didn’t have the means to combat yet. I ended up getting some equipment long before I got its weaker versions thanks to that. Also one of the late game areas is just a pain as it’s a huge long puzzle section and you can’t use the map.

All that said, I was extremely engrossed in the game. It says a lot when I’m sitting playing the Switch 2 in handheld more for so long I get the alert it needs to charge. Then sit waiting for when I can have my next round of exploration. The game also is not easy, some of those platforming challenges do get complex and the bosses, some of them really require you to figure out patterns to take out, the first boss alone killed me a number of times. And I welcomed that.

Evil Empire did a great job creating a new Castlevania game for the modern day and I hope it sell enough that it isn’t the only one for some time.

Rating: 🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️