Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is an uneven adventure that's full of surprises

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is basically a perfect pitch. What if some of the people who made Dead Cells (that whole thing is complicated, let's not get into it here, but many of the same devs worked on both) and specifically the Dead Cells: Castlevania DLC, made a straight up, Metroid-ass Castlevania game? And what if it looked absolutely gorgeous? Well, it would be Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, the first real Metroidvania Castlevania game in a very long time.

Let me first do something a little unconventional here and say that I think Castlevania: Belmont's Curse lands somewhere between that good and great marker for me. It's something I wanted to finish, see Dracula, and get the "true" ending (which means doing the final boss twice, btw). But it's not the type of experience I walked away from pondering where it'll sit on my Game of the Year list.

If that's all you're here for, thanks for stopping by, and considering signing up to be a member (it's free!). But I'd encourage you to read on, because Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is pretty uneven, so it's difficult to concisely say how the game landed for me on the whole.

The start of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse doesn't really feel like a Castlevania game. It takes place on the streets of Paris. Sure, you're meeting strange werewolf monsters, but you're also fighting Joan of Arc, so it doesn't quite capture the vibe you're expecting.

This goes on for, genuinely, a couple hours. But then something happens, and the world around you shifts, and – without getting too far into spoilers – Castle Dracula becomes available to you. This is just one of many shifts in Belmont's Curse. Just as I was reaching a point of tedium with exploring the opening area, bam, suddenly I'm excited to explore again.

This isn't fully uncommon in the genre, but I really like Metroidvania games and this one pushes the envelope a little too far. I was playing Galactic Racer at the same time as Belmont's Curse, and I would often pop sit down for some gaming time, excited to make progress in Castlevania, only to shut it off after moving around for a few screens and move to Scrib Doon my way to the finals.