Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Release Date Oct 15 Guide

After more than a decade of waiting, Castlevania is returning with a direct continuation of Castlevania III—and it’s arriving from a studio that already knows how to remix classic ideas into modern, fast-paced action. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse launches October 15, priced at 29.99 euros, with a release planned across platforms including Switch 2.

Background: a new Belmont chapter after years of collections

12 years have passed since the last mainline Castlevania release—MercurySteam’s Lords of Shadow 2. In the meantime, Konami kept the series alive through collections that revisited older entries, but fans have been asking for something new rather than a return to the classics.

This time, Konami partnered with Evil Empire, the French studio behind Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania and The Rogue Prince of Persia. The result is set to bring Belmont action back with a direct narrative link to the franchise’s earlier era.

What’s coming: a sequel to Castlevania III set in 1499 Paris

1499. Paris is thrown into chaos under a red-lit moon and widespread panic. Clerics, doctors, and scholars can’t stop the supernatural threat, so the city turns to Trevor Belmont, the legendary vampire hunter. The Bishop of Paris—associated with Notre Dame—offers land and money for Trevor’s help, but Trevor refuses compensation.

Trevor is tasked with preventing a looming “second resurrection” of Dracula, tied to a threat he hasn’t felt “for 20 years,” since the days of Wallachia.
Trevor reveals he is not the last Belmont, introducing his daughter as the next generation’s central figure—Rose Belmont.
Rose carries Dracula’s cursed mark, which lets her cast spells while feeding on her hatred, anger, and frustration—forcing her to manage her control or risk becoming what she’s sworn to destroy.
The story is positioned 23 years after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, with the developers describing it as a meaningful, official-sequence continuation.

The game’s creators also emphasize that the narrative holds a “very relevant” role in the series canon, and that it aims to be an authentic sequel in the franchise timeline. They further describe a heavy focus on dialogue and cinematics, with the overall story touching key themes from the Castlevania universe.

Design focus: 2D action and exploration—plus a wider Paris to roam

Konami says the team prioritized returning to the series’ roots: 2D action and exploration. While Evil Empire wanted to add new ideas to keep things feeling fresh, the studio and publisher treated the core concept as non-negotiable.

Exploration is set up through a map designed to be “simple” yet impressive—large, labyrinth-like, and packed with secrets, shortcuts, and plenty of early misdirection. Instead of keeping everything inside Dracula’s castle, Paris is one of the game’s two major settings, including streets, plus the hidden world beneath the city in sewers and catacombs.

Paris is divided into districts that use distinct color palettes and different hazards.
Players will encounter ghostly figures across the map to provide guidance.
There’s no “quest marker” style handholding; guidance can come as suggestive phrases or even hand-drawn notes that players must interpret to connect to specific locations.
Discovery remains possible entirely on your own, without needing to interact with every helper NPC.

Early mission structure: three keys, three bosses

The first major objective involves finding three keys that open the crypt beneath a cemetery. Each key is guarded by a boss: a werewolf, a medusa, and Joan of Arc.

Combat, progression, and builds: fast action built around arcanes and weapon families

Combat is described as one of the game’s standout features so far, with the studio emphasizing speed, depth, and visual impact. Players will have access to a range of weapons and spell options, including melee and ranged tools.

Key systems highlighted include:

More than 15 different spells, which can be combined and swapped as part of the build.
A whip that can be used not only for attacking, but also for movement—swinging, hooking enemies, repositioning, and striking from behind.
Spell progression: players can level up arcanes by completing combat challenges.
Challenge example: one defensive spell improvement requires landing a parry 30 times at the exact moment.
Choosing upgrades after meeting requirements, with the number of active improvements increasing as more challenges are completed.
Seven weapon families, each with its own style and evolution path.
Build testing matters: the team points to Medusa scenarios where ranged play and specific magic changes how easy encounters feel.

Menus present combat options, hints, challenges, and missions in a tarot-like card layout, and the developers say the design goal is for each player to fight “their way.” They also frame the progression as enabling more strategic, spectacular, and tense fights—aiming for quick, precise controls with high visual impact.

Early handling concerns: whip timing and some ranged targeting limits

Despite overall praise, the hands-on impressions note a couple of friction points. The most notable involves platforming and the whip’s movement behavior. Because using the whip requires holding a button and charging a specific animation, players may feel locked into timing—especially when attempting to recover just before hazards like traps or spikes.

The ranged weapon handling was also flagged: one described ranged weapon, the lance, doesn’t allow free aiming and instead uses predefined angles (noted as 45-degree increments). The result is that platforming feels slightly less fluid than expected, particularly when compared to other recent mobility-focused action.

Visual and music: color-heavy enemy design, Paris set-pieces, and a missing retro edge

Visually, Belmont’s Curse is presented as a “burst of color,” with detailed environments and effects across varied locations. Enemy design is highlighted as particularly elaborate, and the combat set-pieces are described as memorable—such as battling Medusa in Paris sewers and taking on a burning Joan of Arc with Notre Dame in the background.

While Evil Empire’s style is said to shine, there’s also a noted wish for more of the classic musical identity. The music is described as strong, but not as prominently retro as some players might expect. The impressions also mention that Michiru Yamane is missed, even though the soundtrack still holds up.

How it positions itself: not “metroidvania,” but Castlevania as its own genre

Evil Empire’s director Emmanuel Nouaille says the team doesn’t want to frame the game as metroidvania, arguing that Castlevania already functions as its own genre. In his view, the name alone triggers an expectation of a specific kind of experience, and the goal is to capture that spirit as closely as possible.

After more than three hours of play, the early impressions conclude that the game is successfully delivering the kind of 2D action, exploration, and platforming Castlevania fans have been waiting for—arriving on October 15.

Release details

Game: Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse
Release date: October 15
Price: 29.99 euros
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2