Whereas in 2025, Konami’s booth at Tokyo Game Show was a terrifying recreation of Silent Hill f, this year it was a bright, white and red celebration of the 40th anniversary of Ganbare Goemon, the Konami Code (↑↑↓↓←→←→B A), and a beloved little franchise called Castlevania. Though there were flashy photo booth-style displays for Konami’s recently announced titles, Rev. NOiR and Rhapsody in Scarlet, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse drew large crowds with its intimidating throne (with occasional Dracula cosplayers!) and the gothic entrance to its demo space.
Paris, 1499. As famed last heir of the vampire-hunting Belmont family, an aged Trevor Belmont is summoned once more to weed out the dark forces of the night—but as it happens, he’s not the last Belmont, for with him is his daughter, Rose. We learn from Trevor that though Rose is well-trained and capable, he worries if she’s ready to take on the family trade without him, considering the strange curse that eats away at her, turning her arm a throbbing pink.
Dialogue plays out with anime-style character sprites, yet I was impressed by the cinematography and character movement in the background as it unfolds. The 2D settings are heavily layered with a hand-painted, almost storybook feel at times, allowing for colourful effects heretofore unseen in the franchise.
I had twenty minutes of playtime, and right away I could feel Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is in good hands under developer Evil Empire, who showed very specific chops with Dead Cells‘ DLC, including 2023’s Return to Castlevania DLC. Konami made a great call in choosing them to carry on the cape. I may not have been a fan of Dead Cells’ roguelite elements, but I sure did love the smooth traversal and combat, and that is married here excellently with the metroidvania adventure style refined by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Rose moves quickly, sliding under enemies’ feet and swinging around them as she attacks. With your whip, you can swing from hooks and latch points or connect and collide with enemies. I was always moving. In the sewer biome I started in, familiar beasts from the series appeared: bats and white and red skeletons, who moved in familiar patterns from past games but could just as easily break them in reaction to Rose. Equippable magic attacks eat away mana, which you can restore by damaging enemies with standard attacks. Whipping or slashing candlesticks drops health ampoules and the occasional snack—at last, I’ve waited too long to eat wall turkey again!
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse Booth at TGS 2026
I soon came upon a large boss, The Fallen—assumedly a man turned hulking creature. He wielded the spinning holy cross weapon that usually falls into players’ hands in past games, and he leapt around the boss arena, swinging from the ceiling and raking his claws along the ground. Thanks to some health ampoules, I took him out, and Rose absorbed his energy into an Arcana card, confiscating his holy cross for her own use as a magic attack. It seems that absorbing bosses leads to new magical attacks that can be leveled and empowered with light RPG mechanics similar to Symphony of the Night. [Editor’s Note: Wait, are we sure Rose is a Belmont and not a super fighting robot, with her boss-power-absorption?]
In a turn, The Fallen’s voice filled Rose’s mind, and he became something of an ongoing companion to her, though he remained mysterious and hostile in the demo. Reaching a massive magical door, I learned I had to absorb the essence of two more bosses, and so I made my way to a guard tower where a Warrior-arcana boss was said to dominate. There were many platforming puzzles and roundabout detours to lower the tower gates, but eventually I got in.
Visually, the game is stunning. I had my doubts about the 2.5D look Rose and enemy characters have, but it flows so smoothly without ever becoming muddled or confusing in the more painterly backgrounds. Things are thematically dark without sacrificing vibrant colours; I’m glad they struck for a gothic, T-rated adventure-horror that returns to the series roots.
I only had a few minutes to try out my first new weapon, the Cestus gauntlets. Punching and uppercutting skeletons just felt right—admittedly less Alucard and more Guacamelee!. There are seven weapons available in the game, as well as three out of dozens of equippable relics. With how different yet satisfying the standard sword and Cestus felt, I’m looking forward to trying the other five.
It didn’t take long for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse to make me feel like a pro. Its fluid and high-flying motion, impactful and well-tuned combat, and macabre but ultimately intrepid tone solidified this as a day-one buy for me. The attendants at Konami’s booth had to pry the controller out of my hands after my twenty minutes were up, but I will return when the game releases on October 15th, 2026, for PC/Steam, Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
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