My copy of Belmont's Curse arrived this evening.
As I was scrolling through the menu, I noticed the customization options.

I was shocked to see Game Genie caliber cheats available from the start.

After being stuck at the first boss in the demo for days, I decided to experiment with the customization options. I then went through The Fallen like a hot knife through butter.

As an adult with diminishing gaming skills, I appreciate options that make each game as easy as possible. Adult life is stressful as it is. When I game, I am more interested in relaxing and seeing all of the different areas of each game, than I am in a challenge. I remember never seeing levels of expensive NES/Genesis/SNES games as a kid because I didn't have the skill to get far enough. I'm thankful for the Game Genie. I recall renting games and blasting through them using the Genie, just to see what each cart had to offer.

Kudos to Konami for making Belmont's Curse accessible to all regardless of their skill level!

I'm not ashamed to say I use gaming cheats.

I've paid for the game.

Let me play and have fun in my own way....

Please let me know any places to buy it on pc that still have the code. Thanks!

I'm about 15 hours in now, far enough into the Castle and whatnot that I feel I can articulate some genuine thoughts and opinions on the game.

It is, objectively a Castlevania game. Absolutely 100%. And no, not just because, if you look JUST before Belmont's Curse, it says "CASTLEVANIA".

OG Castlevania, SotN, Castlevania 64, Curse of Darkness, Harmony of Despair, Lords of Shadow, etc. are all very different games. Castlevania has never been one unchanging thing. It's a series that has been willing to take its core ideas and do something different with them.

In my opinion, to come here and say that BC doesn't fit with them, and to dislike it because of that, you're exposing yourself as not being a Castlevania fan. You are a fan of the specific game that you like, not of the series/IP.

Now, I should probably acknowledge my own bias here.

I'm a HUGE Igavania fan. SotN, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. These are the games I love, the games I play the most, and the games that have probably shaped my idea of what Castlevania feels like more than any others.

So when I say certain aspects of Belmont's Curse don't feel like Castlevania to me, THESE are the games I'm comparing it to. I'm not pretending to be some completely impartial authority on what Castlevania should be. My idea of the series is inevitably shaped by the entries I enjoy the most.

But there's a difference between a game not feeling like my Castlevania and it not being Castlevania at all. I can acknowledge that Belmont's Curse doesn't always scratch the same itch as my favourite entries without suggesting that it doesn't belong.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way.

Belmont's Curse:

It's good. Really good.

The exploration and level design are probably my favourite aspects of the game. The Castle is intricate, thoughtfully designed, and genuinely fun to explore. There's a real sense of discovery, and the way new abilities and mechanics open up the environment is exceptionally well done.

The Holy Light mechanic is a great example. Discovering it was a fun moment in itself, but the way the game incorporates it into its platforming puzzles is even better. Some genuinely fun and, somewhat, mechanically in-depth platforming goes on with this mechanic.

The actual in-game map, however, I'm not particularly fond of. I find the presentation a bit disjointed. It's not bad, and I wouldn't even say it's confusing. I just don't like how it looks and presents the Castle. I don't have some grand, rational argument for this one. I simply don't like it. Just presenting it in a more traditional way would have absolutely been easy brownie points.

The art direction, on the other hand, is fucking phenomenal. This is genuinely one of the best-looking games I've ever played. It's distinctive, it's gorgeous, and it has a visual identity that I absolutely adore. The gothic aesthetic is exactly what you'd want from Castlevania, and seeing familiar enemies reimagined with this level of visual fidelity is a real treat. Genuinely, I get giddy when I recognise something.

I love seeing modern takes on classic Castlevania enemies. There's something incredibly satisfying about encountering a familiar monster and seeing how it's been reinterpreted for a modern game. Enemy variety itself has been fine so far. Nothing particularly impressive, but nothing that's bothered me either. It's the individual designs and their presentation that I appreciate most.

Combat is a bit more complicated for me.

