Castlevania: Belmont's Curse puts Rose in motion

Rose Belmont's whip gives Castlevania: Belmont's Curse a lively way through a burning Paris. It carries her across gaps and towards enemies, joining travel and fighting in the same tool. Konami's 2D action-exploration game launched on 15 October for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. The opening-chapter demo is now available, offering a first look at the movement, weapons and boss powers introduced before release.

The setting is 1499, twenty-three years after Trevor's victory over Dracula. Trevor Belmont and his daughter answer a call for help from Paris, where monsters have appeared and Dracula's castle looms over the city. Rose bears Dracula's curse in her right arm. Her mother Sypha died from that curse soon after Rose was born, giving the family's latest hunt a loss of its own to carry.

The whip gets Rose across the room

The whip works as both a movement tool and a way to reach a target in combat. Fixed overhead points let Rose swing across gaps; enemies give her another destination. The useful connection is the movement itself. A space between platforms and a space between fighters both invite her to close the distance, putting that familiar Belmont weapon to work throughout a room.

In RPGFan's September Tokyo Game Show hands-on, Matt Wardell described sliding beneath enemies, swinging around them and connecting with foes during a twenty-minute demonstration. His sewer route included bats and skeletons before a boss called The Fallen. Standard attacks restored the mana spent on magic. In that demo, attacking therefore replenished another offensive option while the whip offered a way back into reach.

Bosses become new tools

Rose seals defeated bosses into tarot cards called Arcana, using their skills for spells and special actions. Death, Medusa, Carmilla and Joan of Arc feature among the named opponents. There is a pleasingly personal quality to that arrangement: the power has a previous owner, and winning a fight supplies Rose with another way to act. Each acquired card ties a new capability to an encounter.

In the same September demonstration, defeating The Fallen granted a holy-cross magic attack, and his voice continued speaking to Rose afterwards. Those details belong to that pre-release build. The card gave the fight an afterlife in both her arsenal and the dialogue, with a hostile presence accompanying the heroine beyond his arena. The early encounter made an appealing introduction to the connection between bosses and Rose's growing kit.

Seven weapon categories and Relics add another layer of choice. Equipment found through exploration changes Rose's battle style, while Relics affect offence and defence. The demonstration also included a brief switch from the sword to Cestus gauntlets. Alongside the boss-derived magic, that equipment gives the player several different things to look forward to finding: a weapon to use, an effect to equip or a power with a recognisable source.

The opening chapter is available now

The public demo covers the opening chapter on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. Konami lists 60fps for the other versions and 30fps for Switch. These are the publisher's specifications, useful when choosing where to try Rose's movement. The free opening offers a practical introduction to her adventure, with progress eligible to carry over to the full game.

Our demo save-transfer requirements cover continuing that progress in the full version. With the game now released, Rose's whip and widening arsenal remain the useful starting points for understanding its appeal: crossing a dangerous room, reaching an enemy and adding another defeated boss to her cards. The opening chapter gives those interested in her particular style of vampire hunting somewhere concrete to begin.