Castlevania Fans Can Soon Play Belmont’s Curse Ahead of October Release Date
Fueled by enormous fan anticipation for November’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, Nintendo’s iconic, long-running fantasy series’ 40th anniversary has been building plenty of buzz lately. But the Link-starring action-adventure franchise isn’t the only enduring series celebrating four decades this year. Released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, just seven months after the original The Legend of Zelda launched, Konami’s Castlevania quickly became a favorite of the 8-bit console era.
40 years after fans first wielded the whip of legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont, the side-scrolling gothic horror action-adventure is set to return with its latest installment, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. And while the game’s release is less than a month away – launching on October 15th – players can sink their fangs into it two weeks prior via a demo coming to Nintendo Switch platforms, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and Steam.
You’d have more luck discovering garlic cloves in Dracula’s coffin than digging up deep-diving details on the demo’s specific content, but Konami has revealed that the playable preview will feature the title’s opening chapter. Players will also be able to transfer all their save data from the demo over to the final game upon its release.
For those who haven’t braved the blood-sucking antagonist’s castle for some time, Belmont’s Curse is the series 26th mainline entry, and a direct sequel to 1990 NES fan-favorite entry Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Unfolding in 1499 Paris, the new game stars fresh protagonist Rose Belmont, daughter of the third entry’s hero Trevor Belmont, and ancestor of Simon.
While the series has released plenty of successful 3D entries over the years, its most popular chapters have always been its 2D/2.5D side-scrollers inspired by the 1986 original. These games, along with Metroid‘s earlier entries, are, of course, responsible for spawning the popular Metroidvania genre.
Belmont’s Curse will once again follow that can’t-miss formula, while significantly modernizing it with plenty of visual upgrades and updated gameplay features. Fans can expect challenging platforming, clever puzzles, engaging character progression, epic boss encounters, and ample opportunity to carve through ugly monsters, frightening supernatural foes, and other threats not of this world.
Further supported by the immersive, gothic-inspired environments and atmospheric musical score fans have come to expect, Belmont’s Curse is looking like another thumb-numbing blast.
Prior to the demo’s announcement, the game’s last big news drop involved the reveal of its voice cast, which includes some returning favorites. Liam O’Brien is back as Castlevania: Curse of Darkness baddie Isaac, while Alejandro Reynoso returns to the role of sorceress Sypha Belnades, which she originated in Netflix’s acclaimed Castlevania series.
Most notably, accomplished genre character actor Graham McTavish (The Hobbit trilogy, Outlander, House of the Dragon) will play none other than main jugular-draining baddie, Dracula, a role for which he garnered plenty of praise during three of the Netflix series’ four seasons.
The monster-slaying sequel lands like a sharpened stake on October 15th, but anxious fans will want to fire up their gaming platform of choice and dive into the Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse demo two weeks prior, on October 1st.