On its own merits, I really do love it. It's REALLY fun: engaging and mechanically satisfying. My problem is with the direction it takes in the context of Castlevania.

It's parry-based.

And I'm getting a bit fucking tired of parries. Every other Soulslike, every other Metroidvania, every other action game seems to want to centre its combat around them these days. I would have much preferred Castlevania to steer away from that trend and find its own approach.

To be clear, I don't actually hate parrying. Castlevania has always thrown a ridiculous amount of projectiles at you, and having a reliable way to deal with them is nice. You could even argue that it's a necessary quality-of-life feature for a modern game.

My issue is how heavily the game relies on it.

Castlevania has traditionally placed a considerable emphasis on movement. Positioning yourself, navigating the environment, managing enemies and making use of your abilities are all part of what makes its combat interesting. But when encounters revolve around waiting for opportunities to parry, or force you into parrying, I find myself standing around more than I'd like. And when so many encounters rely on that same fundamental interaction, they can start to feel a bit samey.

Again, I enjoy the combat. I just wish it had found a way to do what it does without leaning quite so heavily on a mechanic that already feels oversaturated across the genre.

Movement itself is fluid, and I really like what they've done with the whip.

WHEN IT WORKS.

Because, in my experience, the whip can be surprisingly unreliable. It's too precise when I don't want it to be, and too imprecise when I actually need it to be precise.

If there's a SINGLE grapple point on my screen and I aim roughly towards it, why does it sometimes miss and land a foot away? OBVIOUSLY I wanted to hit the grapple point. There's one of the fucking things.

Then, when I actually want to aim past a grapple point and towards an enemy, it'll magnetise itself to the grapple point instead.

It's frustrating because the movement feels great when everything works as intended. The whip adds so much to traversal, and I love the way it integrates into the level design. But when the targeting feels inconsistent, it can undermine what is otherwise one of the game's strongest features.

The bosses have also been a highlight. Mechanically, they're really fun, and visually, they're fantastic. I am however, yet to encounter one that has left the same impression on me, design-wise, as Granfaloon in Symphony of the Night. That's a ridiculously high bar, admittedly, but it's the sort of encounter that sticks in your mind long after you've finished playing.

The soundtrack is probably the weakest part of the game for me.

I don't think it's bad, despite some of the criticism I've seen. It just doesn't particularly stand out as anything special. For a series with a musical legacy like Castlevania, that's a bit disappointing. It's perfectly serviceable, but I haven't found myself thinking about the music nearly as much as I have the visuals, exploration or combat.

Difficulty-wise, though, I think they've absolutely nailed it.

It's challenging without feeling like it's desperately trying to be a Soulslike. It's not a breeze, either. There's a nice balance between making you work for your progress and letting you enjoy the game without wanting to pull your hair out.

Some of the runbacks can be a pain in the arse, but honestly, I don't want them eliminated entirely. I know we've reached a point where every bit of friction in a game has to be treated as a design flaw, but I quite like there being some consequence to failing an encounter. There's a balance to be struck, obviously, but I don't think every boss needs a checkpoint directly outside its door.

The story is where I have some more minor reservations.

It's enjoyable enough, but I find the frequency of story delivery a bit excessive. The constant dialogue and interruptions make the experience feel less like Castlevania to me. It's not that I don't want a story, or that I think Castlevania needs to be entirely devoid of narrative. I just don't need it delivered to me quite so frequently.

The writing itself is a mixed bag, too. I'm getting pretty tired of the whole voices-in-your-head trope, which seems to have become increasingly common across modern media. That's not necessarily a criticism of how it's handled here so much as a general case of trope fatigue.

Some of the dialogue also feels a little amateurish. A bit too on-the-nose. The sort of melodramatic, "Father, no!" type shit that can make you wince a little.

