Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Is Out Today, and Reviews Sit at 85

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is out now. After months of trailers, a Tokyo Game Show demo and a September showcase, Konami's new 2D action-exploration game is finally something you can install and play, and the first reviews are already in. The game is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Steam, with the Nintendo Switch version still waiting for a date.

We covered the road to launch in our pieces on the free demo that went live on October 1 and on Konami's Press Start showcase. This article is the practical one: what you can buy today, what it costs, and how the early reception looks.

Video: KONAMI on YouTube

What you are buying today

The game comes in two editions. Steam lists the Standard Edition at $29.99 and the Midnight Edition at $39.99. Konami's own page confirms the contents of the Midnight Edition: a digital sound and art gallery with 71 tracks, Trevor and Sypha costumes and the Family's Grace relic. A physical Midnight Edition exists too, with a SteelBook case and a tarot card option at select European retailers. Everyone who pre-ordered or bought early gets an Alucard style costume for Rose.

Install size is modest by current standards: 8 GB for Standard and 10 GB for Midnight on consoles and PC, and 4 GB and 6 GB on Switch. Audio is available in Japanese and English, text in ten languages, and the game runs at 60 frames per second on PS5, Xbox and PC. The rating is PEGI 16.

Rose Belmont is the daughter of Trevor Belmont, and the story is set in Paris in 1499, twenty three years after Castlevania III. The Vampire Killer whip doubles as a traversal tool, and bosses you defeat are sealed into tarot cards that become spells. Evil Empire, the studio known for years of Dead Cells updates, developed it with Motion Twin advising.

How critics are reacting

On Metacritic the game sits at 85, rated generally favorable, from 54 critic reviews across platforms. The platform split is worth knowing: PS5 is at 85, Xbox Series X at 88 from a small sample of six reviews, PC at 82 and Switch at 78 from five reviews. Those numbers will move as more scores arrive, and the Switch figure rests on very few reviews, so we would not read much into it yet.

The written praise centers on level design, the lead character and combat. The criticism is just as consistent: some reviewers feel it does not do enough to stand apart in a crowded Metroidvania field, and others flag balance issues that may frustrate part of the audience. Those are the two things to weigh against the price: strong design on one side, a crowded genre and some uneven balance on the other.

Our take

At $29.99, this is an easy recommendation if you like 2D action games and have any affection for the series. The price is the real story. Konami is selling a polished, well reviewed entry at a cost that makes a mixed experience cheap to forgive. The Midnight Edition is a fair upgrade only if you care about the soundtrack gallery and the costumes, since the core game is the same.

If you are on Switch, wait. Konami has launched on other platforms first and has not committed to a date, and the Switch version runs at 30 frames per second against 60 elsewhere, which matters in a game built around fast whip movement. If you already played the demo, remember the save transfer conditions: same platform, same account, demo data kept, full game patched. We will keep an eye on the day one patch notes and the Switch date, and update if either changes the buying advice.