Review of the Film Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
A long-awaited return that rapidly brings the series into the modern era with a focus on action.
Almost two decades after the last 2D Castlevania game, the team behind Dead Cell's Return to Castlevania in 2023 has been given the keys to Dracula's Castle for real. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse aims to breathe new life into the 40-year-old series with a creative mix of old and new ideas. With an all-new Belmont wielding the family whip, familiar enemies in your way and the modern amenities that have come to be expected in the genre, developer Evil Empire has largely hit its mark – but if you're a longtime fan expecting Belmont's Curse to be a faithful revival of the series we played in the early 2000s, think again. It's a different kind of monster you're hunting, both for good and for bad.
Belmont's Curse takes place in Paris some 23 years after the events of the NES/Famicom classic Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (the game that the original Castlevania Netflix series was based on). This time, the Belmont responsible for inflicting pain on various creatures of the night—including the big, bad Dracula himself—is Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades. Trevor leaves Rose alone to find out what's going on in Paris, and the story that follows over the next 10-15 hours is what fans of Konami's 40-year-old series have come to expect: Dracula returns and you must kill him.
Belmont’s Curse throws some nice twists into the pot, many revolving around the titular “curse” and the mysterious collection of tarot cards Sifa left to her daughter before she died in childbirth. Overall it's a fun story, and I loved the nods and winks from dedicated fans like myself, but I'd be lying if I said the plot was what made me fall in love with these games.
In the ranks of Belmont champions, I would place Rose fairly high. While he's certainly strong-willed and focused on proving himself worthy of his family's legacy, you can also see that he's still a bit rough. She can be shocking at times, but she learns from her mistakes – and while her tough facade sometimes cracks to reveal a more vulnerable side, Rose never shows any need to save as a girl. He will be the one to break down the doors to save you. She carries the spirit of Sonia Belmont very well on her shoulders.
As with other heroes in these games, he's joined by a small group of helpers to put "him" in his pine box (seriously, this game really likes to rely on characters just referring to Dracula as "he," capital H and all). However, unlike previous games, most of these interactions take place entirely inside Rose's head with the spirits of the bosses she's defeated now finding themselves trapped in her tarot cards. There are some fun moments of bickering between the main trio—the Fallen, Joan of Arc, and Medusa—but I wish the other bosses would call more often.
Rose carries the spirit of Stesonia Belmont on her shoulders.
I also realized that I was missing out on real people. Scenes like Alucard's first encounter with Maria in Symphony of the Night brought a sense of life to the castle and the surrounding lands full of death. In comparison, brainstorming with Medusa is fun, but it just doesn't come across the same way. Considering you started out in Paris (a burning shop, of course), it seems a little odd that there isn't even an open shop or someone left to talk to. It would have been nice to bump into Grant from Trevor and the Sypha crew from Castlevania III somewhere.
The map itself is divided into large, self-contained areas, more akin to Super Metroid than Symphony of the Night, with a boss usually overseeing each area. These larger areas are then connected to each other by a bridge or weird path, with special ship doors that you'll eventually open to allow quick jumping between areas, including different parts of Dracula's castle (and other even weirder places). As someone who tends to lose or forget things in these types of games, Belmont's Curse makes use of some modern conveniences that are much appreciated, including percentage trackers for each area and various markers that can be placed on the map. I used these tools extensively and frequently to help track blocked routes.
Another particularly useful feature (one that for some reason was never made clear to you) is that you can also fast travel between save rooms in a certain area by holding and crouching Rose right in front of the mirror for a few seconds. This will take you to a small hub where you can select another mirror to exit. It's a huge help for a game that's as much backtracking and exploration as the genre is known for. Too bad it takes about 15 seconds from when you first crouch down to controlling Rose in the Hub (at least on PS5). As it was, the loading time got old very quickly.
For the most part, every Castlevania game has some sort of unique system or mechanic that helps set it apart. For example, the Aria games had the monster soul set, while Circle of the Moon had its own combo and match cards. For Belmont's Curse, it's largely built around a magical whip ability and a protective shield of light - and to a lesser extent, the previously mentioned tarot cards, which give Rose other magical spells that can be improved (she's Saifa's daughter, after all).
The whip allows Rose to swing over or pull herself to various objects. It can also be used on enemies, allowing him to not only close distance quickly, but also deliver stronger hits when attacking. Zipping from enemy to enemy or nimbly swinging out of the way of a charging minotaur just felt (and looked) bad no matter how many times I did it. There are also some pretty challenging rooms that require precision to avoid spikes and other hazards to reach the prize at the end, so platforming fans should also look forward to that.
There are some very challenging platform rooms that require precision.
