Castlevania: Belmont's Curse launches to split reviews, but nails the essentials

The new Castlevania starring Rose Belmont is out now on PS5, Xbox, and PC, and early reviews show critics split between praising the combat and complaining about poorly tuned difficulty.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse dropped yesterday (the 15th) on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with the Switch version arriving later this year. Konami handed the project to Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the same team behind Dead Cells and Rogue Prince of Persia, which already explains a lot about the game's visual style and combat feel.

The protagonist is Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, and the story takes place in 1499, 23 years after the events of Castlevania III. Paris is burning, creatures are crawling out of the shadows, and Rose has to learn to wield the family's sacred whip, the Vampire Killer, while uncovering a conspiracy that goes deeper than the usual monster hunt.

What stands out in the early reactions is a clear split. Famitsu gave it 8/8/8/8 across its four critics, for a total of 32/40, a solid but unspectacular score. On the Western side it gets more interesting: Eurogamer summed up the general mood by describing the game as inspired by great ideas but doomed by questionable execution, while Kotaku specifically called out the difficulty, saying the experience kicked its reviewer's ass in the worst way.

On the other side of the counter, GameSpot, Game Informer, and Bloody Disgusting praised the series' return to 2D pretty heavily, with Bloody Disgusting calling it a gorgeous return to form for the franchise. PC Gamer landed somewhere in the middle, saying it wanted to love the new Castlevania but something about it just felt a little off.

This kind of split isn't unusual for a tough Metroidvania, but it's worth noting because the combat (the strong point according to almost everyone) seems to be pulling scores up while pacing and checkpoint placement are dragging them back down. Players who enjoy Hollow Knight-style challenge will probably feel right at home, while anyone hoping for a gentler Castlevania might struggle in the opening hours.

It's worth remembering the game shipped with a free demo before launch, so there's a way to test the combat rhythm before buying, which helps a lot in figuring out whether Evil Empire's style matches your taste. Nintendo Life has already said it's working on its own review of the Switch version, which still has no confirmed date.

At the end of the day, Belmont's Curse looks like one of those games that will travel well by word of mouth precisely because of the polarization. It's not unanimous, but it's also far from a stumble, and that's already more than a lot of classic franchise sequels manage to pull off these days.