Metroid Meets Dead Cells In October's Coolest New Action Game
In ruined Paris, where we lay our scene...
October is finally here, and it’s trying something a little different this year by featuring some of the year’s hottest new releases. We won’t see The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Grand Theft Auto 6 until November, but we don’t have to wait that long to have fun with some of the year’s most exciting games.
One title worth watching closely, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, is shaping up to be the month’s finest action game. It combines elements of classic Metroid, like lots of corridors that only reluctantly give up their secrets, with the 2018 action platformer, Dead Cells. The results, judging by the all-too-brief demo Konami dropped on Thursday morning — and by a preview session attended by Polygon earlier this year — are nothing short of excellent.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse looks like a stunning Metroidvania
The adventure opens as a grizzled Trevor Belmont rides in a rowboat with another adventurer. The two of them have recently received an invitation to visit Paris, where the streets of the city are overrun by dark monsters no one can seem to vanquish. Trevor and his companion suspect a trap, but they both are the sort of people who live by an interesting mantra: “It’s not a trap if I suspect a trap. It’s just a mystery to uncover.”
When they arrive at their destination, the two heroes shake off any unease and go their separate ways. Trevor looks forward to meeting with the bishop who invited them, to see what he can learn about the situation. After accepting the gift of some tarot cards her mother left behind, Rose Belmont heads off on her own to do some monster slaying.
That’s right: you control Rose Belmont in the game, not Trevor. If you’re like me, that fact is disappointing for two or three seconds, tops. Rose controls beautifully. Her movements are fluid like Alucard’s in Symphony of the Night, not clunky like her legendary father. She wields a sharp sword that dispatches skeletons in a jiffy, which she supplements with powerful projectile magic that strikes from a distance. She also carries a few potions, allowing her to refill part of her life meter when the going gets tough and her red meter is nearly empty.
Right from the start, the game showers Rose with objectives. For example, one of them instructs her to hit 20 enemies with her magic bursts. Completing such tasks allows her to improve the strength of her magic. She also defeats enemies for experience points, which she uses to level up and improve her attributes. And then there are the various tomes she finds secreted around the passageways she wanders. They improve stats independently. With enough enhancements, the resourceful hero just might stand a fighting chance against her powerful adversaries.
Partway through the demo, I faced off against one such opponent. The Fallen is a hunking monster of a man who moves like a more agile Minotaur. He tosses a projectile that flies across the screen, but he’s not the sort to stand idly by as it drifts across the screen. Instead, he leaps into the air and latches onto a hook, then swings forward with other weapons ready before crashing down from above and producing harmful shockwaves. Players must learn attack patterns to survive to the end of a brawl, because their most powerful foes are capable of absorbing quite a lot of damage. Mashing buttons and hoping for the best isn’t really an option.
From the demo, which experienced players will likely clear in around a half-hour, it’s clear that the game will contain all sorts of delightful secrets. Even just the opening areas forced me to double back at several points, the better to reach higher ledges that were out of my reach on my first trip through a chamber. A few times along the way, I found destructible walls that revealed life-restoring meat. There were also gates I could only open once I came at them from a different direction, which felt familiar and good.
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It helps that the rapidly expanding map is genuinely useful. Players can pin as many as 50 icons at once, allowing them to keep track of goodies they glimpsed from the wrong side of a barrier, pit, or perhaps even a bed of lethal spikes. Whoever is running the show has really done a number on Paris.
Although the game’s structure and mechanics are terrific, they’re not the only aspect of the design that the developers got right. The art style really works for me, featuring intimidating backdrops that offer the welcome illusion of depth. The gothic atmosphere comes through loud and clear, helped in no small part by some moody music that kept me tense the entire time I played. I don’t know if I’ll love hearing it for another 20 or 30 hours, but it definitely set the right tone during my session.
If you’re like me, you’ll reach the end of the Belmont’s Curse demo with a sense of regret. It ended abruptly, right as I entered a restoration chamber, my mind alive with possibilities for my next few minutes of exploration. I wanted to keep playing, but I couldn’t. Not yet.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse will be released on Oct. 15, 2026 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.