On the other hand, the light shield is a far more defensive tool. When timed perfectly, it allows Rose to reflect some damage back to the enemy that hits her, as well as giving her the ability to pass through certain walls and floors. It's a cool effect, but given how fast combat usually goes and how many enemies are around, Belmont's Curse seems more designed to keep you on the offensive. A point further fueled by the fact that your main way to restore your magic pool, which allows you to cast more spells, is by hitting enemies.
That said, Evil Empire includes several customizable settings, such as how much damage you deal, how much experience you gain, or even an option to avoid death if you'd rather just enjoy the story. I chose to keep everything at default, with one exception, and this is one thing I recommend everyone do: you can check a box that allows you to replay right outside the door to the boss room if you die instead of returning to a save point. To be fair, there always seemed to be a save room fairly close to the boss doors, so it didn't take long to get back into the fight anyway. But I'd much rather be able to bang my head against the wall so fast until it breaks, as opposed to thinking of better ways to break it between concussions. And hey, whether you love or hate boss runbacks, giving you the choice to remove them or not is a nice flexibility.
Regardless of your setting, you'll find plenty of classic Castlevania enemies along the way, all of which are stunningly fresh in their designs. Ax knights sit on the tower's rather minute rose while twirling captured swords in flight and impaling smaller blades. The bosses look great too – Dracula's right-hand man, Death, is probably my favorite design in the whole series and the coolest scythe I've ever seen. But despite their sick new look, there are generally few enemies, with some unfortunate notable omissions. Fan favorites like Legion, the massive Corpse Ball, and even iconic monsters like the Wall Skeleton Dragon Head are MIA, with Belmont's Curse relying more on swapping creature palettes for stronger enemies you'll encounter in later areas. There's still a decent amount of different monsters, but compared to the best in other Castlevanias (even the GBA games), this one is a bit of a letdown.
What is your favorite part of the 2D Metroidvanias?
Thankfully, what I didn't find completely frustrating was actually killing those monsters. Almost all of Rose's combat options feel good to use, with seven unique weapon types to choose from: sword, sword and shield, spear, fist, greatsword, dual sword, and of course the family's signature whips. Each type has four power levels, found in hidden chests or as rewards for beating the occasional boss. It wasn't until I acquired the Vampire Slayer Magic Whip, which blew away the other options I had at the time, that I found myself particularly drawn to melee weapons. It was a lot of fun to drag myself to an enemy and then launch that enemy into the air and hit them with quick and powerful punches, each one doing slightly more damage than the last.
However, while all of the combat options were cool, the more I played Belmont’s Curse, the less it felt like something I would specifically associate with the Castlevania series. The big pillars are here: you've got the castle, you've got Dracula and his iconic minions, you'll retreat with new abilities to access new areas. But a lot of the other things that usually set this series apart in the genre are smoothed over with Belmont’s Curse, which makes the whole package feel a bit like a really solid Metroidvania with a Castlevania skin. Take Rose for example: it's a lot of fun to chain kick into aerial combos, but it doesn't really feel like I'm playing Belmont. Gone are secondary weapons like spinning bibles, thrown holy water bottles, or bow axes. There isn't even a dagger to throw, which seems wrong. He doesn't even start the game with a whip.
The more I play, the less it feels like something I specifically associate with Castlevania.
Likewise, Belmont's Curse pulls from the ghost-like playbook, giving you healing vials that recharge by visiting save points (which also spawn nearby enemies) and spamming potions. Lantern hearts have been replaced with sterile blue orbs of mana, and there are now heart-like piece collectibles that increase your health and magic bars when you collect four of them. Most of the RPG systems have been removed, most of the stats have been removed, and equipment is now reduced to just three slots to put artifacts in - these have useful but not necessarily exciting special effects, such as reducing Rose's maximum health in exchange for more damage. Heck, with all the times I ran into them, it would have been nice if they at least had Rose in the hallway or something as a throwback to Symphony of the Night instead of a resident mural. (To its credit, that mural looks great, but you can only stare at one image so many times.)
Revisiting the lands of Castlevania in Belmont's Curse opened my eyes to just how much the genre has progressed in the 18 years since Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS - made even more so by the fantastic series that's been released over the past few years. We weren't short on great action-platformers like this when the series was dormant, and I'd rate Rose's debut as another great option on that surprisingly long list. But while I've had fun with Belmont's Curse, it hasn't quite scratched the Castlevania itch like I thought it would.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse brings Konami's beloved series into the modern era with a fast-paced action focus. Decent map-tracking tools, exciting combat, a great new hero, and motion tech that tests your reflexes all help this long-awaited sequel stand out in what has since become a crowded genre. But Belmont's Curse is generally a better Metroidvania than Castlevania, sacrificing some of the charm and feel of the series along the way. Even so, I wouldn't mind seeing developer Evil Empire name another Castlevania game in the future. I just hope it doesn't take another 18 years - I don't think my reflexes will be up to scratch when I'm in my mid-50s.