Then again, slightly shit dialogue is arguably a Castlevania staple, so I'm not going to pretend it's some enormous black mark against the game. It's not particularly good writing, in my opinion, but it doesn't ruin the experience either.

And that's sort of where I land on Belmont's Curse overall.

There are things I'd change. I wish the combat relied less on parrying, I wish the whip's targeting was more consistent, I wish the soundtrack stood out more, and I wish the story knew when to shut up for a bit. But the setting, the atmosphere, the art direction, the exploration, the level design, the movement and the familiar enemies all feel unmistakably Castlevania to me.

And, more importantly, they're all phenomenal.

I think Evil Empire deserve a LOT of credit here. They've done an unbelievable job.

What really stands out to me is how much love and understanding for the IP comes through in the game. It's not just a case of slapping the Castlevania name on something and calling it a day. The art direction, the level design, the familiar enemies, the exploration. There's a clear understanding of what makes this series special, even when they're taking it in a different direction.

I might not agree with every decision they've made, and there are absolutely things I'd change, but I never get the impression that they don't understand what they're working with. If anything, my criticisms come from a place of loving the series and wanting to see it at its best.

I'm 15 hours in, and I'm having a great time. I think it's a truly fantastic addition to the series so far and, if the game continues at this level, I'll be very happy with what we've got.

Anyone else experiencing this? My TV is set to game mode. For comparison, I booted up Dominus Collection/Portrait of Ruin to show the latency difference. I am not experiencing lag in any other game. It seems to be Belmont's Curse specifically.

I been hearing stuff like

"Belmont's curse is not a castlevania game because of the artwork"

Ah huh

"We play a women instead of a man"

Yeah, sure.....

"It plays more like dead cells"

I wonder why that's the case

"It's not a caste..."

Buddy, you lost the war, like I don't know where people are trying to get away with saying "this isn't castlevania" which i find that statement dumb, due to the fact that Belmont curse, from what I seen, it a massive love letter to the series, and it felt like the best we could have get from the series as of now

Those who say this isn't castlevania are only those who watch the Anime, which while I do Like, this is not the anime

And it upsets me people try to tell other that this new game is not castlevania, I want to grab my whip and send multiple lashes at them because they don't know Jack

We fans been waiting for castlevania love, and belmont's curse looks and from the demo, plays really good for a MODERN CASTLEVANIA GAME

We want this, yet people are trying to come in and act like they are fans

The biggest tip I recommend everyone do is immediately change dodge from O/B/A to L1. It has immensely made my life so much easier. L1 has always kinda been my default finger press for backdash games. It just feels right and also allows you to freely leave your finger for the attack button. I kinda wish they further let you customize dash further and let backdash be one button press and the forward be bind to a separate key. I’m just reminiscing of the old HoD dash shoulder button presses lol.

I also changed my whip movement button to R1 and interact to R2. I’m thinking I’ll probably move the heal button back onto one of the R buttons.

Aside from that I’m actually enjoying the game a lot. It’s definitely way different but honestly it’s a good direction for the modern audiences and for this game to expand further with newer players. Some criticisms I have are the music is not that special, especially for a Castlevania game, music is kinda like the defining aspect of the games. To have it lacking is kinda disappointing. Also the lack of traditional RPG elements kinda sucks and simplifies it down way too much. It def takes its cues from DeadCells with the weapons. I kinda wish they went back to unique weapon drops and building out a more unique character. The emphasis on plat forming is really good change from the other metroidvanias. The bosses are fun too.

Also is the iconic high jump/uppercut still there?

Can't figure out how to get out of this place. Above the 5 bouncy lights you can swing to the area in the 3rd pic but no amount of vertical can I clear the left spike wall to hit that switch.

Possibly soft locked? Can't exit without reloading. You get here from the save point on the right by bouncing along the bottom of the lights in a specific pattern and it opens another bouncy light above that let's you travel left to the upper area that leads to the Study Room.

