Castlevania: Belmont's Curse: The First Preview

[00:02] and a Nintendo DS in the early 2000s was a wonderful time because almost every year there was a new Castlevania game to sink my fangs into. But after Order of Acclesia in 2008, that neverending stream of some of the best 2D

[00:15] platforming and exploration in gaming dried up. And now we've somehow gone 18 years without a proper 2D Castlevania. Yes, that's right. 2D Castlevania's absence is old enough to vote now. But if there's one thing I've learned from

[00:30] the many Castlevanias I've played, it's that Dracula's Resurrection is inevitable eventually. Enter Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, a much welcome brand new entry in the storyried series. And in even better news, it's

[00:43] I got to play through the first three-ish hours at a recent preview event, and based on my early impressions, it's shaping up to be a impressions, it's shaping up to be a return worth waiting for.

[01:01] place 23 years after the events of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, and serves as a direct follow-up to that story, which is also what the fantastic Netflix Castlevania anime is largely based on. The game begins with the

[01:13] summons for Trevor Belmont to head to Paris, which has been ravaged by an streets with monsters, turned the moon blood red, and left the city in utter chaos. Despite sensing the likely trap, Trevor makes his way to the city of

[01:27] light. But not alone. He's joined by his daughter, Rose, who is eager to continue the family legacy of hunting monsters and vampires.

[01:42] the controller was, yeah, this definitely feels like Castlevania by way of Dead Cells. And that's not a bad thing. In fact, it's quite good. There's a certain fluidity to Rose's movement and animation that immediately felt

[01:55] reminiscent of controlling the behead from Dead Cells, minus the ability to holding down and pressing jump while in the air. Rose can swing her weapon in front, above, and below her, much like in Dead Cells, while also having access

[02:08] to a quick forward dash to dodge under projectiles or reposition herself behind an enemy along with a back dash to quickly move out of the way of incoming attacks. Of

[02:24] defining weapon of the Belmont clan, and it is a core element of Rose's kit as well, though surprisingly not as a direct combat tool. Instead, the whip to reach new heights and to pull yourself towards enemies in order to

[02:39] quickly close the distance. My favorite aspect of the whip, though, is that if pulling yourself towards an enemy, you'll execute a grapple attack, which varies greatly depending on which of the seven types of weapons you're wielding.

[02:52] The starting long swords grapple attack will allow you to slash through enemies, dealing good damage and keeping your forward momentum, allowing you to chain gaps. Doing a grapple attack with the cestus equipped, meanwhile, will execute

[03:05] a shyukin-like uppercut that will launch enemies up into the air for air combos. Then you have the greatsword which performs a hugely damaging AoE focused spinning attack. I love the fact that every single weapon has a unique charged

[03:18] attack, grapple attack, and basic move set, giving you plenty of incentive to experiment with your arsenal and find the right tool for the job.

[03:31] able to experiment with either. Like in Hollow Knight, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and other modern Metroid vanias, you can also find and equip up to three relics, which provide powerful passive bonuses. These are usually

[03:44] reserved as rewards for completing difficult optional challenges, like a tricky platforming section or a lengthy combat encounter. And even in my brief hands-on time so far, they have all proven to be well worth the trouble of

[03:57] seeking them out. Finally, since Rose is the daughter of both Trevor Belmont and Cipha Bilades, she's equally skilled in both weaponry and magic. As such, she can also find and equip a variety of spells known as Arcana. In my demo,

[04:10] these spells were always rewards for defeating a major boss, with me gaining one of the boss's core abilities. Defeating the Fallen rewarded me with the Holy Cross boomerang, besting Jon of Arc gave me her ground explosion attack,

[04:23] and taking down Medusa granted me her petrification beam. Each of these arcana could be improved by completing various achievement-like challenges called works of mercy. For the Holy Cross, for example, I had to find three different

[04:35] whip type weapons, kill five enemies with one Holy Cross throw, or kill 10 enemies with a whip attack. Completing a work of mercy rewards you with a point upgrades for that specific arcana. Again, using the Holy Cross as an

[04:49] example, I could upgrade so that I can throw two crosses out at a time, make the cross deal more damage the farther away from me it got, or refund 10% of the mana cost for every enemy it hit, up to 60%. If I caught the cross on the way

[05:03] upgrades were actually interesting and affected the way I use the Arcana rather than just being higher damage numbers, a lower mana cost, or quicker speed of lower mana cost, or quicker speed of use.

[05:23] Castlevania fan. I went up against zombies that rose from the ground, the classic Medusa heads that like to fly in from the side of the screen and move in a predictably wavy pattern, and plenty of gargoyles. Castlevania games have

[05:36] typically varied substantially in terms of their difficulty, and thus far, Belmont's Curse has fallen somewhere in the middle of the pack. These first few definitely had my fair share of deaths

[05:48] against some of the tankier and harder-hitting enemies, but checkpoints are generously spaced. You now have a handful of health restoring flasks that generously spaced checkpoints. And unlike most modern Metroid Vanias or

[06:01] Souls likes, there's no real penalty upon death outside of enemies respawning and you getting placed back at the nearest checkpoint. The bosses were no pushover either. My favorite of the bunch was Medusa, which had me swinging

[06:13] between two sides of the boss arena to avoid her flailing tail and arms and whenever she used her screen covering petrifying gaze. Opportunities to deal sure that I made the most of every chance that I got. It was a fun fight

[06:28] that made good use of Rose's mobility options, rewarded pattern recognition, and required quick reflexes without being too demanding, especially for an early boss. Overall, I had an absolute blast with Castlevania Belmont's Curse.

[06:42] The art and animation are absolutely gorgeous. Combat is fun and dynamic with personal play style thanks to the variety of weapons, arcana, and relics. Exploration was appropriately rewarding as there were plenty of secrets hidden

[06:57] within the cracked walls of the Persian streets, and the bosses provided a nice challenge without ever feeling too overwhelming for how early I was in the game. The real star of the show though is the whip, which enabled a very unique

[07:10] style of acrobatic combat that gives Belmont's Curse its own unique feel and identity in the increasingly crowded Metroid Vania genre. If the Dead Cells veterans at Evil Empire can build upon what's already here and keep up the same

[07:23] quality of level, enemy, and boss design throughout the entire campaign, we could have a return to Castlevania that's more than worthy of standing next to the all-time greats of the series. For more previews of the latest upcoming games,

[07:36] don't miss our recent hands-on looks at The Blood of Dawn Walker and Zeland. And for everything else in the world of video games, keep it here on IGN.