Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

The collaboration is the story. Motion Twin and Evil Empire made Dead Cells — one of the defining action games of its generation — and their fingerprints are on this: tight, fast, precise 2D combat, with the whip pulling double duty as a weapon and a traversal tool for crossing chasms and heights. It is the series’ own genre, rebuilt by the people who modernized it best. To be clear: this is not a roguelike — it is a classic exploration-driven Metroidvania, just built with Dead Cells’ reflexes. Evil Empire’s pedigree also includes The Rogue Prince of Persia, whose final update shipped just weeks before Belmont’s Curse — the studio is finishing one beloved franchise’s care and starting another’s.

The lineage matters too. Belmont’s Curse is the first new mainline Castlevania in over a decade, since Lords of Shadow 2 (2014), and the first return to side-scrolling Metroidvania roots since Order of Ecclesia (2008) — eighteen years of waiting for the faithful. It was revealed at Sony’s February 12, 2026 State of Play as the centerpiece of the 40th anniversary. Konami has confirmed more Castlevania projects are on the way, and the original 1986 game was given away on mobile to mark the occasion. This is Konami’s renewed commitment to its tentpole franchises, made playable.

The combat model draws on everything Evil Empire learned making Dead Cells’ whip-and-dagger ballet feel fair at speed: the Vampire Killer whip as weapon, grapple, and traversal tool, an arsenal of sub-weapons and skills unlocked through exploration, and a 2.5D presentation that gives the gothic Paris set-piece real depth. And for the longtime faithful, a meaningful detail: voice actors from previous Castlevania games and animated adaptations return, tying Rose’s chapter back into four decades of vampire-hunting continuity rather than starting from zero.

Early impressions have been strong — and not just from press demos. The Gamescom build that became the October 1 demo earned positive reception across the board, with players and press highlighting the fluid combat, quick-response movement, the 2.5D look, and whip-based traversal. When the hands-on crowd’s consensus is that it simply feels good to play, a Belmont has rarely gone wrong. Konami even published official video-posting guidelines alongside the demo — a sign the company expects this one to live on streamers’ channels all month.

Why this one matters beyond the franchise: Castlevania is the series that gave a genre half its name. Symphony of the Night (1997) defined action-exploration so thoroughly that “Metroidvania” became the default label for a decade of indies. Handing the 40th-anniversary installment to the studio that dragged the genre into the modern era — and set it in 1499 Paris, a city the series has never hunted in — is Konami acknowledging that history while refusing to be trapped by it. Forty years in, the whip still cracks — and this time it is in the hands of a Belmont the saga has never met.

There is also the question of why Paris, and why now. Konami and Evil Empire have kept the deeper story close, but the choice of 1499 places the game in the fertile gap between Castlevania III (1476) and the rest of the timeline — a century the saga has mostly left unexplored. Rose inherits not just the Vampire Killer but the knowledge that her parents already fought this war; the announcement trailer highlights whip-and-magic combat, which reads as a nod to Sypha’s magical lineage being part of Rose’s arsenal rather than mere backstory. It is a smart setup for a fortieth anniversary: a brand-new Belmont whose story can fill in a century of blank pages.

More on Previously: the Games hub, The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, and the demo announcement.