Castlevania Belmont's Curse Review and Impressions

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Regional Overview

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse marks Konami’s return to original side-scrolling 2D entries after a 13-year hiatus since Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate in 2013. Co-developed by Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the game targets Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, set 200 years prior to the 1986 NES original. For Malaysian and Southeast Asian players, this side-scroller offers accessible platforming with extensive accessibility toggles, contrasting recent demanding Metroidvania entries across local physical imports and digital storefronts.

Key Facts

How Does the Gameplay Loop Compare to Modern Metroidvania Standards?

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse adheres strictly to traditional genre exploration, requiring players to defeat bosses across a sprawling Paris map to unlock traversal upgrades and new sectors. While functional, the core exploration loop lacks the mechanical innovation seen in genre contemporaries over the past 13 years, making zone discovery feel conventional rather than dynamic.

Players control Rose Belmont wielding her father’s Vampire Killer whip alongside secondary arsenals including swords, lances, and fist wraps. In addition to physical combat, the game introduces approximately 15 unlockable Arcana spells, notably featuring classic equipment like the returning Holy Cross projectile. However, weapon balancing permits players to bypass advanced gear in favour of upgraded standard swords without survival penalties.

Castlevania games have never been a walk in the park but this one certainly feels like it’s been taking inspiration from the Soulslike genre when it should have been paying attention to other Metroidvanias instead.

Chris Scullion, VGC Review

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse preserves classic franchise exploration structures across Paris but takes minimal mechanical risks compared to contemporary Metroidvania releases.

What Combat and Accessibility Modifiers Are Available in Settings?

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse incorporates a comprehensive accessibility suite that alters combat metrics, including adjustable damage multipliers from baseline values up to 5x dealt damage, 3x experience gain modifiers, and an absolute prevent-death toggle. These settings directly mitigate punishing boss attack patterns and standard checkpoint resets located several rooms away in designated Save Rooms.

Traversing between Save Rooms and boss arenas introduces friction, as default respawn conditions send players back to prior chambers upon defeat. To streamline rematches, optional toggles relocate respawn points directly outside boss chambers and increase consumable healing potion capacity. Hand-drawn polygonal rendering and high-contrast atmospheric backdrops ensure foreground combat telegraphs remain legible across different platform displays.

Integrated gameplay modifiers allow players to adjust damage scaling up to 5x output or activate absolute invincibility to bypass punishing Save Room runbacks.

Southeast Asia & Malaysian Collector Verdict

For Malaysian and Southeast Asian physical collectors, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is viable as an import cartridge or disc via regional platforms such as Play-Asia, with Asian multi-language editions bundling full English text. Standard digital pricing converts to roughly RM178 based on direct exchange rates, whereas physical imports typically land between RM190 and RM230 depending on shipping logistics.

Console performance across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X targets consistent frame timing, while portable handheld systems such as the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally comfortably process the game's stylised 2.5D polygonal rendering. Physical media purists benefit from self-contained campaign data on-disc or on-cartridge, ensuring long-term preservation without mandatory day-one content downloads on regional Asian or Japanese printings.

Asian multi-language physical releases provide full on-cartridge English support and run out of the box across regional PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch hardware.

Common Questions

Does Castlevania: Belmont's Curse include full English on Asian physical editions?

Yes. Physical Asian and Japanese releases distributed through retailers like Play-Asia feature complete English subtitles and interface text on-media, ensuring plug-and-play functionality on Malaysian PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch consoles without regional account switching.

Can players lower the boss difficulty without penalties?

Yes. The settings menu features customisable sliders to increase player damage dealt up to 5x, scale experience gain up to 3x, spawn directly at boss doors, or enable a prevent-death invincibility toggle without locking story progression.

How long has it been since the last 2D Castlevania release?

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse marks the first brand-new side-scrolling entry in 13 years, with the franchise’s previous 2D release being Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.

Sources and Methodology

Data verified against official production credits from Konami Digital Entertainment and development disclosures from Evil Empire and Motion Twin. Review impressions, platform configurations, and mechanical observations derived from the official VGC review by Chris Scullion. Currency conversions calculated against baseline foreign exchange benchmarks (USD 1 to ~RM4.45; JPY 100 to ~RM3.01) representing approximate import landing costs across Southeast Asian retail distributors as of October 2026.