If you haven't noticed, Konami is back, and the once-great Japanese publisher is finding its feet again by farming its properties out to hungry younger developers all over the world. This has worked pretty well for Silent Hill, and now it's Castlevania's turn with Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. The first mainline installment in the vampire action series in over 10 years, Belmont's Curse was made by Dead Cells support studio Evil Empire. (The groundwork for this collaboration was laid with the 2023 mashup Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania.)

It looks like Konami's strategy has worked again. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse has strong reviews, the majority hailing it as a triumphant return for, and smart modernization of, the series. But some critics query whether it has really captured the Castlevania spirit. Currently, the game's average rating on the review aggregation sites sits at 86 on Metacritic and 85 on OpenCritic.

Leading the cheering squad is GameSpot's Steve Watts, who called Belmont's Curse "one of the best Castlevania games, and one of the best metroidvania games, of all time" in a 10/10 review. Watts hailed the "sprawling map bursting with mysteries to uncover, joyous traversal tools that make roaming the map feel great, a story that balances a macabre tone with occasional lightness, a cast of creative and well-drawn characters, and hands-down the best combat of any Castlevania game — in fact, among the best combat of any 2D action game, period."

Like many other reviewers, IGN's Scott White liked the new hero, Rose Belmont, and was impressed by the sharp and responsive combat, but felt that the latter came at the expense of some of Castlevania's classic characteristics, including the RPG system, and its unique feel.

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