A rough guide to 40 years of Castlevania and the brand new Belmont’s Curse game

Castlevania has been around for four decades (Konami)

Now that Konami is finally resurrecting Castlevania, with its first proper game in 12 years, GameCentral looks at the series’ history and how best to prepare for Belmont’s Curse.

In 2017, Netflix released an animated adaptation of Castlevania. Although it took some liberties with the source material, the initial four episode season, which was based on 1989’s Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse, proved successful enough to warrant three further seasons and a sequel show, Castlevania: Nocturne and… Konami did nothing with it.

Rather than immediately capitalise on this newfound, mainstream popularity, Konami seemed to feel no urgency in greenlighting new entries, even as it successfully revitalised the likes of Silent Hill and Metal Gear.

It wasn’t until the February State of Play – 13 months after Castlevania: Nocturne had wrapped up and five years after new games were first rumoured – that Konami finally announced Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, the first wholly new entry in the series since 2014.

At least it won’t be a long wait for the game though, as it launches on Tuesday, October 15 and is intended to mark the 40th anniversary of Castlevania (the first game launched on September 26, 1986, in Japan).

Since Belmont’s Curse will be plenty of peoples’ introduction to Castlevania, we’ve put together a mini retrospective on the series’ history, a rundown of its best games, and whether the new game ties into the Netflix show or not.

What is Castlevania?

While Konami was already an established game developer in the 80s, thanks to titles like Frogger and Gradius, Castlevania would soon become one of its key franchises, to be followed by Metal Gear and Silent Hill.

As you can probably guess by the name, the series helped propagate the Metroidvania genre, alongside Nintendo’s Metroid – although the latter is certainly the senior partner in that relationship.

Metroid and Castlevania did debut the same year, but they played completely differently as the latter was an action platformer with linear level progression.

1986’s Vampire Killer, which was only released for the MSX2 computer, was the first non-linear entry in the series but it’s Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest, from 1987, which is the first true Metroidvania in the series.

The franchise never fully settled on a signature style until 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, when it helped to further define the Metroidvania concept, including role-playing elements that are not present in any of Nintendo’s games.

Although Symphony Of The Night was initially a sales flop, word of mouth helped it find an audience and the game would go on to define the future of Castlevania, as well as help coin the Metroidvania portmanteau.

Sales-wise, Castlevania has never been a juggernaut, even amongst Konami’s stable of franchises, and is dwarfed by the sales of properties like Metal Gear, Pro Evolution Soccer, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

Yet it maintained a passionate fanbase and we suspect the games weren’t very expensive to make, which would’ve helped them remain profitable even when they weren’t pushing millions of units.

With the advent of 3D graphics, Castlevania remained mostly 2D, finding itself a home on Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS handhelds throughout the 2000s. Although there were a few 3D games on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2, which were let down by their obviously low budgets.

By the 2010s, the franchise had lost steam and Konami decided the series needed a reboot and commissioned MercurySteam (the same Spanish studio that would fittingly go on to helm Nintendo’s 2D Metroid games) to develop Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow.

Aside from resetting the continuity, it eschewed the Metroidvania formula to be a God Of War style hack and slash action game. It wound up being pretty good, becoming the best-selling entry in the series, and was followed by the more traditional 2D title Mirror Of Fate a few years later.

Everything seemed peachy for Castlevania, but then 2014’s Lords Of Shadow 2 happened. Rather than smooth out the first game’s rougher edges and build upon what worked, MercurySteam managed to fix what wasn’t broken and add entirely new flaws, including an awful camera and needless stealth sections, resulting in a shockingly poor sequel.

MercurySteam insists the sequel still sold really well, but clearly not enough for Konami to maintain a working relationship with the studio or approach anyone else for further Castlevania games.

The Netflix show adapted Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse (Netflix)

Afterwards, Konami shifted its focus to mobile games and pachinko machines, meaning Castlevania, much like Count Dracula himself, languished in its coffin for years, until the 2017 Netflix show.

However, Konami did spend the following years elevating Castlevania’s profile through re-releases, as well as crossovers with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Vampire Survivors, and Dead Cells.

That last one proved especially fruitful as co-developer Evil Empire impressed Konami enough to be allowed to helm new game Belmont’s Curse, continuing Konami’s track record of letting outside studios develop new games, which has mostly worked out for Silent Hill.

Perhaps emboldened by how well Silent Hill is faring in the 2020s, Konami has already promised Belmont’s Curse will be the first of many Castlevania projects, although what form those new games will take is currently a mystery.

What is Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse?

Aside from being the first new Castlevania game in 12 years (not counting a couple of mobile spin-offs), Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is a return to the series’ standard Metroidvania formula.

This means an open map with non-linear progression, as you acquire new weapons and spells to aid you in your exploration, including the iconic Vampire Killer whip – which can also be used as a grapple for traversal.

Rather than continue the Lords Of Shadow timeline, Konami is wisely returning to the original continuity. Aside from how bad Lords Of Shadow 2 was, the Netflix show, re-releases, and crossovers have helped to re-establish the old continuity among old and new fans.

As for the game’s plot, it’s set in late 15th century Paris and stars Rose Belmont, the daughter of Trevor and Sypha – two of the playable protagonists from Castlevania 3 – as she faces an army of invading monsters and, of course, Dracula, who has returned after being slain by Trevor.

Is Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse based on the Netflix show?

Konami has not said anything about Belmont’s Curse being directly based on the Netflix show and when looking at the game so far, it’s clearly adhering to the continuity of the games.

That said, Belmont’s Curse makes for a good jumping on point for newcomers who’ve only ever watched the show, thanks to the inclusions of Trevor and Sypha – who were two of the show’s main characters.

A couple of the Netflix voice actors have also been brought back to reprise their roles for Belmont’s Curse, with Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha and Graham McTavish as Dracula.

Fans of the show will need to prepare themselves for the fact that Belmont’s Curse doesn’t share the same continuity, though. While Dracula’s backstory is very similar, the tragic elements are often downplayed in the games, where he’s mostly depicted as an outright villain.

Two other characters from the show, Carmilla and Isaac, will also appear and have very different personalities compared to their Netflix counterparts.

Especially Isaac, as he became something of an anti-hero, whereas Belmont’s Curse is sticking to his original design and purely villainous personality, from his last game appearance in 2005.

Among the foes you’ll fight in Belmont’s Curse is a resurrected Joan of Arc (Konami)

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