Castlevania: Belmont's Curse preview: Evil Empire nails the comeback after 18 years

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse — the first new 2D Castlevania since Order of Ecclesia in 2008 — is real, it's playable, and early previews from multiple outlets suggest Evil Empire has pulled it off. The game launches October 15, 2026 on Switch and all other platforms simultaneously.

You play as Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, arriving in a monster-ravaged Paris set 23 years after Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. The whip is back but works differently here — it's used for grappling to swing points and pulling yourself toward enemies rather than as a direct attack. Hit the attack button mid-grapple and you trigger a weapon-specific combo move: the longsword slashes through enemies while keeping your momentum, the Cestus fires off a shoryuken uppercut that launches foes for air combos, and the greatsword does a massive AOE spin. Seven weapon types are in, each with unique charged attacks and grapple attacks. Movement is fluid and Dead Cells-influenced — Rose can attack in all directions, dash forward and back, and wall jump and floor slide from the very start rather than unlocking those moves later. The game is also more welcoming than classic Castlevania: you start with three stackable health potions and enemies drop food more reliably than in the old NES entries. Boss fights, though, still hit hard and punish mistakes the way the series always has.

Evil Empire is best known for Dead Cells and The Rogue Prince of Persia — both roguelikes — so making a metroidvania is new territory for the studio. Konami producer Tsutomu Taniguchi says the decision to go full metroidvania was deliberate: with the series dormant for so long, the priority was honoring the 2D action-exploration games that defined it. Creative director Emmanuel Nouaille called the whole project "completely crazy" and "a dream come true." Taniguchi admitted to feeling pressure alongside the excitement, though he was reportedly smiling when he said it. Belmont's Curse is the first proper metroidvania entry in the series since Order of Ecclesia — an 18-year gap that's long enough to legally vote, as IGN pointed out.

Early reactions from press who played the first three hours are enthusiastic — Nintendo Life's roundup headline quotes one outlet calling it "the game f***ing rules." With a confirmed simultaneous Switch launch on October 15, 2026, there's no platform delay to worry about. The big question now is how the full game holds up beyond those opening hours, but the foundation looks solid.