Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse PS5 Review. It’s been over 12 years since the last mainline Castlevania title was released with Lords of Shadow 2, and since then Konami has done an admirable job keeping the franchise alive by releasing almost every Castlevania on modern consoles, but the longing for a brand new entry in the franchise was something that fans couldn’t live without.
Thankfully, Konami has done its due diligence, and with help from Dead Cell developer Evil Empire, we’ve gotten not only a brand-new entry in the franchise, but one that may be one of the best.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse PS5 Review
Surprisingly Strong Narrative And Characters
Beyond hardcore fans, some may not even realize that every mainline Castlevania game is part of an ongoing story: the battle between the Belmont family and Dracula. Belmont’s Curse takes place 23 years after Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and sees the return of Trevor Belmont and his daughter Rose, who a bishop in France calls to help stop an invading force of monsters.
Trevor senses something is off and sets out to find the Bishop who summoned them, while Rose heads out to find the monster behind the mayhem. Surprisingly, the story is more than just monsters trying to resurrect Dracula, and it holds plenty of surprises for those who have been following Castlevania’s convoluted story, plus some returning faces from the franchise.
Rose is a great character, but the game isn’t just about her. After Rose defeats a boss, she absorbs their existence into her Mother’s Tarot Cards, and they take the form of one of the Tarot.
They become trapped in these cards but can talk to Rose. Some of them you even find out are cursed to commit atrocities, and by defeating them, Rose can cure their Curse; they help you along and add a lot of context to what’s going on in the story, and even some of the returning bosses you encounter that haven’t really been fleshed out throughout the franchise.
Fantastic Combat With Plenty Of Options
Combat keeps the spirit of Castlevania while upgrading it to feel more modern. Besides the Belmont whip, Rose can equip six other weapons in-game: Sword, Sword & Shield, Gauntlets, Lance, Twin Swords, and Great Sword. You must find each weapon in the massive map you explore, and each has an upgradable version, but it takes four times as long to find.
Each weapon opens up combat by providing unique abilities. The Sword & Shield lets you block incoming attacks; the Lance lets you throw it to attack airborne enemies or enemies over gaps; and the Gauntlets let you uppercut enemies into the air and perform juggle combos.
Each weapon shines in different situations, and choosing the right one for specific enemies and the places they appear can make a world of difference, especially during boss battles.
Magic And Melee Combat Combine Perfectly
The Tarot cards are your magic attacks this time around. Each one offers plenty of combat customization. Combining them with your weapon of choice is also fun. One magic ability lets you summon a wave of blood and spikes from the ground that make enemies bleed and take continuous damage. I used this ability to bypass shielded enemies, taking damage while I focused on others.
Another Tarot summons a giant fist that falls from the sky, smashing anything in the way and creating a shockwave; it’s also great at stunning and breaking enemies’ guards. Many Tarot cards and spells drop only from boss battles that join your Tarot magic roster.
Each Tarot card also has up to three challenges to complete. Completing each challenge unlocks one of three abilities to upgrade the Tarot card. Most are simple challenges: defeat a certain number of enemies with that ability.
Others are more exploration-based and require you to find a specific location important to the spirit inhabiting the card, or defeat enemies in a specific way using its magic. Some are easy, and some are extremely difficult and time-consuming, but upgrading these Tarot cards is highly beneficial because of the passive skills they provide.
Top Tier Boss Battles
Fans of the franchise will be happy to learn that many fan-favorite enemies return, along with some new ones. The hulking armor that throws axes at you is back; the flying sword that summons more swords that spin around it is memorable in Belmont’s Curse. It’s great to see so many return, but the highlight is the phenomenal boss fights.
The first couple seem simple enough, but as you progress, they become a real challenge, with plenty of platforming sections and timed events during the fights. Again, you get new bosses plus a lot of fan favorites, like Medusa returning. These bosses are challenging, especially the later ones, and some are even hidden optional bosses that require extensive exploration to unlock.
Incredibly Rewarding Exploration
The Mania of Castlevania is back. Originally introduced in Symphony of the Night, they’re now a franchise staple. The Metroidvania exploration is incredibly deep and, at times, frustrating. You explore area after area and expand the map, but you can’t access every location right away. Many locations are locked until you unlock a specific ability to access them.
You discover some of these areas right at the start of the game, but the solution to get past them isn’t unlocked until the end. It’s what makes these games such a blast to play and explore.
It can get tedious sometimes, making your way back to the start of the game when you are so far ahead to unlock a room you just got an ability to unlock, only to discover that you need two abilities instead of just the new one you unlocked, forcing you to leave again and come back later.
Some Seriously Tough Platforming
My one big issue with exploration is that save and healing checkpoints are few and far between. At times, you have to traverse death traps where one wrong platforming move can send you back to the start.
These rooms appear in the middle of a path, and dying means you have to make your way back, which can take a good five to ten minutes. Other sections have no checkpoint area at all and take up maybe a quarter of the map.
The game also lacks fast travel for most of the game, which lets you travel between checkpoints like in past titles. The one you do unlock only lets you travel between the major regions. This means a lot of on-foot travel to reach the areas you need.
Belmont’s Curse’s map is enormous and spans many locations. You start in the Streets of Paris, then explore the sewers, a cemetery, the Catacombs of France, and, of course, Dracula’s Castle, which has its own plethora of locations. After about 12 hours of play, I discovered I had unlocked only 40% of the game’s locations.
Relics Allow You To Customize Rose To Your Playstyle
As I mentioned, exploration is a blast, and finding hidden locations is highly rewarding. Beyond health and Mana upgrades that increase your maximum Health and Mana, you can find books that boost your attack and defense and, most importantly, relics in chests. These equipment pieces allow you to customize Rose even further. You can find two dozen relics, and each one fits whatever play style you want.
One Relic provides a shield that blocks your first strike and explodes when you take a hit, freezing nearby enemies in ice. This is an example of a defensive Relic. Some passive ones increase Rose’s damage by 50% but halve her maximum health. You can equip three relics at a time to further customize Rose to your playstyle.
You also encounter lost spirits that provide clues to the bosses’ locations and puzzle solutions to reach these bosses. The spirits provide clues on how to reach them and where they may be located. Some of these clues will appear on your map to help you track where to go.
The Best Soundtrack To Listen To A Visual Feast
Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. Sticking with its signature art style, Evil Empire uses bright, abstract colors to create unique environmental visuals, and the character designs fit the world well.
Not only does everything on the game field look great with plenty of detail, but the background and vistas are a feast for the eyes, with a lot of detail, some of which is important to notice, and they hide puzzle solutions.
One aspect of Castlevania that always stood out was its fantastic soundtracks, and Belmont’s Curse continues that tradition with easily one of the best game soundtracks of the year. In the past, composers used symphonic rhythms with a stronger rock influence. Instead, Belmont’s Curse leans more into an electronic-symphony blend, and it’s an incredible mix I didn’t know I needed. Many classic tunes from the franchise return, such as “Bloody Tears,” and it’s a treat to hear the different renditions this time around.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is an incredible game that Evil Empire can look at and say, “We brought this franchise back.” From the incredible visuals and soundtrack to the fantastic combat and exploration, there is very little not to enjoy here. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is quite honestly one of the best games of the year.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse releases on October 15, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Review code kindly provided by PR.