Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is a 2d Action RPG Metroidvania from the hands of Konami and assistance from Evil Empire. We’ve finally returned to the classic Castlevania we all know and love. But, this time we’re playing from only a one generation jump from Trevor Belmont’s family. Though I’m amazed Konami stopped their focus on making only slot machines and is slowly returning to gaming. Let’s grab our whip and tarot cards to start the hunt for this review.
This might sound silly, but legit was listening to P4 music and some Duane and Brando while out of cutscenes. Though I said a lot with Whipping and Nay nays.
Gameplay
In Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse has us playing as Rose Belmont. The daughter of Trevor and Sypha Belmont. We start with being requested to come help a Bishop in the city of Paris. We get there to see that souls are being claimed and minions of the night appear out of nowhere and the town is on fire! However, we go one way to investigate the town while Dad goes to see the Bishop to learn more.
Before going our separate way, Trevor gives us a tarot card deck the Sypha magically forms before her passing for Rose. Saying it’s to be useful for her when the time comes. And boy do these cards come in handy. The mechanics and fighting styles feel like the Castlevania of old with some amazing paint on it. It’s not like the last few Castlevanias we’ve had in the last 10’s and early 20’s. Being completely 3d and not holding much of the charm the 2d realm has.
At first we need to slide to dodge or jump to evade any kind of damage coming our way. However, once we beat Joan Arc, we get the means to not only dodge damage, but it hurts the enemies as well. Heck, the more tarot cards I unlock the crazier and bolder my fighting stance gets. And oh boy that is the grace and beauty of pure Metroidvania. The fact it breaks the norm for me and has me changing what I need is pure bliss.
Graphic and Audio
Now, the point of view for the game is from a side view to make it look 2d. However, if you look closely, you can notice that everything but the background is a 3d model. With the use of the amazing details to shading and lighting is what keeps us from losing ourselves in the area. The designs of the weapons, impact animation, the enemies/boss and even tarot cards look as if it was meant for a deck of tarot cards. From the positioning and posing, to the minimal details from finding a clue about them.
Then watching the card come to life when you absorb the soul of the target. THEN BAM! Amazing art design. The card itself tells a story from the way it is lovingly drawn and depicts some care behind the person on the card. Even the attention to details to the relics we collect throughout the city is extremely amazing.
Now the music and voice acting are both topnotch. Usually, I put the volume down on some games because they always come blasting into my ears. Honestly it was at a nice level for my ears and never did drag on with noticeable repeat points. However, the absolute thing I love in the whole game is the random moments when entering certain areas. Especially, when entering Dracula’s castle gives us a remix rendition of the original Castlevania theme. This OST makes my ears scream with glee!
Longevity
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse can take someone about 30 hours to fight every boss, find every book and upgrade and every weapon. Luckily we get the great design mechanic of having the maps showing sections and goes from black to yellow to show we got everything. It’s honestly a mechanic that I wish a lot more Metroidvania games took from the series. Which is even wilder that there is an actual achievement that requires you beat the game in 4 hours.
Which I can see people doing, but I don’t know if it’s just us getting to Dracula fast or fighting him on a normal route. However I hope it’s the former rather than the ladder, because you’ll have a lot of traversing and small shortcuts to work with you. But, if it’s an achievement, then it is completely doable.
Final Thoughts
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is by far a great comeback for Konami to bring back the series. After having the great Castlevania anime series, just getting the game is great! I was on edge thinking this would be something subpar or meek. But, man am I glad this proves me wrong in more ways than one. This is a great game respecting the classics and growing the story from there. I’m hoping for more of this from Evil Empire in the future or any Metroidvania projects they have in store for us.
I give Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse the Thumb Culture Platinum Award
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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