Probably one of the worst games performance wise I've ever played on this console. I would go so far as to say it's actually unplayable.

the consistent frame drops and stutter, that even running down a hall causes you to slow down, then speed up, then slow down again. the loading times, it's 8-10 seconds per screen at times. it's running between 30fps, then 50, then 22, just all over the place. It makes me feel physically ill looking at it for more than a few moments.

Why would the game be released in this state on this console? Why release on switch 1 at all if it was going to play this way?

making her cassandra is a really cool idea

i suspected when you first meet her and then it gets confirmed when you complete both her tarrot tasks

also i like that she seems to serve dracula because he actually listens to her predictions (and is suspect his world of monsters is something she can enjoy thanks to the gods cursing her into a snake monster)

i dont think any castlevania has EVER given her an an ounce of character before

Is anyone else having trouble seeing regular-sized enemies during attack combos? The attack flash effects are super bright and convoluted, and it's hard to see when an enemy is preparing to attack to dodge it.

It's not so bad with the sword, but the fist weapons I can't really see anything I'm punching unless they're a large enemy.

I just got to the inverted castle and I’m getting stomped. I know it’s suppose to be harder ofc but I’m just wondering what gear or items helped you get through it easier? ATM I’ve mainly been running Shield Rod + Knight Shield, I’ve also got the fairy familiar

Regular and reverse cover in US Midnight edition. Download codes for Art and Audio Gallery and Alucard costume in box.

Dont wast tome grinding for XP or fighting the same boss over and over you can just go into the settings and make yourself invincible whenever you want

In the catacombs and that switch right there should allow me to lower this talon shaped bridge down to turn into sloped stairs. I’m suddently not able to use that switch anymore. Is there any shortcut i‘m missing?

Hey yall in the demo i didnt have any problems but now on the full release i do, i have it with smaa, fullscreen windowed and i tried 1440p, 4k and 1080p and it still stutters like at some point the fps seems to go down a bit but not on combat mostly on the map and when im doing platforming or the camera zooms out.

My laptop is a ASUS TUF FA506NC but it has 16 gb of RAM instead and has 4 vram its a 3050, im using Ghelper I have cpu boost disabled and high performance plan enabled.

Plus im using my 50 inch 4k tv as a monitor at 60 fps.

I know the launch of the game is buggy but is it my pc or im also affected? Have they announced an update/fix yet?.

I’ve only just got around to watching Nocturne, which was good, didn’t enjoy it was much as the first series. But fucking hell when Juste asks Alucard why he hasn’t seen him in so long, and his reply he was tired of Belmonts and tired of seeing them die.

It didn’t need to feel like a gut punch, but it must have been horrible for him. Trevor is his, best friend on the show or the closest thing to one, watching him and then his family members die one after another must have been horrible knowing there’s nothing he can do. No wonder he left

Got to the part where you can find a painting of Alucard and all the girls have something to say, including Rose. I died laughing my ass off bc Leon is being cool and all but man he must be FUCKING PISSED about Alucards existance.

Is it just in Australia where Belmonts Curse is vastly more expensive physically than digitally or are other markets doing the same thing?

$39.95 AUD online vs $74 physical. Granted it’s the midnight edition for physical, I don’t care about the cosmetics.

Just received my first ever Castlevania! I hope it lives up to the hype!

Everybody is right about what they like about the franchise, but I believe they are also wrong when they try to force and compare the things that they like as if eveything has to meet a standard.

Part of the appeal of this franchise was that every game is different from each other since the beginning. Nes Castlevanias dont feel the same as Bloodlines, and Super Castlevania doesnt feel the same as Rondo of Blood, and Metroidvanias being the most popular version of this franchise doesn't mean every game after need to follow that footprint.

Being upset that Belmont's curse doesnt follow the vibe that you like is fair, but I also believe that if fans wanna have productive discussions about the franchise they also need to understand the mutable nature of this IP before dropping the hard "This isn't Castlevania" line.