What a horrible night to have a Belmont's Curse!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/77721/castlevania-belmonts-curse-switch-review
When the Castlevania DLC for Dead Cells dropped in 2023, many wondered if developer Motion Twin could eventually be given free rein enough to develop a full, standalone Castlevania title. In a few short years, that dream became reality with the 2026 announcement of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, a stylized Metroidvania with a bloody red saturation and some intriguing connections to the excellent Castlevania Netflix anime. Despite some annoying exploration-related drawbacks and a sometimes steep difficulty curve, Belmont's Curse manages to mostly captivate and provide a solid action-platforming experience.
I'm fairly well versed in Metroidvanias overall, and particularly the GBA and DS Castlevania trilogies, not to mention the granddaddy of them all, Symphony of the Night. I genuinely dig the gameplay and aesthetic of the Igavania strain, even more so than the side-scrolling Castlevania games like the original NES trilogy. Belmont's Curse holds its own in this regard, with some incredibly fun gameplay mechanics like the grappling hook-like whip ability that Rose acquires early on. Swinging around and even slingshotting yourself over to enemies for some mid-air strikes and acrobatics never got old, even if some of the required platforming was downright devilish.
The premise sees Rose and her father, Trevor Belmont, arrive in a 1499 Paris that's being ravaged by fires and all manner of monsters and demons. Gifted a set of tarot cards that had previously belonged to her mother Sypha, Rose uses the cards to capture the souls of boss enemies, which ends up serving a multitude of purposes. Defeated enemies give Rose new equippable spells, each with multiple ways of being upgraded via a number of specific challenges, like using the ability to take down a certain number of skeletons, for instance. The captured souls also serve as voices in Rose's head, providing guidance and color commentary along her journey. Finally, the tarot cards also collect hints as to the nature and location of the major bosses you encounter, although you don't need to find every hint before locating or battling them.
Mechanically, Rose feels great to control, if a little slow in terms of her basic movement. However, that slowness actually heightens how awesome the swinging and grappling feel. As her repertoire of spells grows, you can find the one that fits best for your playstyle or for the boss you're facing. At first I tended towards the spinning axe, a forward shooting projectile that boomerangs back to you, but later I preferred summoning a stone gargoyle to shoot projectiles and smash down into enemies. In addition to a wall jump you start with, Rose gains a few other movement abilities later in the game, which open up a number of secrets and paths in previous areas. One analogy I kept coming back to was for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, an excellent Metroidvania from 2024. From a style and movement standpoint, Belmont's Curse resembles The Lost Crown more and more as the former moves along.
In terms of the challenge, there are some design choices that may work against your enjoyment of this latest Castlevania. For one, the distance between save rooms and fast travel spots is just a bit too large, which for me discouraged exploration beyond what was necessary for me to reach one of the game's multiple endings. Another frustration is when you run into spikes or other traps and respawn in a precarious spot, either surrounded by enemies or right on the edge of a platform. The enemy AI is also shockingly adept at timing their attacks to hit you in midair or just before or after your dodge slide. None of these concerns are insurmountable, but added up they do introduce enough annoyance to affect the experience.
What keeps Belmont's Curse above water is some amazing, unique boss fights. A memorable one about a third into the game sees Rose take on a giant possessed golem, whose multiple phases force you to complete a platform challenge and then a timed sequence to eventually finish it off. Another puts your grappling hook skills to the test as it teleports around and summons deadly beams of energy from multiple directions simultaneously. It may have been somewhat arduous to find them all, but fighting all of the different bosses and earning their powers was a highlight of my playthrough.
Switch 2 owners will be happy to see the Switch 1 version of Belmont's Curse running at a mostly stable 60fps. The resolution does leave something to be desired, but it's still fairly easy to recommend the game if you're playing on Nintendo's latest console. It's a bit harder if you're going to be opting to play on Switch 1, as the sacrifice in resolution and frame rate can definitely put a damper on the experience.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse represents a strong step forward in spite of some uneven design elements. The attractive aesthetic lends itself well to the gothic setting, and its numerous high points mostly outweigh its faults. I'd love to see what this team could do with a follow-up in the same vein, one that irons out some of the rough edges related to exploration and respawning. Rose is a compelling character in her own right, but the interactions between her and the souls she's captured add a nice degree of levity and charm to the story moments. It may not fly as high as some of its Castlevania predecessors, or even modern genre standouts like Silksong and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but Belmont's Curse provides a dozen-plus hours of entertainment leading up to the height of spooky season.
Topic: Castlevania: Belmont's Curse (Switch) Review (Read 34 times)
